The present invention discloses an apparatus and a method for testing permeability of a porous material, and belongs to the field of materials testing. According to Darcy's law, a test material is made into a cylinder / disk-shaped specimen, the cylinder / disk-shaped specimen is put into a syringe, hydraulic pressure is controlled by a material testing machine, and the permeability of the material can be obtained by testing and calculation of the speed of a liquid to pass through the material by. The method can be used as a method to test and characterize the porosity of the porous material and liquid permeability / penetrability. The testing technology is simple in operation and high in precision, is expected to promote as a testing technology for porosity characters of other porous materials, and has potential application value in material testing engineering filed.