Hacking Web Apps
How To: Fingerprint Web Apps & Servers for Better Recon & More Successful Hacks
Web applications are ubiquitous in the modern online world, and knowing how to attack them is an increasingly valuable skill. But the key to a successful attack is good recon since it's easier to be focused and efficient with the more information you have. There are many fingerprinting tools available, such as httprint and WebTech, but there are even more that can aid us in reconnaissance.
How To: Scan Websites for Potential Vulnerabilities Using the Vega Vulnerability Scanner in Kali Linux
Withstanding an attack from a motivated hacker is one of the most important responsibilities a system administrator must undertake. This is especially true for websites that may contain sensitive customer information and a high volume of users. So it's important for a sysadmin to take proactive measures to find and fix vulnerabilities in their websites.
How To: Bypass File Upload Restrictions on Web Apps to Get a Shell
One of the most promising avenues of attack in a web application is the file upload. With results ranging from XSS to full-blown code execution, file uploads are an attractive target for hackers. There are usually restrictions in place that can make it challenging to execute an attack, but there are various techniques a hacker could use to beat file upload restrictions to get a shell.
How To: Audit Web Applications & Servers with Tishna
Penetration-testing frameworks can be incredibly useful since they often streamline certain processes and save time by having a lot of tools available in one place. Of course, the most popular pentesting framework is undoubtedly Metasploit, but there are many others out there that cater to particular needs. For auditing web applications and servers, Tishna comes in handy.
How To: Hack Web Browsers with BeEF to Control Webcams, Phish for Credentials & More
People use browsers for all types of things, and in general, we trust a lot of personal information to them. That's why browsers are a perfect attack surface for a hacker, because the target may not even know they are infected and feed you all of the information you could want.
How To: Discover Hidden HTTP Parameters to Find Weaknesses in Web Apps
Hacking web applications can sometimes be challenging due to the sheer amount of moving parts they possess. At the core of these apps are HTTP requests and parameters, but these things are often concealed from the user, due to security reasons, convenience, or both. However, a tool called Arjun can be used to discover hidden HTTP parameters in web apps.
How To: Brute-Force FTP Credentials & Get Server Access
Hackers often find fascinating files in the most ordinary of places, one of those being FTP servers. Sometimes, luck will prevail, and anonymous logins will be enabled, meaning anyone can just log in. But more often than not, a valid username and password will be required. But there are several methods to brute-force FTP credentials and gain server access.
Hacking Windows 10: How to Hack uTorrent Clients & Backdoor the Operating System
Compromised uTorrent clients can be abused to download a malicious torrent file. The malicious file is designed to embed a persistent backdoor and execute when Windows 10 reboots, granting the attacker remote access to the operating system at will.
How To: Hack Apache Tomcat via Malicious WAR File Upload
Web applications are a prime target for hackers, but sometimes it's not just the web apps themselves that are vulnerable. Web management interfaces should be scrutinized just as hard as the apps they manage, especially when they contain some sort of upload functionality. By exploiting a vulnerability in Apache Tomcat, a hacker can upload a backdoor and get a shell.
How To: Find Hidden Web Directories with Dirsearch
One of the first steps when pentesting a website should be scanning for hidden directories. It is essential for finding valuable information or potential attack vectors that might otherwise be unseen on the public-facing site. There are many tools out there that will perform the brute-forcing process, but not all are created equally.
How To: Identify Web Application Firewalls with Wafw00f & Nmap
Web application firewalls are one of the strongest defenses a web app has, but they can be vulnerable if the firewall version used is known to an attacker. Understanding which firewall a target is using can be the first step to a hacker discovering how to get past it — and what defenses are in place on a target. And the tools Wafw00f and Nmap make fingerprinting firewalls easy.
How To: Beat LFI Restrictions with Advanced Techniques
One of the most common web application vulnerabilities is LFI, which allows unauthorized access to sensitive files on the server. Such a common weakness is often safeguarded against, and low-hanging fruit can be defended quite easily. But there are always creative ways to get around these defenses, and we'll be looking at two methods to beat the system and successfully pull off LFI.
How To: Scan Websites for Interesting Directories & Files with Gobuster
One of the first steps in attacking a web application is enumerating hidden directories and files. Doing so can often yield valuable information that makes it easier to execute a precise attack, leaving less room for errors and wasted time. There are many tools available to do this, but not all of them are created equally. Gobuster, a directory scanner written in Go, is definitely worth exploring.
How To: Use Websploit to Scan Websites for Hidden Directories
Websites are often misconfigured in ways that allow an attacker to view directories that are not ordinarily meant to be seen. These directories can contain sensitive information such as private credentials or configuration files that can be used to devise an attack against the server. With a tool called Websploit, hackers can scan targets for these hidden directories without difficulty.
How To: Detect Vulnerabilities in a Web Application with Uniscan
With the number of web applications out there today, it comes as no surprise that there are just as many vulnerabilities waiting for hackers to discover. Finding those vulnerabilities can be a difficult task, but there are plenty of tools available to make the process easier. While it won't help find any zero-days, web scanners such as Uniscan will detect common vulnerabilities.
How To: Leverage a Directory Traversal Vulnerability into Code Execution
Directory traversal, or path traversal, is an HTTP attack which allows attackers to access restricted directories by using the ../ characters to backtrack into files or directories outside the root folder. If a web app is vulnerable to this, an attacker can potentially access restricted files that contain info about all registered users on the system, their permissions, and encrypted passwords.
How To: Beginner's Guide to OWASP Juice Shop, Your Practice Hacking Grounds for the 10 Most Common Web App Vulnerabilities
Web application vulnerabilities are one of the most crucial points of consideration in any penetration test or security evaluation. While some security areas require a home network or computer for testing, creating a test website to learn web app security requires a slightly different approach. For a safe environment to learn about web app hacking, the OWASP Juice Shop can help.
How To: Attack Web Applications with Burp Suite & SQL Injection
Web applications are becoming more and more popular, replacing traditional desktop programs at an accelerated rate. With all these new apps out on the web comes various security implications associated with being connected to the internet where anyone can poke and prod at them. One of the simplest, yet the most prevalent types of security flaws found in modern web apps are SQL injections.
How To: Exploit PHP File Inclusion in Web Apps
File inclusion can allow an attacker to view files on a remote host they shouldn't be able to see, and it can even allow the attacker to run code on a target.
Hack Like a Pro: How to Hack Web Apps, Part 7 (Finding Hidden Objects with DIRB)
Welcome back, my hacker novitiates! Often, to hack a website, we need to connect to and exploit a particular object within said website. It might be an admin panel or a subdirectory that is vulnerable to attack. The key, of course, is to find these objects, as they may be hidden.
Hack Like a Pro: How to Hack Web Apps, Part 6 (Using OWASP ZAP to Find Vulnerabilities)
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! Web apps are often the best vector to an organization's server/database, an entry point to their entire internal network. By definition, the web app is designed to take an input from the user and send that input back to the server or database. In this way, the attacker can send their malicious input back to the servers and network if the web app is not properly secured.
Hack Like a Pro: How to Hack Web Apps, Part 5 (Finding Vulnerable WordPress Websites)
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! WordPress-based websites are among the most numerous on this planet (maybe other planets too, but I can't vouch for that). According to WordPress's own website, WordPress powers 23% of the top 10 million websites. That's approximately 2.3 million sites using WordPress!
Hack Like a Pro: How to Hack Web Apps, Part 4 (Hacking Form Authentication with Burp Suite)
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! In this series, we are exploring the myriad of ways to hack web applications. As you know, web applications are those apps that run the websites of everything from your next door neighbor, to the all-powerful financial institutions that run the world. Each of these applications is vulnerable to attack, but not all in the same way.
Hack Like a Pro: How to Hack Web Apps, Part 3 (Web-Based Authentication)
Welcome back, my novice hackers! In this third installment of my Hacking Web Apps series, we will look at the authentication of web applications. Remember, there are many ways to hack web applications (as I pointed out in my first article), and cracking authentication is just one method.
Hack Like a Pro: How to Hack Web Apps, Part 2 (Website Spidering with WebScarab)
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! Now that we have begun this trip down web app hacking lane, we need to first address target reconnaissance. Like any hack, reconnaissance is critical. (Are you tired of me saying that yet?)
Hack Like a Pro: How to Hack Web Apps, Part 1 (Getting Started)
Welcome back, my budding hackers! With this article, I am initiating a new series that so many of you have been asking for: Hacking Web Applications.