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The State of Penetration Testing 2026

1,206 verified findings from 55 penetration tests, broken out by what was tested. Real engagements, proven findings, open methodology. No form between you and the data.

First edition · October 2024 to August 2026

Key findings

Four results that should change how you scope your next penetration test. Every number traces to the methodology in the full report.

Key finding 01

The question is not whether a pentest finds something

93%of the 55 penetration tests in this dataset surfaced at least one High or Critical finding

69% surfaced at least one Critical finding. The real question is who finds the exploitable path first: your pentest, or someone you did not invite.

Key finding 02

What a test finds depends on what you test

92% vs 54%share of findings rated High or Critical: internal network tests against web application tests

Internal networks fail on unpatched software, 57% of everything found. Web applications fail on authentication and authorization. Scope decides what you learn before a single request is sent.

Key finding 03

Proof kills false positives

0.74%false-positive rate: 9 of 1,216 logged findings, with two-stage human review

Every finding ships with reproduction evidence and passes two stages of human review before a client sees it. That is the answer to scanner noise and unreviewed AI output: 9 false positives in 1,216 findings.

Key finding 04

Critical findings get fixed fast. High severity is where fixes stall

10.5 vs 38median days to resolve Critical versus High severity findings, where resolution was tracked

Teams clear the top of the queue and stall one tier below it, where most of the exploitable findings live. The slowest tenth of fixes ran past 120 days. A 30-day retest window never sees them.

Two thirds of findings are High or Critical

The severity distribution across all 1,206 verified findings. Only 5 were logged as Informational, because informational observations rarely survive triage into a report.

67.2%of verified findings were High or Critical: 810 of 1,206.

There is no average pentest

The blended benchmark most vendors publish describes an engagement nobody buys. Median findings and severity split sharply by what you put in scope. The full report holds seven figures like this, with the methodology and limitations alongside.

Read the full report, methodology and limitations

Read it in full, or take the PDF

The full report is public, with every chart, the methodology and the limitations, because numbers you cannot check are marketing. If a designed PDF travels better inside your organization, we will email it, along with each quarterly data refresh. Business email only.

About this research

From Stingrai's penetration testing platform: 55 penetration tests delivered between October 2024 and August 2026.

Find out which side of the 93% you are on

One web application and its APIs, tested by Snipe and human penetration testers. Every finding proven, retests included.