Nikto is an open-source web server scanner that performs comprehensive tests against web servers for various security issues. Developed by Chris Sullo and David Lodge, Nikto is designed to identify potential vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and outdated software versions that could be exploited by attackers. It’s written in Perl and is available for Unix/Linux, Windows, and macOS platforms.
Step 1 : Install Nikto
If you’re running Kali Linux, Nikto comes preinstalled, so you don’t have to download or install anything. It’ll be located in the “Vulnerability Analysis” category. If you don’t have it for some reason, you can get Nikto from its GitHub or just use the apt install command.
apt install nikto
Step 2 : Get to Know Nikto
nikto -h
Options:
-ask+ Whether to ask about submitting updates
yes Ask about each (default)
no Don't ask, don't send
auto Don't ask, just send
-Cgidirs+ Scan these CGI dirs: "none", "all", or values like "/cgi/ /cgi-a/"
-config+ Use this config file
-Display+ Turn on/off display outputs:
1 Show redirects
2 Show cookies received
3 Show all 200/OK responses
4 Show URLs which require authentication
D Debug output
E Display all HTTP errors
P Print progress to STDOUT
S Scrub output of IPs and hostnames
V Verbose output
-dbcheck Check database and other key files for syntax errors
-evasion+ Encoding technique:
1 Random URI encoding (non-UTF8)
2 Directory self-reference (/./)
3 Premature URL ending
4 Prepend long random string
5 Fake parameter
6 TAB as request spacer
7 Change the case of the URL
8 Use Windows directory separator (\)
A Use a carriage return (0x0d) as a request spacer
B Use binary value 0x0b as a request spacer
-Format+ Save file (-o) format:
csv Comma-separated-value
htm HTML Format
nbe Nessus NBE format
sql Generic SQL (see docs for schema)
txt Plain text
xml XML Format
(if not specified the format will be taken from the file extension passed to -output)
-Help Extended help information
-host+ Target host
-404code Ignore these HTTP codes as negative responses (always). Format is "302,301".
-404string Ignore this string in response body content as negative response (always). Can be a regular expression.
-id+ Host authentication to use, format is id:pass or id:pass:realm
-key+ Client certificate key file
-list-plugins List all available plugins, perform no testing
-maxtime+ Maximum testing time per host (e.g., 1h, 60m, 3600s)
-mutate+ Guess additional file names:
1 Test all files with all root directories
2 Guess for password file names
3 Enumerate user names via Apache (/~user type requests)
4 Enumerate user names via cgiwrap (/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~user type requests)
5 Attempt to brute force sub-domain names, assume that the host name is the parent domain
6 Attempt to guess directory names from the supplied dictionary file
-mutate-options Provide information for mutates
-nointeractive Disables interactive features
-nolookup Disables DNS lookups
-nossl Disables the use of SSL
-no404 Disables nikto attempting to guess a 404 page
-Option Over-ride an option in nikto.conf, can be issued multiple times
-output+ Write output to this file ('.' for auto-name)
-Pause+ Pause between tests (seconds, integer or float)
-Plugins+ List of plugins to run (default: ALL)
-port+ Port to use (default 80)
-RSAcert+ Client certificate file
-root+ Prepend root value to all requests, format is /directory
-Save Save positive responses to this directory ('.' for auto-name)
-ssl Force ssl mode on port
-Tuning+ Scan tuning:
1 Interesting File / Seen in logs
2 Misconfiguration / Default File
3 Information Disclosure
4 Injection (XSS/Script/HTML)
5 Remote File Retrieval - Inside Web Root
6 Denial of Service
7 Remote File Retrieval - Server Wide
8 Command Execution / Remote Shell
9 SQL Injection
0 File Upload
a Authentication Bypass
b Software Identification
c Remote Source Inclusion
d WebService
e Administrative Console
x Reverse Tuning Options (i.e., include all except specified)
-timeout+ Timeout for requests (default 10 seconds)
-Userdbs Load only user databases, not the standard databases
all Disable standard dbs and load only user dbs
tests Disable only db_tests and load udb_tests
-useragent Over-rides the default useragent
-until Run until the specified time or duration
-update Update databases and plugins from CIRT.net
-useproxy Use the proxy defined in nikto.conf, or argument http://server:port
-Version Print plugin and database versions
-vhost+ Virtual host (for Host header)
+ requires a value
Step 3 : Use the Basic Syntax
As you can see from the previous step, Nikto has many options, but for our purposes, we’ll stick to the basic syntax as follows. We’ll substitute the <IP or hostname> with the actual IP address or hostname sans angle brackets.
nikto -h <IP or hostname>
Scannig a secure website :
Scan Another website :
nikto -h www.afl.com.au
Secure Version of the website :
