Web Fingerprinting & WAF Detection

Authorization Warning

IMPORTANT: Web fingerprinting sends requests to target servers. Always ensure you have:

• Written permission from the target application owner
• Defined scope of authorized testing
• Legal compliance with local regulations

Prerequisites

Required tools that must be installed on your system:

• httpx - go install -v github.com/projectdiscovery/httpx/cmd/httpx@latest
• nuclei - go install -v github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei/v2/cmd/nuclei@latest

Optional tools:

• wafw00f - pip install wafw00f
• whatweb - Package manager installation
• fingerprintx - go install github.com/praetorian-inc/fingerprintx/cmd/fingerprintx@latest

Quick Start

Most commonly used commands for web fingerprinting:

Basic Technology Detection

whatweb https://target.com

WAF Detection

wafw00f https://target.com

HTTP Header Analysis

curl -I https://target.com

Comprehensive Fingerprinting (Nuclei)

nuclei -u https://target.com -tags tech

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Quick Technology Fingerprinting

When you need to quickly identify the technology stack:

whatweb https://target.com --aggression 1

Parameters:

• --aggression 1 - Quick scan (1-4, default 1)
• -a 3 - More aggressive (more requests)
• -v - Verbose output

Example:

whatweb https://target.com -a 3

Scenario 2: WAF Detection

When you need to detect WAF/CDN protection:

wafw00f https://target.com

Output shows:

• WAF vendor (Cloudflare, AWS WAF, Imperva, etc.)
• CDN in use
• Firewall rules detected

Check multiple targets:

wafw00f -i targets.txt

Scenario 3: Server Header Analysis

When you need to analyze HTTP headers:

curl -I https://target.com

Detailed headers:

curl -v https://target.com 2>&1 | grep -i "< "

Common headers to check:

Server: nginx/1.18.0
X-Powered-By: PHP/7.4
X-AspNet-Version: 4.0.30319
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000

Scenario 4: Technology Detection with Nuclei

When you need comprehensive technology fingerprinting:

nuclei -u https://target.com -tags tech -severity info

Specific technologies:

nuclei -u https://target.com -tags "wordpress,joomla,drupal"
nuclei -u https://target.com -tags "spring-boot,struts2"
nuclei -u https://target.com -tags "react,vue,angular"

Scenario 5: HTTPx Fingerprinting

When you need fast HTTP probing with tech detection:

httpx -u https://target.com -tech-detect -status-code -title

Parameters:

• -tech-detect - Enable technology detection
• -status-code - Show HTTP status
• -title - Extract page title
• -server - Show server header
• -websocket - Detect WebSocket
• -cdn - Detect CDN

Example:

httpx -u https://target.com -tech-detect -server -cdn -ssl

Scenario 6: CMS Detection

When you need to identify the CMS:

whatweb https://target.com --aggression 3 | grep -i cms

Nuclei CMS detection:

nuclei -u https://target.com -tags cms

Common CMS indicators:

• WordPress: /wp-login.php, /wp-admin/, wp-json
• Drupal: /user/login, Drupal.settings
• Joomla: /administrator/components, Joomla!
• TYPO3: /typo3conf

Scenario 7: JavaScript Framework Detection

When you need to identify frontend frameworks:

curl -s https://target.com | grep -i "react\|vue\|angular\|jquery"

Check specific framework files:

# React
curl -s https://target.com | grep -i "react"

# Vue.js
curl -s https://target.com | grep -i "vue\.js\|vue-"

# Angular
curl -s https://target.com | grep -i "angular\|ng-app"

# jQuery
curl -s https://target.com | grep -i "jquery"

Scenario 8: Server Version Detection

When you need to identify server software and version:

nmap -sV -p 443,80 target.com

HTTP server banner:

curl -I https://target.com | grep -i server

Use httpx for server detection:

httpx -u https://target.com -server -response-time

Scenario 9: CDN Detection

When you need to identify CDN providers:

httpx -u https://target.com -cdn

Check HTTP headers for CDN:

curl -I https://target.com | grep -i "cf-ray\|x-amz\|x-akamai\|x-fastly"

Common CDN headers:

• Cloudflare: cf-ray, cf-cache-status
• AWS CloudFront: x-amz-cf-id
• Akamai: x-akamai-transformed
• Fastly: x-served-by, fastly-ssl
• CloudFront: via, x-amz-cf-pop

Scenario 10: SSL/TLS Fingerprinting

When you need to analyze SSL configuration:

nmap --script ssl-cert,ssl-enum-ciphers -p 443 target.com

SSL info with curl:

curl -vI https://target.com 2>&1 | grep -i ssl

Using testssl.sh:

testssl.sh https://target.com

Tool Selection Guide

Tool Comparison:

Technology Fingerprints

Web Servers

Backend Frameworks

Frontend Frameworks

WAF Signatures

Tips and Best Practices

1. Start passive - Use headers and page content first
2. Check multiple sources - Combine tool outputs for accuracy
3. Verify versions - Technology detection is not always precise
4. Note evasion - Some sites hide their technology stack
5. WAF first - Always check for WAF before active scanning
6. CDN consideration - CDN may hide actual server info
7. Save results - Record fingerprints for correlation

Resources

Scripts

• scripts/extract_headers.py - Extract and analyze HTTP headers
• scripts/tech_matcher.py - Match technologies from responses
• scripts/waf_detector.py - Detect WAF from headers/cookies

References

• references/whatweb_guide.md - WhatWeb reference guide
• references/wafw00f_guide.md - WAF detection guide
• references/httpx_guide.md - HTTPx reference
• references/fingerprinting_techniques.md - Advanced fingerprinting methods

Scenario: Persistent Storage of Fingerprinting Results

When you need to persist web fingerprinting results to the database:

# Manual entry after fingerprinting
python .claude/skills/recon-fingerprint/scripts/fingerprint_storage.py \
  --host-ip 192.168.1.100 \
  --url "https://example.com" \
  --technology "Apache 2.4.41" \
  --category "web-server" \
  --version "2.4.41" \
  --subsystem "Web Application"

Parameters:

• --host-ip - Target host IP (required)
• --url - Target URL (required)
• --technology - Discovered technology (required)
• --category - Technology category: web-server, cms, framework, etc. (optional)
• --version - Technology version (optional)
• --confidence - Confidence level (optional)
• --subsystem - Subsystem name (optional)

Database location: ./data/results.db

Related skills: results-storage - Query data, generate reports

Assets

• assets/waf-signatures.txt - Known WAF signatures
• assets/tech-headers.txt - Technology header patterns
• assets/cms-fingerprints.txt - CMS detection patterns