State of Pentesting Report 2026 | Cobalt

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Key Findings

The 25x remediation gap

A massive gap exists between leading organizations that integrate security and the laggard organizations that treat it as a periodic hurdle.

10 days: The half-life—how long vulnerabilities remain exploitable—of high-risk findings for top-performing teams.

249 days: The half-life—how long vulnerabilities remain exploitable—of high-risk findings for the bottom tier.

AI risks outpace defensive reality

Innovation is outstripping defense as organizations rush to deploy LLM-backed features without a matching security strategy.

32%: Percentage of all AI/LLM findings rated as High Risk.

38%: The resolution rate for AI vulnerabilities—the lowest of any category in our report.

Programmatic advantage graphic

The programmatic advantage leads to better outcomes

Strategic process maturity is the single greatest predictor of remediation success.

45% vs. 10%: Organizations that take a programmatic approach to security testing resolve 4.5x more critical findings in under three days than compliance-driven teams.

What is the State of Pentesting Report?

The 2026 State of Pentesting Report is an annual research publication by Cobalt that provides deep insights into the offensive security landscape. Now in its eighth year, the report combines data from thousands of real-world penetration tests with a qualitative survey of 450 security leaders and practitioners, to identify why vulnerabilities persist and how leading teams resolve them.

How does Cobalt collect data for the State of Pentesting Report?

The report draws from two primary datasets:

Pentest Data: Results from over 16,500 pentests conducted on nearly 3,000 organizations over a five-year period. This data is sanitized and analyzed by the Cyentia Institute.
Survey Data: A double-blind survey of 450 validated information security professionals (50% leaders, 50% practitioners) across various industries.

What are security Leaders and Laggards?

While multiple factors can be considered, this analysis is based on remediation of high-risk pentest findings—specifically the half-life of vulnerabilities (the number of days to remediate 50% of findings, including those that are still unfixed).

Leaders (Top 10%): Organizations that treat pentesting as a continuous program, achieving a high-risk finding half-life of just 10 days.
Laggards (Bottom 10%): Organizations that often view pentesting as a one-time compliance task, with high-risk vulnerabilities remaining open for a half-life of 249 days.

Does the State of Pentesting Report include security recommendations?

Yes, the State of Pentesting Report includes security recommendations based on best practices of top-performing organizations in the research. Key recommendations include:

Transitioning from ad hoc testing to a programmatic, continuous approach.
Aligning offensive security objectives with business strategy to gain board-level support.
Prioritizing remediation based on potential business impact rather than ease-of-fix.