There seem to be a virtually limitless number of free, quality, and open source penetration tools that come with the Kali operating system. Once you’ve learned how to use a few of them, you’ll find working at the command line much less intimidating and start to get the hang of it.

But one of the problems newbies often have is understanding what each tool is used for. There are so many that it may seem like an insurmountable task to learn them all. However, note that many of them perform similar functions (if not the same), albeit with slight variations. For instance, Kali Linux comes packed with a full arsenal of different types of scanners.

And once you’ve learned how to use one scanner, it’s a pretty simple matter to pick up another and start using it in minutes. Today, however, we’re going to be taking a closer look at one such scanner called Vega.

How Is Vega Different from Other Scanners?

Some of the most popular scanners on Kali include NMAP, AngryIPScanner, OS Scanner, OpenVAS, and other similar tools. But each scanner is useful in its own right, though many of them have similar functions.

For instance, both OpenVAS and NMAP are going to be able to detect open ports on the target they scan. However, I’d say that NMAP is more useful when you have direct network access and need to feel around to find hosts, identify them, and start building a reconnaissance profile. Regardless, Vega isn’t quite the same as NMAP.

Vega is extremely useful for testing the security of web servers and web applications specifically. As such, it’s a great tool to use to identify weaknesses that can be exploited with common web attacks like SQLi (SQL Injection) attacks and XSS (Cross-Site Scripting). It can also be used to scan for and discover sensitive information that wasn’t intentionally disclosed on a web service, among other vulnerabilities.

But what’s strange about Vega is that, like OpenVAS, it contains a GUI interface. And that makes it infinitely easier for newbies to start using. If you’re new to Kali and feel intimidated by the command line, I’d recommend starting with a GUI tool. They may not always be as useful, and let’s face it – most of the meat & potatoes of Kali tools operate solely from the command line. Still, it’s more immediately gratifying for newbies, and will help them build confidence and put another tool in their penetration testing tool belt.

Though we focus on penetration tools, Linux, and Kali on this site, note that you do have the option of running Vega in other environments. Since the code was written in Java, it ports well to other operating systems. In fact, you can run it on OS X and even Windows. So if you haven’t built a Kali (or any other flavor of Linux) environment, you can get by on another system.

What Are Vega’s Features?

Not only can Vega perform routine scanning operations to identify holes and security flaws in web applications, but it also has an intercepting proxy tool that allows you to inspect traffic. In addition, it even has a website crawler, that will comb over the website piece by piece to identify flaws and build a profile of the site.

Interestingly enough, it can even be used to attack SSL connections. Though SSL tunnels are secure and adequately protect data if a secure connection is built, there are ways to attack the process and monitor data as the tunnel is negotiated. If it is done correctly, an attacker can perform an MITM attack and intercept data from an SSL connection. However, note that this attack doesn’t truly break SSL encryption. Rather, it takes advantage of a vulnerability during the negotiation process. So don’t worry, SSL isn’t broken like PPTP.

The following outline Vega’s features and capabilities:

Web vulnerability scanning

XSS vulnerability identification

SQLi vulnerability identification

SSL MITM hacking

Website crawling operations

Alerts that can be customized to your choosing

Stores information in a database

The Same Old Warning, Again!

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it ten thousand times. I know you probably don’t want a lecture regarding the ethics of hacking. But nevertheless, it can’t be said enough: do not abuse these tools. It’s immoral, unethical, and flat out illegal to start trying to use Kali tools to obtain unauthorized access to computer systems that don’t belong to you.

So naturally, don’t go out into the real world and start scanning everything you can get your hands on. Also consider that doing so might merit unwanted attention, and attract some very uncomfortable allegations and questions.

Installation Process

One of the great things about Vega is that it’s simple to install. It can be downloaded from github for free. The file is zipped, so you’ll want to unpack it in a directory from which you want to run the program. If you’re feeling lazy, you can unpack it in your home directory.

However, I would recommend that you unpack it in a directory where you commonly run other applications to keep things tidy. Barring dependency issues (it would be a good idea to run an update before proceeding), all you have to do to run Vega is change your current working directory to the folder where you unzipped the file, and the run “./vega”.

Remember that you can change your current working directory with the cd command, and you can use the pwd command to print your current working directory in the terminal.

Point and Shoot

It’s pretty simple to run a scan, too. All you have to do is launch the program and click on the “scan” menu in the top left of the window. Then, select “start new scan.” The first paramter you need to enter is the target’s URL. And since you aren’t abusing penetration testing tools, I’ll assume that you’re scanning a server that you own and control.

For instance, in the “base URL” field, you might enter “ www.mydomain.com ” and then click the “next” button. There are a myriad of modules to choose from that will help you choose what types of flaws the tool will scan for. For your first scan, you can either leave these settings at their default or add/subtract modules as you please.

On the following screen, just click the “next” button since you don’t already have any cookies. Finally, on the next screen, click the “finish” button. The scan will start to execute, so hang on and let Vega work its magic. The scan will continually update you with its progress.

You’ll also notice that threats will pop up in the main window. The threats are ranked as high, medium, low, and informational. The idea here is to find flaws in the site without leaving it to guesswork. So, for example, you could scan a domain and find out whether or not the database is vulnerable to SQLi injection attacks, and proceed from there.

Final Thoughts

Vega is a pretty darn simple tool. Not only is it simple to install and run, but it’s simple to use since it doesn’t rely on background knowledge of the Linux shell – and you can even run it on Mac and Windows systems.

Just remember that this is more of a reconnaissance tool that will help feel out a server’s weak points. In a penetration testing environment, the data can be used to plug up security holes to mitigate the threat of a risk.