DAST Scanning

Test running applications for security vulnerabilities through dynamic analysis.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

Testing deployed applications
Performing automated security scans
Finding runtime vulnerabilities
Testing authentication flows
Validating API security

Prerequisites

Running application instance
Network access to target
Testing authorization
Understanding of web security

Tool Overview

Tool	Type	Best For
OWASP ZAP	OSS	Automated scanning, CI
Burp Suite	Commercial	Manual testing, advanced
Nikto	OSS	Web server scanning
Nuclei	OSS	Template-based scanning
Arachni	OSS	Comprehensive scanning

OWASP ZAP

Docker Setup

# Run ZAP in daemon mode
docker run -d --name zap \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -v $(pwd)/reports:/zap/reports \
  ghcr.io/zaproxy/zaproxy:stable \
  zap.sh -daemon -host 0.0.0.0 -port 8080 \
  -config api.addrs.addr.name=.* \
  -config api.addrs.addr.regex=true

Baseline Scan

# Quick baseline scan
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/zap/wrk \
  ghcr.io/zaproxy/zaproxy:stable \
  zap-baseline.py -t https://target.example.com \
  -r baseline-report.html

# With authentication
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/zap/wrk \
  ghcr.io/zaproxy/zaproxy:stable \
  zap-baseline.py -t https://target.example.com \
  -r report.html \
  --auth-login-url https://target.example.com/login \
  --auth-username user \
  --auth-password pass

Full Scan

# Comprehensive scan
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/zap/wrk \
  ghcr.io/zaproxy/zaproxy:stable \
  zap-full-scan.py -t https://target.example.com \
  -r full-report.html \
  -J full-report.json

API Scan

# OpenAPI specification scan
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/zap/wrk \
  ghcr.io/zaproxy/zaproxy:stable \
  zap-api-scan.py -t https://target.example.com/openapi.json \
  -f openapi \
  -r api-report.html

ZAP Automation Framework

# zap-automation.yaml
env:
  contexts:
    - name: "Default Context"
      urls:
        - "https://target.example.com"
      includePaths:
        - "https://target.example.com/.*"
      excludePaths:
        - "https://target.example.com/logout.*"
      authentication:
        method: "form"
        parameters:
          loginUrl: "https://target.example.com/login"
          loginRequestData: "username={%username%}&password={%password%}"
        verification:
          method: "response"
          loggedInRegex: "\\QWelcome\\E"
      users:
        - name: "testuser"
          credentials:
            username: "test@example.com"
            password: "password123"

jobs:
  - type: spider
    parameters:
      context: "Default Context"
      user: "testuser"
      maxDuration: 10
      
  - type: spiderAjax
    parameters:
      context: "Default Context"
      user: "testuser"
      maxDuration: 10
      
  - type: passiveScan-wait
    parameters:
      maxDuration: 5
      
  - type: activeScan
    parameters:
      context: "Default Context"
      user: "testuser"
      policy: "Default Policy"
      
  - type: report
    parameters:
      template: "traditional-html"
      reportDir: "/zap/reports"
      reportFile: "zap-report"

# Run automation
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/zap/wrk \
  ghcr.io/zaproxy/zaproxy:stable \
  zap.sh -cmd -autorun /zap/wrk/zap-automation.yaml

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

name: DAST Scan

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 2 * * *'

jobs:
  dast:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Start Application
        run: |
          docker-compose up -d
          sleep 30  # Wait for app to be ready

      - name: OWASP ZAP Scan
        uses: zaproxy/action-full-scan@v0.8.0
        with:
          target: 'http://localhost:8080'
          rules_file_name: '.zap/rules.tsv'
          cmd_options: '-a'

      - name: Upload Report
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: always()
        with:
          name: zap-report
          path: report_html.html

GitLab CI

dast:
  stage: security
  image: ghcr.io/zaproxy/zaproxy:stable
  variables:
    TARGET_URL: $DAST_TARGET_URL
  script:
    - mkdir -p /zap/wrk/reports
    - zap-baseline.py -t $TARGET_URL -r /zap/wrk/reports/zap-report.html -I
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - reports/
    expire_in: 1 week
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"

Burp Suite Automation

REST API Usage

import requests

class BurpScanner:
    def __init__(self, api_url, api_key):
        self.api_url = api_url
        self.headers = {'Authorization': api_key}
    
    def create_scan(self, target_url):
        """Create and start a new scan."""
        payload = {
            'scan_configurations': [
                {'name': 'Crawl and Audit - Balanced'}
            ],
            'scope': {
                'include': [{'rule': target_url}]
            },
            'urls': [target_url]
        }
        response = requests.post(
            f'{self.api_url}/v0.1/scan',
            json=payload,
            headers=self.headers
        )
        return response.headers.get('Location')
    
    def get_scan_status(self, scan_id):
        """Get scan status."""
        response = requests.get(
            f'{self.api_url}/v0.1/scan/{scan_id}',
            headers=self.headers
        )
        return response.json()
    
    def get_issues(self, scan_id):
        """Get scan issues."""
        response = requests.get(
            f'{self.api_url}/v0.1/scan/{scan_id}/issues',
            headers=self.headers
        )
        return response.json()

# Usage
scanner = BurpScanner('http://burp:1337', 'api-key')
scan_id = scanner.create_scan('https://target.example.com')

while True:
    status = scanner.get_scan_status(scan_id)
    if status['scan_status'] == 'succeeded':
        break
    time.sleep(30)

issues = scanner.get_issues(scan_id)

Nikto

Basic Scanning

# Install
apt-get install nikto

# Basic scan
nikto -h https://target.example.com

# With specific options
nikto -h https://target.example.com \
  -ssl \
  -Tuning 123bde \
  -output nikto-report.html \
  -Format html

# Scan specific ports
nikto -h target.example.com -p 80,443,8080

Common DAST Findings

OWASP Top 10

owasp_findings:
  A01_Broken_Access_Control:
    - IDOR vulnerabilities
    - Missing function-level access control
    - Privilege escalation
    
  A02_Cryptographic_Failures:
    - Sensitive data in URLs
    - Missing HTTPS
    - Weak ciphers
    
  A03_Injection:
    - SQL injection
    - Command injection
    - XSS
    
  A05_Security_Misconfiguration:
    - Default credentials
    - Verbose error messages
    - Missing security headers
    
  A07_Auth_Failures:
    - Weak passwords accepted
    - Session fixation
    - Missing MFA

Security Headers Check

# Check security headers
curl -I https://target.example.com | grep -i "x-\|content-security\|strict"

# Expected headers:
# X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
# X-Frame-Options: DENY
# X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
# Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'
# Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000

Custom Test Cases

# Test authentication
tests:
  - name: "Authentication Bypass"
    steps:
      - Access protected resource without auth
      - Verify 401/403 response
      - Access with valid auth
      - Verify 200 response
    
  - name: "Session Management"
    steps:
      - Login and capture session token
      - Logout
      - Attempt to use old session
      - Verify session invalidated
    
  - name: "Input Validation"
    steps:
      - Submit XSS payload in all inputs
      - Submit SQL injection in all inputs
      - Verify proper sanitization

Common Issues

Issue: False Positives

Problem: Scanner reports non-vulnerabilities Solution: Configure scan policy, review findings manually

Issue: Missing Authentication

Problem: Cannot scan authenticated areas Solution: Configure authentication context, use session tokens

Issue: Incomplete Coverage

Problem: Scanner misses endpoints Solution: Import API specs, improve spidering, use authenticated scanning

Best Practices

Test in staging environment first
Configure proper authentication
Import API specifications for complete coverage
Review findings before reporting
Combine with manual testing
Run regular scans (weekly minimum)
Track findings over time
Coordinate with development team

Related Skills

sast-scanning - Static analysis
penetration-testing - Manual testing
waf-setup - WAF configuration

dast-scanning