Burp Suite

Burp Suite by PortSwigger is the de facto standard for web application security testing, used by the vast majority of professional penetration testers worldwide. It provides an integrated platform that combines automated scanning with manual testing tools, allowing security professionals to perform comprehensive assessments of modern web applications.

At its core, Burp Suite operates as an intercepting proxy that sits between the tester’s browser and the target application. All HTTP/S traffic flows through Burp, where it can be inspected, modified, and replayed. This proxy-centric architecture provides complete visibility into application behavior and enables both passive analysis and active exploitation.

The automated scanner component performs deep crawling and audit of web applications, detecting vulnerabilities including SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), XML external entity (XXE) injection, server-side request forgery (SSRF), and many other issues from the OWASP Top 10 and beyond. Burp’s scan engine uses a combination of static and dynamic analysis techniques, including out-of-band detection via Burp Collaborator, to identify vulnerabilities that simpler scanners would miss.