Vulnerability & attack injection for web applications

In this paper we propose a methodology to inject realistic attacks in Web applications. The methodology is based on the idea that by injecting realistic vulnerabilities in a Web application and attacking them automatically we can assess existing security mechanisms. To provide true to life results, this methodology relies on field studies of a large number of vulnerabilities in Web applications. The paper also describes a set of tools implementing the proposed methodology. They allow the automation of the entire process, including gathering results and analysis. We used these tools to conduct a set of experiments to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed methodology. The experiments include the evaluation of coverage and false positives of an intrusion detection system for SQL injection and the assessment of the effectiveness of two Web application vulnerability scanners. Results show that the injection of vulnerabilities and attacks is an effective way to evaluate security mechanisms and tools.