IDS/IPS identification
Penetration testers can utilize nmap
and WAFW00F
to identify whether there are any detection or prevention mechanisms put in place, such as an Intrusion Detection System (IDS), Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), or a Web Application Firewall (WAF).
Another tool that attackers utilize during active reconnaissance is WAFW00F
; this tool is preinstalled in the latest version of Kali Linux. It is used to identify and fingerprint the WAF products. It also provides a list of well-known WAFs. The version of the WAF in use can be extracted by adding the -l
switch to the command (for example, wafw00f -l
). Figure 3.18 shows the exact WAF running behind a web application:
Figure 3.18: Running wafw00f to fingerprint a web application firewall