HTTP Directory Brute Force Scanner - Metasploit


This page contains detailed information about how to use the auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs metasploit module. For list of all metasploit modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

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Module Overview

Name: HTTP Directory Brute Force Scanner
Module: auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs
Source code: modules/auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs.rb
Disclosure date: -
Last modification time: 2019-10-21 16:45:42 +0000
Supported architecture(s): -
Supported platform(s): -
Target service / protocol: http, https
Target network port(s): 80, 443, 3000, 8000, 8008, 8080, 8443, 8880, 8888
List of CVEs: -

This module identifies the existence of interesting directories by brute forcing the name in a given directory path.

Module Ranking and Traits

Module Ranking:

  • normal: The exploit is otherwise reliable, but depends on a specific version and can't (or doesn't) reliably autodetect. More information about ranking can be found here.

Basic Usage

This module is a scanner module, and is capable of testing against multiple hosts.

msf > use auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs
msf auxiliary(brute_dirs) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf auxiliary(brute_dirs) > set RHOSTS ip-range
msf auxiliary(brute_dirs) > exploit

Other examples of setting the RHOSTS option:

Example 1:

msf auxiliary(brute_dirs) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.3-192.168.1.200

Example 2:

msf auxiliary(brute_dirs) > set RHOSTS 192.168.1.1/24

Example 3:

msf auxiliary(brute_dirs) > set RHOSTS file:/tmp/ip_list.txt

Required Options

  • RHOSTS: The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'

Knowledge Base

Vulnerable Application

Web sites & other HTTP based applications may be vulnerable to directory brute forcing. This module executes a directory brute force on a web server, in order to discover locations on the web server for further analysis. This is not the same as using a word dictionary - this module uses string permutations instead.

Install

Any web server that serves directories can be used. This module can support different authentication methods, which will depend on the type of web server used.

Verification Steps

  1. Start msfconsole
  2. Do: use auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs
  3. Do: set rhosts [IPs]
  4. Do: run
  5. As the module executes you should see a list of directories that are being served up by the web server.

Options

DELAY

The delay between connections, per thread, in milliseconds. Using this will reduce the speed of the module, which may be useful to prevent any rate limiting or web application firewalls from preventing further scanning. Defaults to 0.

FORMAT

The comma separated list of expected directory formats used to determine the order of brute force attempts. Defaults to a,aa,aaa.

Use the following format specifiers:

Format specifier Character type
a lowercase alpha
d digit
A uppercase alpha

The default value will search a,aa,aaa will search for 1 character directories, then 2 character directories, then 3 character directories.

JITTER

The delay jitter factor (maximum value by which to +/- DELAY) in milliseconds. Using jitter ensures requests have a random amount of additional delay. This is also useful for evading brute force prevention. Defaults to 0.

PATH

The path to starting identification of directories from. Defaults to /.

THREADS

The number of concurrent threads (max one per host). Defaults to 1.

TIMEOUT

The socket connect/read timeout in seconds. Defaults to 20.

ErrorCode

The expected HTTP code for non existent directories. Defaults to 404.

HTTP404Sigs

Path of 404 signatures to use to identify 'file not found' strings in website output, even if a successful HTTP Status Code is returned by the server. Defaults to [Metasploit data directory]/wmap/wmap_404s.txt.

Scenarios

HTTP directory brute force on a specific port

Identify an open HTTP port on a target web server by using nmap:

nmap -p8080 192.168.2.3
.
.
.
PORT     STATE SERVICE
8080/tcp   open  http

Configure the brute_dirs module to use the identified IP address and port number:

msf5 > use auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs 
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > set RHOSTS 192.168.2.3
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > set RPORT 8080
RHOSTS => 192.168.2.3
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > run

[*] Using code '404' as not found.
[+] Found http://192.168.2.3:8080/dav/ 200
[+] Found http://192.168.2.3:8080/img/ 200
[*] Scanned 1 of 1 hosts (100% complete)
[*] Auxiliary module execution completed

Testing against multiple hosts using a CIDR

msf5 > use auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > show options
    ... show and set options ...
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > set RHOSTS 192.168.2.1/24
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > run

Custom format to find specifically formatted directories

A format string of Aaaaad will search for 6 character directories, starting with a capital letter and ending in a digit. E.g.

msf5 > use auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs 
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > set RHOSTS 192.168.2.3
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > set FORMAT 'Aaaaad'
msf5 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > run

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Msfconsole Usage

Here is how the scanner/http/brute_dirs auxiliary module looks in the msfconsole:

msf6 > use auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > show info

       Name: HTTP Directory Brute Force Scanner
     Module: auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs
    License: BSD License
       Rank: Normal

Provided by:
  et <[email protected]>

Check supported:
  No

Basic options:
  Name     Current Setting  Required  Description
  ----     ---------------  --------  -----------
  DELAY    0                yes       The delay between connections, per thread, in milliseconds
  FORMAT   a,aa,aaa         yes       The expected directory format (a alpha, d digit, A upperalpha)
  JITTER   0                yes       The delay jitter factor (maximum value by which to +/- DELAY) in milliseconds.
  PATH     /                yes       The path to identify directories
  Proxies                   no        A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
  RHOSTS                    yes       The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
  RPORT    80               yes       The target port (TCP)
  SSL      false            no        Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
  THREADS  1                yes       The number of concurrent threads (max one per host)
  TIMEOUT  20               yes       The socket connect/read timeout in seconds
  VHOST                     no        HTTP server virtual host

Description:
  This module identifies the existence of interesting directories by 
  brute forcing the name in a given directory path.

Module Options

This is a complete list of options available in the scanner/http/brute_dirs auxiliary module:

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > show options

Module options (auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs):

   Name     Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----     ---------------  --------  -----------
   DELAY    0                yes       The delay between connections, per thread, in milliseconds
   FORMAT   a,aa,aaa         yes       The expected directory format (a alpha, d digit, A upperalpha)
   JITTER   0                yes       The delay jitter factor (maximum value by which to +/- DELAY) in milliseconds.
   PATH     /                yes       The path to identify directories
   Proxies                   no        A proxy chain of format type:host:port[,type:host:port][...]
   RHOSTS                    yes       The target host(s), range CIDR identifier, or hosts file with syntax 'file:<path>'
   RPORT    80               yes       The target port (TCP)
   SSL      false            no        Negotiate SSL/TLS for outgoing connections
   THREADS  1                yes       The number of concurrent threads (max one per host)
   TIMEOUT  20               yes       The socket connect/read timeout in seconds
   VHOST                     no        HTTP server virtual host

Advanced Options

Here is a complete list of advanced options supported by the scanner/http/brute_dirs auxiliary module:

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > show advanced

Module advanced options (auxiliary/scanner/http/brute_dirs):

   Name                  Current Setting                                                       Required  Description
   ----                  ---------------                                                       --------  -----------
   DOMAIN                WORKSTATION                                                           yes       The domain to use for Windows authentication
   DigestAuthIIS         true                                                                  no        Conform to IIS, should work for most servers. Only set to false for non-IIS servers
   ErrorCode             404                                                                   yes       The expected http code for non existant directories
   FingerprintCheck      true                                                                  no        Conduct a pre-exploit fingerprint verification
   HTTP404Sigs           /opt/metasploit-framework/embedded/framework/data/wmap/wmap_404s.txt  no        Path of 404 signatures to use
   HttpClientTimeout                                                                           no        HTTP connection and receive timeout
   HttpPassword                                                                                no        The HTTP password to specify for authentication
   HttpRawHeaders                                                                              no        Path to ERB-templatized raw headers to append to existing headers
   HttpTrace             false                                                                 no        Show the raw HTTP requests and responses
   HttpTraceColors       red/blu                                                               no        HTTP request and response colors for HttpTrace (unset to disable)
   HttpTraceHeadersOnly  false                                                                 no        Show HTTP headers only in HttpTrace
   HttpUsername                                                                                no        The HTTP username to specify for authentication
   NoDetailMessages      true                                                                  no        Do not display detailed test messages
   SSLVersion            Auto                                                                  yes       Specify the version of SSL/TLS to be used (Auto, TLS and SSL23 are auto-negotiate) (Accepted: Auto, TLS, SSL23, SSL3, TLS1, TLS1.1, TLS1.2
                                                                                                         )
   ShowProgress          true                                                                  yes       Display progress messages during a scan
   ShowProgressPercent   10                                                                    yes       The interval in percent that progress should be shown
   TestThreads           25                                                                    yes       Number of test threads
   UserAgent             Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)                    no        The User-Agent header to use for all requests
   VERBOSE               false                                                                 no        Enable detailed status messages
   WORKSPACE                                                                                   no        Specify the workspace for this module

Auxiliary Actions

This is a list of all auxiliary actions that the scanner/http/brute_dirs module can do:

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > show actions

Auxiliary actions:

   Name  Description
   ----  -----------

Evasion Options

Here is the full list of possible evasion options supported by the scanner/http/brute_dirs auxiliary module in order to evade defenses (e.g. Antivirus, EDR, Firewall, NIDS etc.):

msf6 auxiliary(scanner/http/brute_dirs) > show evasion

Module evasion options:

   Name                          Current Setting  Required  Description
   ----                          ---------------  --------  -----------
   HTTP::header_folding          false            no        Enable folding of HTTP headers
   HTTP::method_random_case      false            no        Use random casing for the HTTP method
   HTTP::method_random_invalid   false            no        Use a random invalid, HTTP method for request
   HTTP::method_random_valid     false            no        Use a random, but valid, HTTP method for request
   HTTP::pad_fake_headers        false            no        Insert random, fake headers into the HTTP request
   HTTP::pad_fake_headers_count  0                no        How many fake headers to insert into the HTTP request
   HTTP::pad_get_params          false            no        Insert random, fake query string variables into the request
   HTTP::pad_get_params_count    16               no        How many fake query string variables to insert into the request
   HTTP::pad_method_uri_count    1                no        How many whitespace characters to use between the method and uri
   HTTP::pad_method_uri_type     space            no        What type of whitespace to use between the method and uri (Accepted: space, tab, apache)
   HTTP::pad_post_params         false            no        Insert random, fake post variables into the request
   HTTP::pad_post_params_count   16               no        How many fake post variables to insert into the request
   HTTP::pad_uri_version_count   1                no        How many whitespace characters to use between the uri and version
   HTTP::pad_uri_version_type    space            no        What type of whitespace to use between the uri and version (Accepted: space, tab, apache)
   HTTP::uri_dir_fake_relative   false            no        Insert fake relative directories into the uri
   HTTP::uri_dir_self_reference  false            no        Insert self-referential directories into the uri
   HTTP::uri_encode_mode         hex-normal       no        Enable URI encoding (Accepted: none, hex-normal, hex-noslashes, hex-random, hex-all, u-normal, u-all, u-random)
   HTTP::uri_fake_end            false            no        Add a fake end of URI (eg: /%20HTTP/1.0/../../)
   HTTP::uri_fake_params_start   false            no        Add a fake start of params to the URI (eg: /%3fa=b/../)
   HTTP::uri_full_url            false            no        Use the full URL for all HTTP requests
   HTTP::uri_use_backslashes     false            no        Use back slashes instead of forward slashes in the uri
   HTTP::version_random_invalid  false            no        Use a random invalid, HTTP version for request
   HTTP::version_random_valid    false            no        Use a random, but valid, HTTP version for request

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Error Messages

This module may fail with the following error messages:

Error Messages

Check for the possible causes from the code snippets below found in the module source code. This can often times help in identifying the root cause of the problem.

ErrorCode

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "ErrorCode" error message:

30:	        OptInt.new('JITTER', [true, "The delay jitter factor (maximum value by which to +/- DELAY) in milliseconds.", 0]),
31:	      ])
32:	
33:	    register_advanced_options(
34:	      [
35:	        OptInt.new('ErrorCode', [ true,  "The expected http code for non existant directories", 404]),
36:	        OptPath.new('HTTP404Sigs', [ false, "Path of 404 signatures to use",
37:	          File.join(Msf::Config.data_directory, "wmap", "wmap_404s.txt")
38:	        ]),
39:	        OptBool.new('NoDetailMessages', [ false, "Do not display detailed test messages", true ]),
40:	        OptInt.new('TestThreads', [ true, "Number of test threads", 25])

DELAY

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "DELAY" error message:

51:	
52:	    timeout = datastore['TIMEOUT']
53:	
54:	    delay_value = datastore['DELAY'].to_i
55:	    if delay_value < 0
56:	      raise Msf::OptionValidateError.new(['DELAY'])
57:	    end
58:	
59:	    jitter_value = datastore['JITTER'].to_i
60:	    if jitter_value < 0
61:	      raise Msf::OptionValidateError.new(['JITTER'])

JITTER

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "JITTER" error message:

56:	      raise Msf::OptionValidateError.new(['DELAY'])
57:	    end
58:	
59:	    jitter_value = datastore['JITTER'].to_i
60:	    if jitter_value < 0
61:	      raise Msf::OptionValidateError.new(['JITTER'])
62:	    end
63:	
64:	    tpath = normalize_uri(datastore['PATH'])
65:	    if tpath[-1,1] != '/'
66:	      tpath += '/'

ErrorCode

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "ErrorCode" error message:

75:	
76:	    # You may add multiple formats in the array
77:	    forma = []
78:	    forma = datastore['FORMAT'].split(',')
79:	
80:	    ecode = datastore['ErrorCode'].to_i
81:	    extens.each do |exte|
82:	
83:	      #
84:	      # Detect error code
85:	      #

ErrorCode

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "ErrorCode" error message:

81:	    extens.each do |exte|
82:	
83:	      #
84:	      # Detect error code
85:	      #
86:	      ecode = datastore['ErrorCode'].to_i
87:	      begin
88:	        randdir = Rex::Text.rand_text_alpha(5).chomp
89:	        randdir << exte
90:	        res = send_request_cgi({
91:	          'uri'    =>  tpath+randdir,

Using code '<ECODE>' as not found.

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Using code '<ECODE>' as not found." error message:

113:	          else
114:	            print_status("Using custom 404 string of '#{emesg}'")
115:	          end
116:	        else
117:	          ecode = tcode
118:	          print_status("Using code '#{ecode}' as not found.")
119:	        end
120:	
121:	      rescue ::Rex::ConnectionRefused, ::Rex::HostUnreachable, ::Rex::ConnectionTimeout
122:	        conn = false
123:	      rescue ::Timeout::Error, ::Errno::EPIPE

Format string error

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Format string error" error message:

138:	      #		when 'N'
139:	      #			numb << ('A'..'Z')+('0'..'9')
140:	      #		when 'n'
141:	      #			numb << ('a'..'z')+('0'..'9')
142:	          else
143:	            print_error("Format string error")
144:	            return
145:	          end
146:	        }
147:	
148:	        #exte.scan(/./) { |c|

NOT Found <WMAP_BASE_URL><TESTSTR> <RES.CODE.TO_I>

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "NOT Found <WMAP_BASE_URL><TESTSTR> <RES.CODE.TO_I>" error message:

168:	              'ctype'  => 'text/plain'
169:	            }, timeout)
170:	
171:	            if (not res or ((res.code.to_i == ecode) or (emesg and res.body.index(emesg))))
172:	              if dm == false
173:	                print_status("NOT Found #{wmap_base_url}#{teststr} #{res.code.to_i}")
174:	                #blah
175:	              end
176:	            else
177:	              if res.code.to_i == 400  and ecode != 400
178:	                print_error("Server returned an error code. #{wmap_base_url}#{teststr} #{res.code.to_i}")

Server returned an error code. <WMAP_BASE_URL><TESTSTR> <RES.CODE.TO_I>

Here is a relevant code snippet related to the "Server returned an error code. <WMAP_BASE_URL><TESTSTR> <RES.CODE.TO_I>" error message:

173:	                print_status("NOT Found #{wmap_base_url}#{teststr} #{res.code.to_i}")
174:	                #blah
175:	              end
176:	            else
177:	              if res.code.to_i == 400  and ecode != 400
178:	                print_error("Server returned an error code. #{wmap_base_url}#{teststr} #{res.code.to_i}")
179:	              else
180:	                print_good("Found #{wmap_base_url}#{teststr} #{res.code.to_i}")
181:	
182:	                report_web_vuln({
183:	                  :host         => rhost,

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See Also

Check also the following modules related to this module:

Authors

  • et

Version

This page has been produced using Metasploit Framework version 6.2.23-dev. For more modules, visit the Metasploit Module Library.

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