Wfuzz For Skids: A Primer on Fuzzing for Nerds

What Is Fuzzing?

Imagine whispering sweet, chaotic nothings into a web app’s ear just to see how it reacts. That’s fuzzing. Or more accurately: you throw malformed, unexpected, or straight-up weird input at a target, hoping something breaks, spills its guts, or at least blinks weirdly. Web fuzzing is the digital equivalent of jiggling every door handle in the hotel—quietly, methodically, and maybe a little drunk.

The 4 Phases of Web Fuzzing

  1. Identify input points: Look for cracks—query strings, headers, form fields. Anything the app lets you talk through.
  2. Create a payload list: Think like a villain. File paths, script tags, busted SQL—your weaponized poetry.
  3. Fuzz with a tool: Wfuzz is your partner in digital crime. Feed it your payloads and watch it poke the bear.
  4. Review responses: Scan for tells. A 200 where there should’ve been a 403. A delay that hints at something deeper. Little glitches in the Matrix.

Installing Wfuzz

pip install wfuzz

Quick and dirty. Wfuzz handles reconnaissance, brute force, and the occasional magic trick. Think of it as your lockpick set in Python.

Enumerating File Paths

wfuzz -w wordlist.txt -f output.txt --hc 404 --follow http://example.com/FUZZ

This command tells Wfuzz to:

  • Use wordlist.txt to guess the unguessable
  • Write the hits to output.txt
  • Ignore dead ends (404s)
  • Follow the rabbit (redirects)

Brute-Forcing HTTP Basic Auth

Some doors don’t need a key. Just persistence:

wfuzz -w wordlist.txt -H "Authorization: Basic FUZZ" http://example.com/admin

Or crank it up with user-pass combos:

wfuzz -w usernames.txt -w passwords.txt --basic FUZZ:FUZ2Z http://example.com/admin

The digital equivalent of trying every name in your ex’s contacts list. One of them’s bound to work.

Testing URL Parameters

Ever wonder what happens when you hand a site something it didn’t expect?

wfuzz -w wordlist.txt http://example.com/view_message?message_id=FUZZ

Testing redirects?

wfuzz -w wordlist.txt -v --follow http://example.com?redirect=FUZZ

Fuzzing for XSS and SQL Injection

Looking for XSS? Set a trap and wait:

wfuzz -w xss.txt --filter "content~FUZZ" http://example.com/get_user?user_id=FUZZ

For SQLi, inject into the bloodstream (POST):

wfuzz -w sqli.txt -d "user_id=FUZZ" http://example.com/get_user

Watch for flickers—odd delays, code changes, response shifts. The machine is speaking. Listen close.

Final Thoughts

Wfuzz is gritty, flexible, and just the right kind of dangerous. With the right wordlists and a twisted imagination, it’ll expose the cracks the suits forgot to seal.

Want to dig deeper into the chaos? The docs are your next stop: https://wfuzz.readthedocs.io.

You don’t need a badge to hunt bugs — just Wfuzz, some caffeine, and the urge to break things.
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Filed under: Ethical Hacking - @ June 2, 2025 9:59 pm

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