Checking if an HTTP proxy is open

HTTP proxies are used to make requests through their addresses, therefore hiding our real IP address from the target. Detecting them is important if you are a system administrator who needs to keep the network secure, or an attacker who spoofs his real origin.

This recipe shows you how to use Nmap to detect an open HTTP proxy.

How to do it...

Open your terminal and enter the following command:

$ nmap --script http-open-proxy -p8080 <target>

The results include the HTTP methods that were successfully tested:

PORT     STATE SERVICE
8080/tcp open  http-proxy
|  proxy-open-http: Potentially OPEN proxy.
|_ Methods successfully tested: GET HEAD CONNECT

How it works...

We use the argument --script http-open-proxy -p8080 to launch the NSE script http-open-proxy if a web server is found running on port 8080, a common port for HTTP proxies.

The NSE script http-open-proxy was submitted by Arturo "Buanzo" Busleiman and it was designed to detect open proxies, as its...