VHostScan alternatives

Looking for an alternative tool to replace VHostScan? During the review of VHostScan we looked at other open source tools. Based on their category, tags, and text, these are the ones that have the best match.

Top 3

  1. shcheck (test HTTP headers of web applications)
  2. Cloud Security Suite (cloud security toolkit)
  3. LUNAR (system security scanner)

These tools are ranked as the best alternatives to VHostScan.

Alternatives (by score)

60

shcheck (Security Header Check)

Introduction

This simple tool is a good option to test if advised HTTP headers are available on web application and websites. It can be used as a defensive measure during development, or offensive to find weaknesses in existing applications.

Project details

shcheck is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

  • + Very low number of dependencies
  • + The source code of this software is available
  • - No releases on GitHub available

Typical usage

  • Application security
  • Web application analysis

shcheck review

68

Cloud Security Suite (CS Suite)

Introduction

Cloud Security Suite (CS Suite) is a security toolkit that allows scanning Amazon, Google, and Azure cloud platforms. It leverages tools like Lynis, Prowler, and Scout2 to collect all information. The promise of the tool is to simplify the installation of the tools, their configuration, and the data collection.

Project details

Cloud Security Suite is written in Python.

Strengths and weaknesses

  • + The source code of this software is available
  • - No releases on GitHub available

Typical usage

  • IT audit
  • Configuration audit
  • Penetration testing
  • System hardening

Cloud Security Suite review

64

LUNAR

Introduction

LUNAR is short for Lockdown UNix Auditing and Reporting and runs on the system itself.

Project details

LUNAR is written in shell script.

Strengths and weaknesses

  • + The source code of this software is available

    Typical usage

    • Security assessment
    • Self-assessment
    • System hardening

    LUNAR review

    100

    Lynis

    Introduction

    Lynis is an open-source security auditing tool that is available since 2007 and created by Michael Boelen. Its primary goal is to evaluate the security defenses of systems running Linux or other flavors of Unix. It provides suggestions to install, configure, or correct any security measures.

    Project details

    Lynis is written in shell script.

    Strengths and weaknesses

    • + The source code is easy to read and understand
    • + More than 100 contributors
    • + More than 8000 GitHub stars
    • + Tool is easy to use
    • + Available as package (simplified installation)
    • + Commercial support available
    • + Used language is shell script
    • + Very low number of dependencies
    • + Project is mature (10+ years)
    • + The source code of this software is available

      Typical usage

      • IT audit
      • Penetration testing
      • Security assessment
      • System hardening
      • Vulnerability scanning

      Lynis review

      89

      OpenSCAP

      Introduction

      The OpenSCAP project provides a wide variety of hardening guides, configuration baselines, and tools to test for vulnerabilities and configuration issues. It uses SCAP as the protocol to store the underlying data.

      Project details

      OpenSCAP is written in C.

      Strengths and weaknesses

      • + More than 25 contributors
      • + The source code of this software is available
      • + Supported by a large company

        Typical usage

        • Security assessment
        • Vulnerability scanning

        OpenSCAP review

        85

        Prowler

        Introduction

        Prowler is a security tool to check systems on AWS against the related CIS benchmark. This benchmark provides a set of best practices for AWS. The primary usage for this tool is system hardening and compliance checking.

        Project details

        Prowler is written in shell script.

        Strengths and weaknesses

        • + More than 25 contributors
        • + More than 500 GitHub stars
        • + The source code of this software is available

          Typical usage

          • Compliance testing
          • Security assessment
          • System hardening

          Prowler review

          60

          orthrus

          Introduction

          Orthrus is a security framework and auditing tool. It allows monitoring and analyzing security configurations across multiple environments.

          Project details

          orthrus is written in Golang.

          Strengths and weaknesses

          • + The source code of this software is available
          • - Project is in early phase and may be unstable

          Typical usage

          • Security assessment
          • Self-assessment
          • System hardening
          • Vulnerability scanning

          orthrus review

          60

          otseca

          Introduction

          Tools like otseca help with data collection. This could be useful for system administrators to collect data on a regular interval. This data then can be compared with a future data capture. Another possibility is to use it during pentesting. In that case one should have already obtained root access, as the tool requires this as well.

          Project details

          otseca is written in shell script.

          Strengths and weaknesses

          • + The source code is easy to read and understand
          • + Tool is modular and extendable
          • + The source code of this software is available

            Typical usage

            • Configuration audit
            • Penetration testing
            • Security assessment

            otseca review

            97

            CloudSploit scans

            Introduction

            CloudSploit scans is an open source software project to test security risks related to an AWS account. It runs tests against your Amazon account and aims to discover any potential misconfigured setting or other risks.

            Project details

            CloudSploit scans is written in Node.js.

            Strengths and weaknesses

            • + More than 10 contributors
            • + More than 500 GitHub stars
            • + The source code of this software is available
            • - No releases on GitHub available

            Typical usage

            • IT audit
            • Configuration audit
            • Security assessment

            CloudSploit scans review

            85

            Kube-Bench

            Introduction

            Tools like Kube-Bench help with quickly checking configuration weaknesses or discovering bad defaults.

            Project details

            Kube-Bench is written in Golang.

            Strengths and weaknesses

            • + The source code of this software is available

              Kube-Bench review

              60

              SSHsec

              Introduction

              SSHsec scans a system running the SSH protocol and retrieves its configuration, host keys, and Diffie-Hellman groups.

              Project details

              SSHsec is written in Python.

              Strengths and weaknesses

              • + The source code of this software is available

                Typical usage

                • Information gathering
                • Penetration testing
                • Security assessment

                SSHsec review

                70

                YASAT

                Introduction

                The YASAT tool performs a system scan to detect configuration issues and possible improvements for hardening the system. Typically you would use this on new and existing systems.

                Project details

                YASAT is written in shell script.

                Strengths and weaknesses

                • + Used language is shell script
                • - No updates for a while

                Typical usage

                • IT audit
                • Configuration audit
                • Security assessment

                YASAT review

                64

                Zeus

                Introduction

                Zeus is a tool to perform a quick security scan of an AWS environment. It helps to find missing security controls, so additional system hardening measures can be applied to systems.

                Project details

                Zeus is written in shell script.

                Strengths and weaknesses

                • + Used language is shell script
                • + The source code of this software is available
                • - No releases on GitHub available

                Typical usage

                • Configuration audit
                • Security assessment
                • Self-assessment
                • System hardening

                Zeus review

                60

                iniscan

                Introduction

                Iniscan scans a given php.ini file and tests it against security best practices. It reports back the results by showing a Pass or Fail for each related test. As it is a command-line utility, it can be used in automated testing.

                Project details

                iniscan is written in PHP.

                Strengths and weaknesses

                • + More than 25 contributors
                • + More than 1000 GitHub stars
                • + The source code of this software is available

                  Typical usage

                  • Configuration audit
                  • Security assessment

                  iniscan review

                  60

                  sysechk (System Security Checker)

                  Introduction

                  System Security Checker, or sysechk, is a tool to perform a system audit against a set of best practices. It uses a modular approach to test the system.

                  Project details

                  sysechk is written in shell script.

                  Strengths and weaknesses

                  • + Used language is shell script
                  • + The source code of this software is available

                    Typical usage

                    • IT audit
                    • System hardening

                    sysechk review

                    74

                    testssl.sh

                    Introduction

                    Key features of testssl.sh include:

                    • Clear output: you can tell easily whether anything is good or bad
                    • Ease of installation: It works for Linux, Darwin, FreeBSD, NetBSD and MSYS2/Cygwin out of the box: no need to install or configure something, no gems, CPAN, pip or the like.
                    • Flexibility: You can test any SSL/TLS enabled and STARTTLS service, not only webservers at port 443
                    • Toolbox: Several command line options help you to run YOUR test and configure YOUR output
                    • Reliability: features are tested thoroughly
                    • Verbosity: If a particular check cannot be performed because of a missing capability on your client side, you'll get a warning
                    • Privacy: It's only you who sees the result, not a third party
                    • Freedom: It's 100% open source. You can look at the code, see what's going on and you can change it.

                    Project details

                    testssl.sh is written in shell script.

                    Strengths and weaknesses

                    • + Used language is shell script
                    • + The source code of this software is available

                      Typical usage

                      • Application testing
                      • Configuration audit

                      testssl.sh review

                      56

                      Admin Page Finder (PHP)

                      Introduction

                      Admin Page Finder is a tool written in PHP to find admin sections within a website. It can be used during pentesting and security assessments.

                      Project details

                      Admin Page Finder (PHP) is written in PHP.

                      Strengths and weaknesses

                      • + The source code of this software is available
                      • - Unknown project license

                      Typical usage

                      • Penetration testing
                      • Reconnaissance

                      Admin Page Finder (PHP) review

                      59

                      BlindElephant

                      Introduction

                      BlindElephant is a security tool to perform fingerprinting of web applications. It can discover the name and version of known web applications.

                      Project details

                      64

                      CMSeeK

                      Introduction

                      CMSeeK is a security scanner for content management systems (CMS). It can perform a wide range of functions starting from the detection of the CMS, up to vulnerability scanning. The tool claims to support over 100 different CMS tools, with extensive support for the commonly used ones like Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress.

                      The scans performed by CMSeeK include version detection. It can also do enumeration of users, plugins, and themes. This might be useful to see what users or components are available. The tool includes admin page discovery, file discovery, and directory listing. Anything that might be useful to a penetration test or security assessment, might be displayed.

                      Project details

                      CMSeeK is written in Python.

                      Strengths and weaknesses

                      • + The source code of this software is available
                      • - Full name of author is unknown

                      Typical usage

                      • Penetration testing
                      • Software exploitation
                      • Software identification
                      • Vulnerability scanning

                      CMSeeK review

                      60

                      Gitem

                      Introduction

                      Gitem is a reconnaissance tool to extract information about organizations on GitHub. It can be used to find the leaking of sensitive data.

                      Project details

                      Gitem is written in Python.

                      Strengths and weaknesses

                      • + The source code of this software is available

                        Typical usage

                        • Information gathering
                        • Security assessment
                        • Security monitoring
                        • Self-assessment

                        Gitem review

                        52

                        Recon-ng

                        Introduction

                        Recon-ng is a full-featured web reconnaissance framework. It is written in Python and modular, useful for penetrating tests and security assessments.

                        Project details

                        Recon-ng is written in Python.

                        Strengths and weaknesses

                        • + The source code of this software is available

                          Typical usage

                          • Collaboration
                          • Information gathering
                          • Information sharing
                          • Security assessment

                          Recon-ng review

                          93

                          Wappalyzer

                          Introduction

                          Wappalyzer can be a useful asset when performing reconnaissance on a particular target like a web application or website. It helps to find what software is used to run a particular page. Components that can be detected are the content management system (CMS), JavaScript framework, e-commerce software, web server, and more.

                          Project details

                          Wappalyzer is written in Node.js.

                          Strengths and weaknesses

                          • + Has 300+ contributors
                          • + More than 4000 GitHub stars
                          • + Many releases available
                          • + The source code of this software is available

                            Typical usage

                            • Information gathering
                            • Reconnaissance
                            • Software identification

                            Wappalyzer review

                            78

                            detectem

                            Introduction

                            Detectem can be a good early vulnerability detection system. By scanning regularly the dependencies of web applications, old versions of tools can be detected and upgraded. This tool is also helpful for penetration tests to find out what kind of software components are used.

                            Project details

                            detectem is written in Python.

                            Strengths and weaknesses

                            • + The source code of this software is available

                              Typical usage

                              • Application security
                              • Application testing
                              • Reconnaissance
                              • Vulnerability scanning

                              detectem review

                              74

                              Arachni

                              Introduction

                              Arachni is framework written in Ruby with focus on evaluating the security of web applications. Typical users include security professionals and system administrators.

                              The tooling is free and open source. Besides Linux, it also runs on macOS and Microsoft Windows.

                              Project details

                              Arachni is written in Ruby.

                              Strengths and weaknesses

                              • + More than 1000 GitHub stars
                              • + The source code of this software is available

                                Typical usage

                                • Penetration testing
                                • Security assessment
                                • Web application analysis

                                Arachni review

                                78

                                JoomScan

                                Introduction

                                JoomScan could be used to test your Joomla installation or during security assessments. As it has a primary focus on Joomla, it may provide better results than generic vulnerability scanners.

                                Project details

                                JoomScan is written in Perl.

                                Strengths and weaknesses

                                • + The source code of this software is available

                                  Typical usage

                                  • Vulnerability scanning
                                  • Vulnerability testing

                                  JoomScan review

                                  Some relevant tool missing as an alternative to VHostScan? Please contact us with your suggestion.