Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From CEH v13 Guide Topics:
The correct answer is D. Nikto. Nikto is a popular web server vulnerability scanner used during web application and web server security assessments. It performs comprehensive tests against web servers by identifying dangerous files, outdated server software, insecure configurations, default files, vulnerable CGI scripts, misconfigurations, and known security issues. Nikto contains a large database of signatures and can quickly identify thousands of potential vulnerabilities across web server environments.
Option A, John the Ripper, is a password-cracking tool used to audit password strength and recover passwords from hashes. Option B, Dsniff, is a network auditing and password-sniffing toolkit used to capture and analyze network traffic. Option C, Snort, is a network intrusion detection and prevention system (IDS/IPS) that monitors network traffic for malicious activity but does not perform comprehensive web server vulnerability assessments.
Within CEH web application hacking methodologies, Nikto is commonly used during the scanning and enumeration phase to identify weaknesses in web servers before conducting more targeted vulnerability testing. Because it specifically checks for dangerous files, insecure CGI programs, and web server vulnerabilities, Nikto is the best answer.
