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Uncovering invisible attack paths across application tiers.
Munich, Germany - September 19, 2025
Three-tier architectures are a standard model for modern enterprise applications, separating presentation, application logic, and data layers. While this design improves scalability and maintainability, Rasotec's penetration tests regularly reveal that it also creates hidden lateral movement opportunities. These are often overlooked because the architecture appears segmented, but in practice, it is not.
The assumption is that compromising the front-end tier provides no direct route to sensitive systems. However, Rasotec often finds weak trust boundaries between tiers, allowing attackers to pivot from user-facing servers into internal application logic servers and ultimately to backend databases. Once inside the application network, lateral movement becomes trivial.
One common issue is shared service accounts. Many 3-tier deployments use the same credentials or overly privileged accounts for communication between tiers. If an attacker compromises a web server, they inherit these credentials and can authenticate directly to application or database servers without escalating privileges.
Another weakness is lack of network-level isolation. Even though tiers are logically separated, Rasotec frequently observes flat underlying networks where any server can reach any other. This means a foothold in the DMZ can directly communicate with internal application servers, bypassing expected segmentation.
"3-tier designs promise isolation, but we often find trust links that turn them into highways for attackers," said Rick Graßmann, Chief Executive Officer at Rasotec.
Misconfigured middleware and message brokers also create pivot points. Application servers often trust any system on the internal network to connect, lacking proper authentication or TLS enforcement. Attackers can impersonate trusted services to inject commands or steal data between tiers without triggering alerts.
These risks are amplified in hybrid or cloud-hosted 3-tier environments. Overlapping identity systems, misaligned IAM roles, and shared secrets stored in build pipelines often give attackers multiple routes between tiers. Rasotec often chains these weaknesses to move from cloud web frontends into on-prem database infrastructure.
Traditional vulnerability scans rarely detect these attack paths because they are not single flaws but chains of trust assumptions. Manual, adversary-simulated penetration testing is required to map real lateral movement possibilities across tiers and show how attackers would exploit them.
Rasotec's pentests focus on this cross-tier analysis. Combining credential auditing, network path mapping, and behavioral exploitation techniques reveal the hidden movement paths that undermine supposedly segmented 3-tier architectures.
About Rasotec: Rasotec is one of CypSec's closest partners and a boutique security firm specializing in manual penetration testing of complex web, mobile, and infrastructure environments. Its team focuses on uncovering logic flaws, chained attack paths, and high-impact vulnerabilities that automated tools miss. For more information, visit rasotec.com.
Media Contact: Rick Graßmann, Chief Executive Officer at Rasotec - rick.grassmann@rasotec.com.
We specialize in advanced defense and intelligent monitoring to protect your digital assets and operations.
