Open-source alternatives to DVWA

Pikachu is a web security training platform and vulnerable web application sandbox. It provides a containerized lab environment designed for practicing penetration testing and identifying common security flaws. The project serves as an OWASP Top 10 practice lab, offering a simulation suite for critical risks. It includes specific scenarios for practicing the exploitation of SQL injection, cross-site scripting, remote code execution, and broken access control. The environment covers a broad range of security testing simulations, including directory traversal, server-side request forgery, unsa

AntSword is a cross-platform web manager and penetration testing framework designed for the centralized administration of multiple remote website environments. It functions as a remote website administration tool and a web shell management tool, allowing users to organize and control diverse web servers from a single interface. The project provides a toolkit for security researchers to perform authorized security audits and identify vulnerabilities. It supports web penetration testing and security research workflows to analyze web application behavior and discover potential exploits. The sys

Strix is an automated security research and vulnerability scanning platform that leverages language models to orchestrate complex security analysis tasks. It functions as a comprehensive framework for penetration testing and continuous security integration, allowing users to embed automated vulnerability research directly into development pipelines or execute it within isolated, containerized environments. The platform distinguishes itself through a multi-agent orchestration engine that coordinates specialized autonomous agents to perform parallel security assessments. By integrating LLM-agno

Xray is a security assessment tool focused on web vulnerability scanning, attack surface mapping, and technology fingerprinting. It identifies common security flaws through automated scanning and semantic analysis, while verifying findings via a custom proof-of-concept execution engine. The system distinguishes itself with a containerized vulnerability testbed used to deploy pre-configured vulnerable applications. This environment allows for the simulation of specific vulnerabilities and edge-case scenarios to validate scanner accuracy and eliminate false positives. The platform covers a bro

This project is a comprehensive, community-sourced knowledge base designed for security professionals and researchers. It functions as a centralized repository of offensive security techniques, providing a structured collection of exploit payloads, attack vectors, and methodologies for conducting vulnerability assessments and penetration testing. The repository distinguishes itself through a cross-platform payload taxonomy that categorizes exploitation methods by vulnerability type and target environment, enabling rapid lookup during security assessments. It maintains high standards of data i

Maskphish is a comprehensive security toolkit that integrates capabilities for digital forensics, network vulnerability scanning, open-source intelligence, penetration testing, and social engineering. It functions as a multi-purpose framework for automating reconnaissance and executing security audits across diverse network environments. The project features a specialized phishing and social engineering toolkit used for cloning websites, masking URLs, and deploying deceptive pages to capture user credentials. It also includes a remote access Trojan builder for generating platform-specific exe

GOAD is an Ansible-based automation tool and infrastructure orchestrator used to deploy pre-configured networks of vulnerable Windows virtual machines. It serves as a security training environment for practicing Active Directory penetration testing, privilege escalation, and lateral movement across various cloud platforms and local virtualization hypervisors. The project distinguishes itself through a multi-provider infrastructure model and a system of infrastructure recipes that simulate intentional security misconfigurations. It supports the deployment of varied attack scenarios, including

Drift is a type-safe SQL persistence library and relational mapper that provides a structured way to map database tables to classes and execute SQL queries with build-time validation. It functions as a type-safe query builder and a wrapper for SQLite and PostgreSQL, eliminating manual result set parsing by binding query outputs to native objects. The project distinguishes itself through a build-time code generation system that produces type-safe APIs and validates raw SQL statements against database versions before execution. It features reactive query streaming, which transforms SQL queries

Jeesite is a full-stack low-code development framework designed for building enterprise administrative portals using Spring Boot, MyBatis, and Vue. It functions as a comprehensive platform for creating administrative dashboards with integrated role-based access control and organizational data permission systems. The framework distinguishes itself through a combination of automated CRUD code generation and an integrated RAG platform that connects large language models to enterprise data via vector stores. It further incorporates a BPMN-based workflow engine to automate complex business process

Juice Shop is a self-contained web application designed as a platform for cybersecurity education and security training. It functions as a controlled environment containing intentional security flaws, allowing users to practice offensive security techniques and defensive coding practices while tracking their progress through a live scoreboard. The platform serves as an industry-standard benchmark for evaluating the effectiveness and detection accuracy of automated security scanning tools. By hosting a standardized set of known vulnerabilities and common attack patterns, it provides a reliable

This project serves as a comprehensive cybersecurity training platform and resource repository focused on web application security. It functions as a centralized hub for security practitioners, providing both a curated collection of technical documentation and research, and a system for deploying isolated, containerized environments to practice security analysis and exploitation techniques. The platform distinguishes itself by integrating automated data aggregation with hands-on, container-based orchestration. It maintains a current knowledge base of industry research and digital threats whil

Ethical-Hacking-Labs is a comprehensive cybersecurity training curriculum and lab suite designed for learning penetration testing, network analysis, and offensive security techniques. It provides a structured environment for practicing the full attack lifecycle, from initial reconnaissance and scanning to exploitation and post-compromise analysis. The project provides instructional materials and guided exercises that cover specific technical domains, including open source intelligence research and network security courseware. It includes a practical workbook for identifying system vulnerabili

fsociety is a penetration testing framework and security tool orchestrator designed to conduct full security audits. It functions as a wrapper that integrates external security binaries into a unified, menu-driven interface, providing a centralized system for command-line parameter mapping and execution. The project distinguishes itself by organizing specialized utilities into domain-specific collections for structured navigation. It automates the transition between different phases of an audit by chaining reconnaissance and exploitation tools through sequential workflow automation. The fram

Nettacker is an automated penetration testing framework designed to orchestrate reconnaissance, port scanning, and vulnerability detection. It functions as a network reconnaissance tool and vulnerability scanner that identifies open ports, fingerprints services, and checks systems against databases of known security flaws. The framework distinguishes itself by combining a web application crawler for discovering hidden paths via fuzzing with a vulnerability management system that persists scan results in a database to track historical assessments. It also includes specialized capabilities for

Kube-hunter is a security scanner and vulnerability hunter for Kubernetes clusters. It operates as a cloud-native penetration tool designed to identify security weaknesses, infrastructure misconfigurations, and exploitable gaps by simulating attacker techniques. The tool distinguishes itself through a dual-mode scanning engine that executes both remote external probes and internal network scans. It features identity-based impersonation, allowing it to use service account tokens and pod identities to simulate security access from specific cluster roles and determine the potential blast radius

Empire is a command and control framework and post-exploitation toolkit used for network penetration testing. It serves as a centralized platform for coordinating remote agent communication and automating the delivery of security testing payloads to target systems. The project provides a suite of modules for host reconnaissance, lateral movement, and credential harvesting across corporate environments. It functions as a remote administration tool to maintain persistence and execute commands on compromised hosts. The framework incorporates capabilities for agent orchestration and the executio

WinPwn is a Windows penetration testing framework designed for conducting internal security assessments and privilege escalation. It functions as a suite for Active Directory security auditing, credential extraction, and the execution of privilege escalation scripts. The toolset enables the automation of SMB relay attacks to intercept and reuse authentication hashes. It provides specialized capabilities for retrieving passwords and hashes from system memory, registries, and browsers using obfuscated techniques to avoid detection. The framework covers broad capability areas including domain a

Lockdoor-Framework is a modular penetration testing suite designed to facilitate comprehensive security assessments through a centralized command-line interface. It functions as an integrated platform for reconnaissance, vulnerability scanning, and the exploitation of target systems, providing a unified environment for managing complex security workflows. The framework distinguishes itself through a modular plugin architecture that allows for the extension of core capabilities without modifying the underlying codebase. It incorporates an automated reconnaissance pipeline to map attack surface

This project is a comprehensive web application penetration testing guide and vulnerability research framework. It provides a structured methodology for identifying and exploiting security flaws through a phased approach involving reconnaissance, analysis, and exploitation. The resource is distinguished by its use of a curated methodology framework that links theoretical vulnerability patterns to real-world bug bounty reports and historical exploit examples. It includes a payload-based testing library and a reference system that maps specific vulnerability categories to recommended third-part

This tool is a command-line utility designed for automated web resource discovery, fuzzing, and application structure mapping. It functions as a security-focused scanner that identifies hidden files, directories, parameters, and virtual hosts by injecting payloads into HTTP requests. By systematically testing how servers handle various inputs, it assists in mapping the architecture of web applications and uncovering potential security vulnerabilities. The tool distinguishes itself through a highly concurrent engine that manages asynchronous request execution and recursive job orchestration. I

XSStrike is an automated security scanning engine designed for web application discovery, input

Nexphisher is a command-line security utility and social engineering simulation framework designed for capturing credentials during authorized security audits. It functions as a tool for credential harvesting and penetration testing to evaluate organizational resilience against phishing attacks. The system orchestrates the deployment of realistic login pages and integrates network tunneling to expose local web servers to the public internet. This allows for remote security testing and the execution of controlled social engineering simulations. The framework provides capabilities for template

Metasploitable3 is an automated virtual machine provisioner designed to build and deploy operating system images with intentional security weaknesses. It functions as a penetration testing lab by creating vulnerable virtual machine targets used for security training, exploit development, and the validation of security tools. The system uses configuration scripts to inject vulnerabilities into Windows and Linux environments. This includes the deployment of insecure applications and services, such as web servers and databases, and the application of misconfigured system permissions to simulate

Dalfox is an automated web application security tool specifically designed for discovering and verifying cross-site scripting vulnerabilities. It functions as an XSS vulnerability scanner that analyzes HTTP parameters and DOM structures to identify reflected, stored, and blind injection points. The project distinguishes itself by providing a Model Context Protocol server and a REST API, allowing artificial intelligence agents and remote interfaces to trigger and manage security scans programmatically. It utilizes a payload mutation engine and fingerprinting strategies to execute WAF evasion t

tplmap is a security tool designed for the detection and exploitation of server-side template injection vulnerabilities. It functions as an automated scanner to identify vulnerable template engine contexts and provides a framework for achieving remote code execution. The tool focuses on translating high-level requests into engine-specific syntax to execute operating system commands and bypass application sandboxes. It further enables remote file system access, allowing users to read, write, and transfer files between a local machine and a target server. Additional capabilities include the ab

Commando-VM is a Windows penetration testing distribution and offensive security toolkit. It provides a specialized virtual machine environment loaded with a curated suite of security auditing and exploitation tools designed for red teaming operations. The project facilitates the creation of red team infrastructure and security audit environments. It focuses on windows security auditing and penetration testing to help simulate adversary behavior and identify exploitable security flaws. The environment is established through script-based provisioning and modular toolset deployment. This proce

Kubernetes Goat is a security training environment designed for practicing the identification and exploitation of common vulnerabilities within an intentionally insecure cluster. It provides a controlled setting to simulate system exploitations, including container escapes, role misconfigurations, and server-side requests. The project utilizes scenario-based vulnerability deployment to create specific security flaws. It includes utilities for environment management that allow the cluster to be restored to a clean baseline by removing vulnerable scenarios, service accounts, and role bindings.