Setting Upstream Proxy of ZAP to Burp Suite: Complementing Features for Better Security Testing

Introduction

When it comes to web application security testing, Burp Suite is a popular tool among security professionals. However, the free version, Burp Community Edition, has limited features compared to the paid version. This is where OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy) comes in. ZAP is a free and open-source web application security scanner that offers a wider range of features than Burp Community Edition. By setting the upstream proxy of ZAP to Burp Suite, we can make use of the full features of both tools and complement each other's weaknesses.

Setting Upstream Proxy of ZAP to Burp Suite

To set the upstream proxy of ZAP to Burp Suite, follow these steps:

1. Open Burp Suite and go to the "Proxy" tab. Make note of the listening port (default is 8080).
2. Open ZAP and go to "Tools" > "Network" > "Connection”.
3. Under "HTTP proxy", enter "localhost" as the hostname and the port number that Burp Suite is listening on (default is 8080).

1. Click "OK" to save the settings.

Now, ZAP will route all of its traffic through Burp Suite, allowing us to take advantage of both tools' features.

Complementing Features

By setting the upstream proxy of ZAP to Burp Suite, we can complement each other's features and weaknesses. For example:

• Burp Suite has a powerful intercepting proxy, which allows us to modify requests and responses in real-time. ZAP's intercepting proxy is not as robust, but it has a more extensive set of active and passive scanning options.
• Burp Suite's Intruder tool is excellent for brute-force attacks and fuzzing, while ZAP's "Attack" mode provides more advanced options, such as SQL injection and XSS attacks.
• ZAP has a built-in spider that can crawl a website and discover new URLs to test. Burp Suite's spider is not as advanced, but it has a better scanner that can detect more vulnerabilities.

Together, ZAP and Burp Suite offer a more comprehensive set of tools for web application security testing.

Setting Upstream Proxy of SQLmap to Burp Suite

SQLmap is a popular tool for SQL injection testing, and like Burp Suite and ZAP, it can benefit from being paired with Burp Suite. By setting the upstream proxy of SQLmap to Burp Suite, we can take advantage of Burp Suite's intercepting proxy and modify requests and responses in real-time.

To set the upstream proxy of SQLmap to Burp Suite, follow these steps: