What are the top web application penetration testing tools available?
Many companies these days are shifting to the internet… from banking services to healthcare.
Web application development has seen a dramatic increase in popularity since the advent of the internet several years ago. It’s now easier for businesses reach customers via the internet browser.
Because web applications are so popular, cybercriminals have made them a target of their attacks and stolen data. To protect your system from data loss or system failure, it is important to pentest web applications before you release them to the general public.
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These best penetration testing tutorials online will help you get started if you’re completely new to web app penetration testing.
Any professional pentester will be able to identify vulnerabilities in web apps and help you fix them quickly with the right tools. Criminals love to hack into web applications and are eager to learn the latest techniques.
You must have the best tools for website penetration to match them.
This article will discuss the top web application penetration tools that web app pentesters should use in 2021. Before we start, let’s take a look at the list.
Different types of web app testing
Let me briefly describe the two types web application pentesting.
1. Dynamic Application Security Testing
This involves looking for potential vulnerabilities in web applications that attackers could exploit from the outside. This web app pentesting is faster and easier than other methods because it does not require access the source code of the application.
2. Security Testing for Static Applications
This is a type of website penetration testing that allows you to check the vulnerability of a web app from the inside. This involves accessing the source code of the application and can give a snapshot in real-time of the security status of the source code.
Web App Testing Tools
Right.
We now know what types of web app pentesting you will be doing. Let’s move on to the list of top web application penetration test tools for 2021. These tools are used to test web applications for security.
1. Netsparker
Netsparker is available as both a self-hosted and hosted service. It’s a one-stop shop for all your web app pentesting requirements.
It can detect vulnerabilities in web applications and verify them with proof-based scanning technology. You won’t need to spend time manually checking for false positives once the vulnerabilities are identified.
This website penetration testing is so popular because it can be integrated with any type of development or test environment.
2. Arachni
Arachni, a Ruby-based modular website pentesting tool that can be used to assess the security of web applications, is highly performant and flexible.
It is free and open-source, and it can also be used on Windows, Linux, and Mac. It’s sophisticated enough to cover many use cases, including web applications that run JavaScript or AJAX.
This tool is a must-have web application penetration test tool if you want your web app pentesting skills up to the next level.
3. BeEF (Browser Exploitation Framework)
BeEF, also known by the browser exploitation frame, is another popular tool for penetration testing web applications.
You can use client-side attack vectors to evaluate the security of a web app. BeEF is an open-source pentest tool that can be used to test web applications. Click here to see the BeEF project at GitHub. It works by using two or more web browsers to combine them and use them as beachheads to launch direct command modules such as redirection and attacks on your web app from within the browser.
4. Acunetix
Acunetix can be used to scan security holes in websites using an automated web application penetration test tool.
It can detect as many as 4,500 vulnerabilities in commercial and custom web apps, with 0% false negatives. Acunetix can also detect hidden inputs not found during black box scanning and allow you to test them using Acunetix.
It can scan your WordPress installation continuously for thousands of vulnerabilities. You can also generate compliance and management reports after running your tests to determine what needs to addressed.
5. ImmuniWeb
ImmuniWeb provides web application security testing that is enhanced with machine learning technology.
It’s an artificial intelligence-enabled web app penetration testing platform which offers a comprehensive benefit package for your security staff. You can easily implement continuous compliance monitoring for your web app with just one click.
Once you have run your tests, you will be able generate reports that contain zero false positives. This will help you to formulate an action plan to fix security holes. If you are serious about a career as a web application pentester, this is an important tool.
6. Vega
Vega provides a web application security testing platform that is free and open-source. It allows you to test the security of web apps.
It can detect common vulnerabilities in websites such as SQL injections and Cross-Site Scripting. This GUI-based website security tool can be used on all operating systems, including Windows, Mac, and Linux.
It is an automated tool that runs on a web crawler and can run system-wide tests very quickly. You can extend it with a JavaScript API.
7. Wapiti
Wapiti allows you to test the security of your web applications.
This command-line website security software scans web pages for scripts and forms that could be used to inject data using black-box scanning. Black-box scanning does not scan the source code of an application. Instead, it scans the web pages of the deployed web apps.
It then attempts to inject payloads into the forms and scripts it has found to test for vulnerabilities.
It can detect vulnerabilities such as file disclosure, database injection and XSS. You can export the report in a variety of formats, with different levels of verbosity, once it is done.
8. SQLMap
SQLMap automates the detection of SQL injection flaws within web applications.
It supports various database management systems as well as SQL injections techniques.
Database support includes MySQL, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. SQLite is just one example. It supports six SQL injection techniques: time-based blind (boolean-based), error-based, UNION query based, stacked queries, and out-of band (unison query-based).
It can detect hash-based passwords automatically and supports a dictionary-based attack to crack them. It’s a powerful web security tool that streamlines the process of conducting penetration tests.
9. ZED Attack Proxy (ZAP)
ZAP, one of the most widely used free website pentest tools to audit the security of your web applications.
This tool will help you identify security flaws in your web applications while you develop and test your application. It is an automated web security tool but it can also be used by experienced pentesters for manual web security testing.
It is open-source and multi-platform and will work on Windows, Linux, and Mac.
It acts as a proxy between the browser of the tester and the web application and is used to intercept and modify the messages being transmitted. Its most popular features include AJAX Spiders and web socket support. This is a great tool to use if you are looking to improve your website pentesting skills.
Conclusion
You need to have the right knowledge and tools in order to properly pentest web applications.
A pentester can automate some tasks with the right web app penetration testing tools to save time and allow attackers to find the vulnerabilities earlier. Attackers are always looking for ways to steal personal identifiable information, whether it is from small retailers or large federal institutions.
A small flaw or weakness in your web application can cause huge losses in revenue or reputation.
Web application security is not something to be taken lightly.
The web application pentesting tools that I have mentioned in this article will allow you to detect web application vulnerabilities early and protect it from malicious attacks. These web application pentesting tools are usually included with Kali Linux, a Linux distro.
Kali Linux is an excellent pentesting tool. Here are the best Kali Linux tutorials to help you get started with this incredible Linux operating system.
Are you familiar with any of these web penetration testing tools? Are there any other web application pentesting tools that you think are excellent but I haven’t mentioned? We’d love to hear your comments.