Mastering Linux Security and Hardening

Web server scanning with Nikto

OpenVAS, which we just looked at, is a general-purpose vulnerability scanner. It can find vulnerabilities for any kind of operating system or for any server daemon. However, as we've just seen, an OpenVAS scan can take a while to run, and it might be more than what you need.

Nikto is a special-purpose tool with only one purpose. That is, it's meant to scan web servers and only web servers. It's easy to install, easy to use, and capable of doing a comprehensive scan of a web server fairly quickly. And, although it's included in Kali Linux, you don't need Kali Linux to run it.