Top 10 Open Source Security Testing Tools to Test Your Website

Technology has reached a long way, but so does hacking. Almost like the digital world, hacking methods and tools have also evolved further sophisticated and also threatening. In this blog, we will discuss open source security testing tools, open-source penetration testing tools, top 10 security testing tools, web application security testing tools, and application security testing tools. 

It is better late than sorry! It’s crucial to maintain your website or web applications foolproof against vicious activities. What you require to perform is to utilize some security testing tools to recognize and assess the extent of security problems with your web application(s). The central function of security testing is to accomplish functional testing of a web application under compliance and discover as many security problems as possible that could potentially direct to hacking. Entirely of this is performed without the desire to access the source code.

There are various free, paid, and open-source tools available to test the vulnerabilities and drawbacks in your web applications. The best thing about open-source tools, besides subsisting free, is that you can customize them to conform to your particular requirements. 

Open Security Testing Tools to Test Your Website

Here is the list of top 10 open source security testing tools for testing how secure your website or web application is:

1. Wfuzz

Formulated in Python, Wfuzz is popularly utilized for brute-forcing web applications. The open-source security testing tool possesses no GUI interface and is available only via the command line.

Susceptibilities uncovered by Wfuzz are:

• LDAP injection
• SQL injection
• XSS injection

Some crucial highlights are:

• Authentication support
• Cookies fuzzing
• Multi-threading
• Many injection points
• Support for proxy and SOCK
• Download the Wfuzz source code

2. Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP)

Evolved by OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project), ZAP or Zed Attack Proxy is a multiple platform, open-source web application security testing tool. ZAP is utilized for discovering several security susceptibilities in a web app during the growth as well as the testing stage. Appreciation to its instinctive GUI, Zed Attack Proxy can be utilized with equal ease by newbies as that by professionals. 

The security testing tool aids command-line access for progressive users. In addition to being one of the extensively popular OWASP projects, it is rewarded the flagship status. ZAP is composed in Java. ZAP exposes:

1. Application error disclosure
2. Cookie not HttpOnly flag
3. Missing anti-CSRF tokens and security headers
4. Private IP disclosure
5. Session ID in URL rewrite
6. SQL injection
7. XSS injection

It’s main highlights are:

1. Automatic scanning
2. Simple to use
3. Multi-platform
4. Rest-based API
5. Support for authentication
6. Utilizes traditional and powerful AJAX spiders
7. Download the ZAP source code.

3. Wapiti

One of the governing web application security testing tools, Wapiti is available free of cost, an open-source program from SourceForge and develop. To review web applications for security exposures, Wapiti performs black-box testing. As it occurs as a command-line application, it is crucial to understand various commands utilized by Wapiti. Wapiti is simple to use for the developed but testing for learners. 

However don’t worry, you can discover all the Wapiti instructions on the authorized documentation. For testing whether a script is susceptible or not, Wapiti injects payloads. The open-source security testing tool delivers support for both GET and POSTHTTP attack procedures.

Vulnerabilities uncovered by Wapiti are:

• Command Execution detection
• CRLF injection
• Database injection
• File disclosure
• Shellshock or Bash bug
• SSRF (Server Side Request Forgery)
• Weak .htaccess configurations that can be bypassed
• XSS injection
• XXE injection

Key highlights are:

1. Enables authentication via different methods, comprising Kerberos and NTLM
2. Arrives with a buster module, enabling brute force directories and files names on the targeted web server
3. Regulates like a fuzzer
4. Download the Wapiti source code.

Also Read: 5 Most Common Website Bugs

4. W3af

One of the considerably prominent web application security testing frameworks that are further advanced using Python is W3af. The tool enables testers to find over 200 kinds of security issues in web applications, including:

• Blind SQL injection
• Buffer overflow
• Cross-site scripting
• CSRF
• Insecure DAV configurations

Its primary highlights are given below:

• Authentication support
• Simple to get started with
• Gives intuitive GUI interface
• The outcome can be logged into a console, a file, or an email
• Download W3af source code.

5. SQLMap

Enabling automating the procedure of detecting and employing SQL injection vulnerability in a website’s database, SQLMap is completely free to use. The security testing tool arrives with a strong testing engine, prepared for supporting 6 kinds of SQL injection techniques:

• Boolean-based blind
• Error-based
• Out-of-band
• Stacked queries
• Time-based blind
• UNION query

Some of its highlights are:

• Automates the procedure of finding SQL injection vulnerabilities
• Can further be utilized for security testing a website
• Robust detection engine
• Download SQLMap source code.

6. SonarQube

The next satisfactory open source security testing tool is SonarQube. In addition to uncovering vulnerabilities, it is utilized to gauge the source code quality of a web application. Despite being composed in Java, SonarQube can perform analysis of over 20 programming languages. Also, it gets effortlessly integrated with continuous integration tools to the likings of Jenkins. 

Problems found by SonarQube are accentuated in either green or red light. While the old represent low-risk vulnerabilities and problems, the latter corresponds to serious ones. For progressive users, access via command prompt is accessible. An interactive GUI is in place for those fairly fresh to testing.

Few of the vulnerabilities exposed by SonarQube include:

• Cross-site scripting
• Denial of Service (DoS) attacks
• HTTP response splitting
• Memory corruption
• SQL injection

It’s advantages are:

• Detects tricky problems
• DevOps integration
• Set up an analysis of pull requests
• Supports quality tracing of both short-lived and long-lived code branches
• Gives Quality Gate
• Visualize the history of a project
• Download the SonarQube source code.

7. Nogotofail

A system traffic security testing tool from Google, Nogotofail is a portable application that can perceive TLS/SSL exposures and misconfigurations. It is easy to use, readily deployable, and supports setting up as a proxy, router, or VPN server. Vulnerabilities imperiled by Nogotofail are:

• MiTM attacks
• SSL certificate verification issues
• SSL injection
• TLS injection

8. Iron Wasp

An open-source, important scanning tool, Iron Wasp can excavate over 25 kinds of web application exposures. Besides, it can further detect erroneous positives and false negatives. It is extensible via plugins or modules are composed in C#, Python, Ruby, or VB.NET. It is GUI-based and reports generation in HTML and RTF formats.

Iron Wasp assists in exposing a broad variety of susceptibilities, including:

• Broken authentication
• Cross-site scripting
• CSRF
• Hidden parameters
• Privilege escalation

9. Grabber

The compact Grabber is formulated to scan small web applications, comprising forums and personal websites. The convenient security testing tool possesses no GUI interface and is jotted down in Python. It develops a stats analysis file, it is easy and mobile and supports JS code analysis.

Vulnerabilities uncovered by Grabber includes:

• Backup files verification
• Cross-site scripting
• File inclusion
• Easy AJAX verification
• SQL injection

10. Arachni

Helpful for both penetration testers and admins, Arachni is constructed to recognize security problems within a web application. It is a rapidly deployable, modular, high-performance ruby framework and multi-platform support.

The open-source security testing tool is skilled at uncovering various vulnerabilities, including:

• Invalidated redirect
• Local and remote file inclusion
• SQL injection
• XSS injection

This sums up our list of top 10 open source security testing tools for web applications. Tell us your favorite application security testing tool and we hoped that you have successfully learned. Happy testing!

Also Read: Website Testing Checklist To Make Your Website Flawless