Guide to the software detector
Website software is incredibly popular in this day and age, from content management systems such as WordPress or Joomla all the way through for pre-build forums like MyBB or Vanilla it has never been more important to know exactly what software a website.
Take WordPress for example, this is the most popular content management system in the world. In fact, it makes up 43% of the websites today. That's incredible, it doesn't however mean that it is 100% secure. People find security vulnerabilities in open source software all the time and if WordPress isn't configured correctly the version can be leaked.
On top of version related vulnerabilities WordPress and similar software make use of community plugins. Despite these plugins enhancing a website's functionality these can also contain security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection or Cross Site Scripting (XSS)
How does the arctil software detector work?
Our software detector analyses the original target URL to look for key identifiers within the page source code. These identifies are associated with one specific piece of website software and so allow us to identify the software in use. Additionally, in some situations should the software can be poorly configured so we're able to determine the version, this version could then be used to target the software with a pre-existing exploit. Below is an example of how arctil would show the software version if found.
Can I expand the software detection file?
The software detection file is just a standard JSON file which is downloaded on the initial run of arctil, this is then stored inside the arctil/ folder in your documents.
Should you wish to add more software to this file then simply add a new JSON array, you'll be able to see many pre-existing examples. Please note, any identifiers you add must be unique to the software otherwise it would result in false positives. If you're unsure feel free to ask on the community forum and we'll be happy to investigate this for you. Who knows, it might just end up getting added to the next official release.
Notice something not quite right? That's fine we're not perfect. Why not make a suggestion on our community forum, you should be able to see the correct formatting below.
Suggestion/Improvement:
Still need help?
Are you having trouble using arctil? Why not try reaching out to our Community Forum.
Alternatively, you can try contacting us through the Contact page.
