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Prerequisites¶
Make sure you have the following software ready before starting the installation:
- Git client:
sudo apt-get install git- Python 2.7, which is installed by default in most systems
- Pip version 1.1:
sudo apt-get install python-pip
Installation¶
git clone https://github.com/andresriancho/w3af.gitcd w3af/./w3af_console. /tmp/w3af_dependency_install.shLet me explain what’s going on there:
- First we use
gitto downloadw3af’s source code- Then we try to run the
w3af_consolecommand, which will most likely failbecause of missing dependencies. This command will generate a helper scriptat/tmp/w3af_dependency_install.shthat when run will install all therequired dependencies.- Dependencies are installed by running
/tmp/w3af_dependency_install.sh
The framework dependencies don’t change too often, but don’t be alarmed if afterupdating your installation w3af requires you to install new dependencies.
Supported platforms¶
The framework should work on all Python supported platforms and has been testedin various Linux distributions, Mac OSX, FreeBSD and OpenBSD.
Note
The platform used for development is Ubuntu 14.04 and running our continuous integration testsis Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
Warning
While in theory you can install w3af in Microsoft Windows, we don’t recommendnor support that installation process.
One of the ugly details users can find is that w3af needs to detect theOperating System / Linux distribution, and then have support for creating the/tmp/w3af_dependency_install.sh for that specific combination. In other words,for Ubuntu we use apt-get install and for Suse we use yum install.
The list of distributions w3af knows how to generate the installation scriptfor is extensive .If we don’t support your distribution, we’ll default to Ubuntu.
Installation in Kali¶
The easiest way to install w3af in Kali is:
apt-get updateapt-get install -y w3af
This will install the latest packaged version, which might not be the latestavailable from our repositories. If the latest version is needed these stepsare recommended:
cd ~apt-get updateapt-get install -y python-pip w3afpip install --upgrade pipgit clone https://github.com/andresriancho/w3af.gitcd w3af./w3af_console. /tmp/w3af_dependency_install.sh
This will install the latest w3af at ~/w3af/w3af_console and leave thepackaged version un-touched.
Note
- There are two versions in your OS now:
cd ~/w3af/ ; ./w3af_consolewill run the latest versionw3af_consolewill run the one packaged in Kali
Installing using Docker¶
Docker is awesome, it allows users to run w3afwithout installing any of it’s dependencies. The only pre-requisite is toinstall docker , which is widelysupported.
Once the docker installation is running these steps will yield a runningw3af console:
$ git clone https://github.com/andresriancho/w3af.git$ cd w3af/extras/docker/scripts/$ sudo ./w3af_console_dockerw3af>>>
For advanced usage of w3af’s docker container please read the documentationat the docker registry hub
Installation in Mac OSX¶
In order to start the process, you need XCode and MacPorts installed.
sudo xcode-select --installsudo port selfupdatesudo port upgrade outdatedsudo port install python27sudo port select python python27sudo port install py27-pipsudo port install py27-libdnet git-core automake gcc48 py27-setuptools autoconf py27-pcapy./w3af_console. /tmp/w3af_dependency_install.sh
Those commands should allow you to run ./w3af_console again without any issues,in order to run the GUI a new dependency set is required:
sudo port install py27-pygtk py27-pygtksourceview graphvizsudo port install py27-webkitgtk./w3af_gui. /tmp/w3af_dependency_install.sh
Troubleshooting¶
After running the helper script w3af still says I have missing python dependencies, what should I do?¶
You will recognize this when this message appears: “Your python installationneeds the following modules to run w3af”.
First you’ll want to check that all the dependencies are installed. To do thatjust follow these steps:
$ cd w3af$ ./w3af_console...Your python installation needs the following modules to run w3af:futures...$ pip freeze | grep futuresfutures==2.1.5$
Replace futures with the library that is missing in your system. If thepip freeze | grep futures command returns an empty result, you’ll need toinstall the dependency using the /tmp/w3af_dependency_install.sh command.Pay special attention to the output of that command, if installation failsyou won’t be able to run w3af.
It is important to notice that w3af requires specific versions of thethird-party libraries. The specific versions required at /tmp/w3af_dependency_install.shneed to match the ones you see in the output of pip freeze. If the versionsdon’t match you can always install a specific version usingpip install --upgrade futures==2.1.5.
w3af still says I have missing operating system dependencies, what should I do?¶
You will recognize this when this message appears: “please install the followingoperating system packages”.
Most likely you’re using a Linux distribution that w3af doesn’t know how todetect. This doesn’t mean that w3af won’t work with your distribution! It justmeans that our helper tool doesn’t know how to create the/tmp/w3af_dependency_install.sh script for you.
What you need to do is:
- Find a match between the Ubuntu package name given in the list and the one
for your distribution* Install it* Run
./w3af_consoleagain. Repeat until fixed
Please create a ticketexplaining the packages you installed, your distribution, etc. and we’ll addthe code necessary for others to be able to install w3af without goingthrough any manual steps.
How do I ask for support on installation issues?¶
You can create a ticketcontaining the following information:
- Your linux distribution (usually the contents of
/etc/lsb-releasewill be enough)- The contents of the
/tmp/w3af_dependency_install.shfile- The output of
pip freeze- The output of
python --version
