Book Image

Web Penetration Testing with Kali Linux - Third Edition

By : Gilberto Najera-Gutierrez, Juned Ahmed Ansari
Book Image

Web Penetration Testing with Kali Linux - Third Edition

By: Gilberto Najera-Gutierrez, Juned Ahmed Ansari

Overview of this book

Web Penetration Testing with Kali Linux - Third Edition shows you how to set up a lab, helps you understand the nature and mechanics of attacking websites, and explains classical attacks in great depth. This edition is heavily updated for the latest Kali Linux changes and the most recent attacks. Kali Linux shines when it comes to client-side attacks and fuzzing in particular. From the start of the book, you'll be given a thorough grounding in the concepts of hacking and penetration testing, and you'll see the tools used in Kali Linux that relate to web application hacking. You'll gain a deep understanding of classicalSQL, command-injection flaws, and the many ways to exploit these flaws. Web penetration testing also needs a general overview of client-side attacks, which is rounded out by a long discussion of scripting and input validation flaws. There is also an important chapter on cryptographic implementation flaws, where we discuss the most recent problems with cryptographic layers in the networking stack. The importance of these attacks cannot be overstated, and defending against them is relevant to most internet users and, of course, penetration testers. At the end of the book, you'll use an automated technique called fuzzing to identify flaws in a web application. Finally, you'll gain an understanding of web application vulnerabilities and the ways they can be exploited using the tools in Kali Linux.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

Chapter 4. Authentication and Session Management Flaws

The main purpose of web applications is to allow users to access and process information that is stored in a remote place. Sometimes this information is public, while at other times it may be user-specific or even confidential. Such applications require the users to prove their identity before being allowed access to such information. This identity verification process is called authentication, and it requires the user to provide a proof of identity that may be one or more of the following:

  • Something the user knows: Such as a username and secret password
  • Something the user has: Like a smart card or a special code sent to the user's phone
  • Something the user is: Voice, facial, fingerprint, or any other biometric mechanism

The first alternative is the most common in web applications. There are some cases, such as banking or internal corporate applications, which may use one or more of the remaining methods.

HTTP is a stateless and connectionless...