VulnHawk - Web Security Scanner

VulnHawk is a comprehensive web security scanning tool designed to detect and report vulnerabilities in web applications. It combines automated scanning capabilities with AI-enhanced analysis to provide actionable insights for improving web application security.

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Table of Contents

• Project Overview
• Features
• Application Architecture
  • Backend Components
  • Frontend Components
• Key Security Checks
  • Security Header Analysis
  • SSL/TLS Assessment
  • Vulnerability Testing
• Usage Instructions
  • Running VulnHawk
  • PDF Analysis & AI-Enhanced Assessment
• Technical Requirements
• License
• Contributing

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Project Overview

VulnHawk is a full-stack web application that allows users to scan websites for common vulnerabilities, generate detailed security reports, and visualize security scores. The platform features:

• Automated vulnerability scanning for SQL Injection, XSS, and insecure forms
• Security header and SSL/TLS analysis
• Technology stack detection
• AI-powered PDF analysis of security reports
• User-friendly interface for scanning and report visualization

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Features

• Comprehensive Security Scanning: Detects common web vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
• SSL/TLS Assessment: Checks certificate validity, supported protocols, and cipher suites.
• Security Header Analysis: Ensures essential security headers are configured correctly.
• Technology Detection: Identifies frameworks, servers, and libraries used by the target.
• Report Generation: Generates detailed PDF reports with security scores and findings.
• AI-Enhanced Analysis: Uses OpenAI GPT models to analyze vulnerabilities from uploaded PDF reports.

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Application Architecture

VulnHawk follows a client-server architecture with the following components:

Backend Components

Main Security Scanner

Handles core scanning and vulnerability detection:

• Security Header Analysis: Detects missing headers like Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, and more.
• SSL/TLS Assessment: Validates certificates, checks for insecure protocols (TLS 1.0/1.1), and evaluates cipher suites.
• Configuration Analysis: Identifies misconfigurations in HTTP settings.
• Vulnerability Detection:
  • SQL Injection testing (basic syntax, authentication bypass, union-based, and destructive payloads)
  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) detection (DOM-based, event handler injections, JavaScript URI payloads)
  • Form vulnerability analysis
• Technology Detection: Identifies the web stack, server, and frameworks in use.

API Endpoints:

• GET / - Serves the frontend application
• GET /<path:filename> - Serves static files
• POST /scan - Initiates a security scan and returns a comprehensive assessment

PDF Analysis Service

Performs AI-enhanced analysis of uploaded PDF reports:

• PDF Text Extraction: Extracts content from security reports.
• AI Analysis: Leverages OpenAI GPT to evaluate vulnerabilities and provide actionable insights.
• Memory-Efficient Processing: Handles large PDF files efficiently.

API Endpoint:

• POST /api/upload-pdf - Uploads PDF and returns AI-generated vulnerability analysis.

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Frontend Components

• Report Generation: Uses jsPDF to generate downloadable PDF reports.
• Security Score Calculation: Computes scores based on detected issues.
• UI Features:
  • Summary of scan results
  • Color-coded security indicators
  • Circular progress visualization for security scores
  • Downloadable PDF reports

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Key Security Checks

Security Header Analysis

VulnHawk checks for critical headers:

• Strict-Transport-Security – Enforces HTTPS
• Content-Security-Policy – Mitigates XSS and injection attacks
• X-Frame-Options – Prevents clickjacking
• X-Content-Type-Options – Prevents MIME sniffing
• Referrer-Policy – Controls referrer information

SSL/TLS Assessment

• Certificate validation and expiration check
• Protocol support analysis (TLS 1.0/1.1 detection)
• Cipher suite evaluation
• Security best practice verification

Vulnerability Testing

SQL Injection

Tests URL parameters and form inputs with payloads like:

• Basic SQL syntax: ' or "
• Authentication bypass: ' OR '1'='1
• Union-based attacks: ' UNION SELECT 1,2,3 --
• Database manipulation: 1'; DROP TABLE users; --

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

• Script injection: <script>alert(1)</script>
• Event handler injection: <img src=x onerror=alert(1)>
• JavaScript URI payloads: javascript:alert(1)
• DOM-based injection vectors

Form Vulnerability Analysis

• Tests form fields with malicious payloads
• Detects reflected and unsanitized input

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Usage Instructions

Running VulnHawk

1. Enter the target URL in the input field.
2. Click Scan to initiate the security assessment.
3. Review results:
   • Security score
   • Missing headers
   • Detected vulnerabilities
   • SSL/TLS issues
   • Technology stack

PDF Analysis & AI-Enhanced Assessment

1. Upload a PDF report (max 2MB) via the AI analysis endpoint.
2. VulnHawk extracts text and evaluates vulnerabilities.
3. Review AI-generated recommendations and insights.

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Technical Requirements

Backend:

• Python 3.6+
• Flask framework
• Required Python packages:
  • requests
  • beautifulsoup4
  • PyPDF2
  • openai
  • python-dotenv
  • flask-cors
  • OpenSSL

Frontend:

• HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript
• jsPDF library for PDF generation

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VulnHawk combines automated scanning with AI-powered insights to provide a holistic view of web application security, helping developers and security professionals strengthen their security posture.