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Web Server and Its Types of Attacks

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16 views6 pages

Web Server and Its Types of Attacks

Uploaded by

Akash Aryan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Web Server and its Types of Attacks

Introduction
Websites are hosted on web servers. Web servers are themselves computers running an
operating system; connected to the back-end database, running various applications. Any
vulnerability in the applications, Database, Operating system or in the network will lead to an
attack on the web server. Vulnerability stack of a web server is given below (source: White
hat security)

Source: http://black-shado.blogspot.com/2006/11/vulnerability-stack.html

E.g. IIS { Internet Information Services } and Apache

Web Server Attacks types:


DOS attack:

An attacker may cause a denial of service attack by sending numerous service request
packets overwhelming the servicing capability of the web server, or he may try to exploit a
programming error in the application causing a DOS attack.

E.g. buffer overflow attack, SYN flooding, HTTP get Request Flooding, Ping of death.
Source:
https://blogs.manageengine.com/network/netflowanalyzer/2014/04/02/ddos-attack-detection-
using-netflow-analyzer.html

Website Defacement:

SQL injection attacks are used to deface the website. When an attacker finds out that input
fields are not sanitized properly, he can add SQL strings to maliciously craft a query which is
executed by the web browser. He may store malicious/unrelated data in the database; when
the website is requested, it will show irrelevant data on the website, thus displaying a
defaced website.

Directory Traversal:

This is vulnerability where an attacker is able to access beyond the web root directory from
the application. If he is able to access beyond web root directory, he might execute OS
commands and get sensitive information or access restricted directories.

Misconfiguration attacks:

If unnecessary services are enabled or default configuration files are used, verbose/error
information is not masked; an attacker can compromise the web server through various
attacks like password cracking, Error-based SQL injection, Command Injection, etc.

Phishing Attack:

An attacker may redirect the victim to malicious websites by sending him/her a malicious link
by email which looks authentic, but redirects him/her to malicious web page thereby stealing
their data.
There are a lot of other web application attacks which can lead to a web server attack-
Parameter form tampering, Cookie tampering, unvalidated inputs, SQL injection, Buffer
overflow attacks.

Methodology:
Information Gathering:

Information related to the target server is collected from various sources like

● From websites

● WHOIS information

● Netcraft information

● Banner grabbing

● Port scanning with Nmap.

● Mirroring a website using Htttrack.

Vulnerability Scanning:

There are automated tools for scanning a web server and applications running on it. The
results may show various threats and vulnerabilities on the target web server; these
vulnerabilities may later be exploited using tools or manually.

E.g. Acunetix, Nikto, Vega etc

Password Attacks:

● Guessing/Default passwords

● Brute Forcing

● Dictionary Attacks

Countermeasures:
● Update and patch web servers regularly.

● Do not use the default configuration.


● Store configuration files securely.

● Scan the applications running on the web server for all vulnerabilities.

● Use IDS and firewall with updated signatures.

● Block all unnecessary protocols and services.

● Use secure protocols.

● Disable default accounts, follow strict access control policy.

● Install Anti-virus, and update it regularly.

● All OS and software used should be latest and updated.

Web Application and its types of Attacks

Introduction
Web application provides an interface between the web server and the client to
communicate. Web pages are generated at the server, and browsers present them at the
client side. The data is passed between client and server in the form of HTML pages through
HTTP protocol.

There are client-side vulnerabilities and server-side vulnerabilities which lead to a web
application attack.

Attacks:
Parameter Tampering:

This involves modifying parameters exchanged between client and server, which may lead to
XSS attack and SQL injection attack. Usually, HTML data goes as a name-value pair; if the
attacker is able to modify the values of the parameter during transfer, it may lead to many
other attacks.
Source: screenshot

Unvalidated inputs:

Web applications accept user inputs, queries are constructed based on dynamic user input.
If these inputs are not properly sanitised they will open a way for the attacker to launch
attacks like XSS, SQL injection attack, Directory traversal attack, etc., identity theft, data
theft are dangerous outcomes of this attack.

Directory traversal Attack:

This is a type of vulnerability where an attacker is able to access beyond the web root
directory, into the restricted directories on the web server. Then an attacker will be able to
access system files, run OS commands, access configuration information, etc.
Source: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/433964114063467723/

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