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Service 11

Secure Code Review

A source-led review of the codebase itself — exploitable flaws mapped to the line that needs to change, before the code ships.

Source first, not scanner output

A penetration test of a running application answers what an attacker can do today. A code review answers what is waiting in the repository — including the bug that is not reachable yet, the helper that every new endpoint will call wrong, and the secret that should never have been committed.

We read the code. Tools help with the boring half. They do not replace a tester who understands how your application is supposed to work.

This is not a web application penetration test with the source folder open. That engagement still starts from HTTP. This one starts from the tree.

What we look for

Injection and unsafe handling of untrusted input, including the cases a black-box test never reaches because the route is unfinished or gated.

Authorization that will not hold as the application grows — missing checks on a new handler, a helper that trusts the client, an IDOR waiting on the next feature.

Secrets, crypto, and session handling used in ways that look fine until someone actually reads them.

Dependencies and build-time trust, where the interesting finding is often in how the project is assembled rather than in a line of business logic.

How it runs

You give us a repository (or a snapshot), the branch that matters, and the context a new engineer would need: how auth works, where the trust boundaries are, which parts are in scope. We review that surface, confirm what we can, and write findings against the code rather than against a URL.

Where a finding is clearer with a running instance, we use one. Where it is clear from the source, we do not waste a day proving what the code already says.

What you receive

Line-level findings with the path through the code, the impact if it ships, and a specific change — not a generic “sanitize input” recommendation. Developers should be able to open the report and the file at the same time.

Common questions

Secure Code Review — what clients ask

How is this different from white-box penetration testing?
White-box testing still attacks a running application; source just makes that test faster and more complete. Secure code review is the other way around: the artefact under test is the codebase. We read it, we may build it, and we report flaws that would be painful to find from the outside in a time-boxed test — injection that is not reachable yet, crypto used wrongly, authorization that will fail the day a new route is added.
Do you need a running environment?
Not always. A repository, a way to build it, and someone who can answer architecture questions is enough to start. A staging environment helps when we need to confirm a finding is exploitable rather than theoretical, and we will say so when that is the case.
What languages and stacks do you cover?
The common application landscape — the same languages and frameworks we test in web, API, and mobile engagements. If a stack is genuinely outside what we can read well, we will tell you before we start rather than discover it on day two.

Strengthen your defenses.

Tell us what you need tested. We’ll come back with scope, timeline, and a fixed price.

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