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WhatWeb

Official Documentation: https://github.com/urbanadventurer/WhatWeb

Cheat Sheet: WhatWeb Commands

Purpose

WhatWeb identifies what technologies a website is running (web server, CMS, frameworks, JavaScript libs, analytics). It fingerprints web targets using plugins and signatures.

Scenarios

  • CTF: Quickly identify CMS versions (e.g., WordPress) or server types that suggest certain exploit paths.
  • Real world: Inventory web technologies to plan targeted web tests and detect out-of-date platforms.

Required info to run

  • Target URL (http/https).
  • Common flags:
  • -v / -V → verbose/version info
  • --plugins → list or control plugins used
  • -a <level> → detection aggressiveness (0-3)
  • -U → custom user-agent
  • -t <num> → number of threads (parallel scans)
  • -p → specify plugins
  • -o → output file
  • No special privileges required. Network access to the target required.

Example commands & outputs

# Basic fingerprint
$ whatweb http://example.com
# Output snippet:
# http://example.com [200] Apache[Linux], PHP, X-Powered-By, WordPress[5.6.1], jQuery

# Aggressive scan with verbose output
$ whatweb -a 3 -v https://example.com -o whatweb.txt
# Output saved to whatweb.txt

WhatWeb Basics

  • -a 3 increases detection but may be noisier.
  • Use custom plugins or update signatures frequently for best results.
  • Combine WhatWeb data with wpscan or manual checks for CMS-specific vulnerabilities.
  • False positives are possible — verify findings manually.

WhatWeb Commands