Pen testing, or penetration testing, is a simulated cyberattack on a computer system or network that is conducted to evaluate the security of that system. It is used to identify and assess potential vulnerabilities in a system. Penetration testers usually follow specific procedures to conduct their tests, and these tests can be complex and time-consuming. Recently, GBHackers reported the discovery of a new ChatGPT-powered penetration testing tool called “PentestGPT.” This tool aims to help penetration testers automate their testing operations.
PentestGPT is a powerful penetration testing tool built on top of the ChatGPT language model. It operates testing in an interactive mode and guides penetration testers through the overall progress and specific operations of the penetration testing process
Like PentestGPT, a ChatGPT Powered Automated Penetration Testing Tool, BurpGPT was developed with deep vulnerability scanning features
BurpGPT combines Burp Suite with OpenAI’s GPT to perform a passive scan to detect a vulnerability and traffic-based analysis.
To use PentestGPT, you must be a ChatGPT Plus member. It relies on the GPT-4 model of high-quality reasoning, and since there is no public GPT-4 API, a wrapper is included to use ChatGPT session to support PentestGPT.
To detect vulnerabilities in web applications, BurpGPT sends web traffic to an OpenAI model Specified by a user, enabling sophisticated analysis within the passive scanner.
Alexander Teyar, a security researcher from the UK, developed BurpGPT. The plugin provides customizable prompts allowing customized web traffic analysis that adapts to each user’s demands.
“The extension generates an automated security report that summarizes potential security issues based on the user’s prompt and real-time data from Burp-issued requests,” Alexandra said
The add-on accelerates vulnerability assessment and gives security experts a higher-level overview of the scanned application or endpoint by utilizing AI and natural language processing.
Benefits of BurpGPT and PentestGPT
These OpenAI tools offer a range of benefits for penetration testers and security enthusiasts, including:
- Streamlined and automated penetration test process
- High-quality reasoning and superior performance compared to other language models.
- Interactive mode for real-time feedback and the command prompt
- Capable of solving easy to medium HackTheBox machines and other CTF challenges.
- Designed with “test the status awareness” to maintain context and accuracy throughout the testing process.
- Adds a passive scan check, allowing users to submit HTTP data to an OpenAI-controlled GPT model for analysis through a placeholder system
- Leverages the power of OpenAI’s GPT models to conduct comprehensive traffic analysis, enabling the detection of various issues beyond just security vulnerabilities in scanned applications
- Enabling granular control over the number of GPT tokens used in the analysis by allowing for precise adjustments of the maximum prompt length and many new
Conclusion
BurpGPT and PentestGPT are powerful penetration testing tools designed to automate and streamline the testing process. With high-quality reasoning and an interactive mode for real-time feedback, it is the ultimate solution for hackers and security enthusiasts looking to improve their testing process
If you’re interested in trying out PentestGPT, be sure to become a ChatGPT plus member and check out the sample testing process available online as there are many resources on that.