100+ Best Ethical Hacking & Pentesting Tools – 2023 - The first knowledge sharing application in Vietnam

Penetration testing & Hacking Tools are more often used by security industries to test the vulnerabilities in networks and applications.

Here you can find the Comprehensive Penetration testing & Hacking Tools list that covers Performing Penetration testing Operations in all Environments.

Penetration testing and ethical hacking tools are very essential parts of every organization to test the vulnerabilities and patch the vulnerable system.

Since cyber-attacks are rapidly increasing, organizations need to pay high attention to penetration testing and keep monitoring their network to prevent attacks that may cause serious damage that leads to hitting the company’s reputation.

In order to manage security operations, security experts and researchers need to rely with security and hacking tools that help them to minimize the time and effectively monitor and perform penetration testing on the network to protect the network.

Here we are posting the big list of some of the most important hacking tools that are widely used by millions of security professionals and thousands of organizations around the world.

Exploit Development

Shellcode Tutorial – Tutorial on how to write shellcode.
Shellcode Examples – Shellcodes database.
Exploit Writing Tutorials – Tutorials on how to develop exploits.

OSINT Resources

OSINT Framework – Collection of various OSINT Hacking Tools broken out by category.
Intel Techniques – Collection of OSINT tools. Menu on the left can be used to navigate through the categories.
NetBootcamp OSINT Tools – Collection of OSINT links and custom Web interfaces to other services such as Facebook Graph Search and various paste sites.
WiGLE.net – Information about wireless networks world-wide, with user-friendly desktop and web applications.

Social Engineering Framework – Information resource for social engineers.

Lock Picking Resources

Schuyler Towne channel – Lockpicking videos and security talks.
bosnianbill – More lockpicking videos.
/r/lockpicking – Resources for learning lockpicking, equipment recommendations.

Operating Systems

Penetration Testing Distributions

Kali – GNU/Linux distribution designed for digital forensics and penetration testing Hacking Tools
ArchStrike – Arch GNU/Linux repository for security professionals and enthusiasts.
BlackArch – Arch GNU/Linux-based distribution with best Hacking Tools for penetration testers and security researchers.
Network Security Toolkit (NST) – Fedora-based bootable live operating system designed to provide easy access to best-of-breed open source network security applications.
Pentoo – Security-focused live CD based on Gentoo.
BackBox – Ubuntu-based distribution for penetration tests and security assessments.
Parrot – Distribution similar to Kali, with multiple architectures with 100 of Hacking Tools.
Buscador – GNU/Linux virtual machine that is pre-configured for online investigators.
Fedora Security Lab – Provides a safe test environment to work on security auditing, forensics, system rescue and teaching security testing methodologies.
The Pentesters Framework – Distro organized around the Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES), providing a curated collection of utilities that eliminates often unused toolchains.
AttifyOS – GNU/Linux distribution focused on tools useful during Internet of Things (IoT) security assessments.

Docker for Penetration Testing

Multi-paradigm Frameworks

Metasploit – post exploitaion Hacking Tools for offensive security teams to help verify vulnerabilities and manage security assessments.
Armitage – Java-based GUI front-end for the Metasploit Framework.
Faraday – Multiuser integrated pentesting environment for red teams performing cooperative penetration tests, security audits, and risk assessments.
ExploitPack – Graphical tool for automating penetration tests that ships with many pre-packaged exploits.
Pupy – Cross-platform (Windows, Linux, macOS, Android) remote administration and post-exploitation tool,

Vulnerability Scanners

Nexpose – Commercial vulnerability and risk management assessment engine that integrates with Metasploit, sold by Rapid7.
Nessus – Commercial vulnerability management, configuration, and compliance assessment platform, sold by Tenable.
OpenVAS – Free software implementation of the popular Nessus vulnerability assessment system.
Vuls – Agentless vulnerability scanner for GNU/Linux and FreeBSD, written in Go.

Static Analyzers

Brakeman – Static analysis security vulnerability scanner for Ruby on Rails applications.
cppcheck – Extensible C/C++ static analyzer focused on finding bugs.
FindBugs – Free software static analyzer to look for bugs in Java code.
sobelow – Security-focused static analysis for the Phoenix Framework.
bandit – Security oriented static analyser for python code.

Web Scanners

Nikto – Noisy but fast black box web server and web application vulnerability scanner.
Arachni – Scriptable framework for evaluating the security of web applications.
w3af – Hacking Tools for Web application attack and audit framework.
Wapiti – Black box web application vulnerability scanner with built-in fuzzer.
SecApps – In-browser web application security testing suite.
WebReaver – Commercial, graphical web application vulnerability scanner designed for macOS.
WPScan – Hacking Tools of Black box WordPress vulnerability scanner.
cms-explorer – Reveal the specific modules, plugins, components and themes that various websites powered by content management systems are running.
joomscan – on of the best Hacking Tools for Joomla vulnerability scanner.
ACSTIS – Automated client-side template injection (sandbox escape/bypass) detection for AngularJS.

zmap – Open source network scanner that enables researchers to easily perform Internet-wide network studies.
nmap – Free security scanner for network exploration & security audits.
pig – one of the Hacking Tools forGNU/Linux packet crafting .
scanless – Utility for using websites to perform port scans on your behalf so as not to reveal your own IP.
tcpdump/libpcap – Common packet analyzer that runs under the command line.
Wireshark – Widely-used graphical, cross-platform network protocol analyzer.
Network-Tools.com – Website offering an interface to numerous basic network utilities like ping, traceroute, whois, and more.
netsniff-ng – Swiss army knife for for network sniffing.
Intercepter-NG – Multifunctional network toolkit.
SPARTA – Graphical interface offering scriptable, configurable access to existing network infrastructure scanning and enumeration tools.
dnschef – Highly configurable DNS proxy for pentesters.
DNSDumpster – one of the Hacking Tools for Online DNS recon and search service.
CloudFail – Unmask server IP addresses hidden behind Cloudflare by searching old database records and detecting misconfigured DNS.
dnsenum – Perl script that enumerates DNS information from a domain, attempts zone transfers, performs a brute force dictionary style attack, and then performs reverse look-ups on the results.
dnsmap – One of the Hacking Tools for Passive DNS network mapper.
dnsrecon – One of the Hacking Tools for DNS enumeration script.
dnstracer – Determines where a given DNS server gets its information from, and follows the chain of DNS servers.
passivedns-client – Library and query tool for querying several passive DNS providers.
passivedns – Network sniffer that logs all DNS server replies for use in a passive DNS setup.
Mass Scan – best Hacking Tools for TCP port scanner, spews SYN packets asynchronously, scanning entire Internet in under 5 minutes.
Zarp – Network attack tool centered around the exploitation of local networks.
mitmproxy – Interactive TLS-capable intercepting HTTP proxy for penetration testers and software developers.
Morpheus – Automated ettercap TCP/IP Hacking Tools .
mallory – HTTP/HTTPS proxy over SSH.
SSH MITM – Intercept SSH connections with a proxy; all plaintext passwords and sessions are logged to disk.
Netzob – Reverse engineering, traffic generation and fuzzing of communication protocols.
DET – Proof of concept to perform data exfiltration using either single or multiple channel(s) at the same time.
pwnat – Punches holes in firewalls and NATs.
dsniff – Collection of tools for network auditing and pentesting.
tgcd – Simple Unix network utility to extend the accessibility of TCP/IP based network services beyond firewalls.
smbmap – Handy SMB enumeration tool.
scapy – Python-based interactive packet manipulation program & library.
Dshell – Network forensic analysis framework.
Debookee – Simple and powerful network traffic analyzer for macOS.
Dripcap – Caffeinated packet analyzer.
Printer Exploitation Toolkit (PRET) – Tool for printer security testing capable of IP and USB connectivity, fuzzing, and exploitation of PostScript, PJL, and PCL printer language features.
Praeda – Automated multi-function printer data harvester for gathering usable data during security assessments.
routersploit – Open source exploitation framework similar to Metasploit but dedicated to embedded devices.
evilgrade – Modular framework to take advantage of poor upgrade implementations by injecting fake updates.
XRay – Network (sub)domain discovery and reconnaissance automation tool.
Ettercap – Comprehensive, mature suite for machine-in-the-middle attacks.
BetterCAP – Modular, portable and easily extensible MITM framework.
CrackMapExec – A swiss army knife for pentesting networks.
impacket – A collection of Python classes for working with network protocols.

Aircrack-ng – Set of Penetration testing & Hacking Tools list for auditing wireless networks.
Kismet – Wireless network detector, sniffer, and IDS.
Reaver – Brute force attack against WiFi Protected Setup.
Wifite – Automated wireless attack tool.
Fluxion – Suite of automated social engineering based WPA attacks.

SSLyze – Fast and comprehensive TLS/SSL configuration analyzer to help identify security mis-configurations.
tls_prober – Fingerprint a server’s SSL/TLS implementation.
testssl.sh – Command line tool which checks a server’s service on any port for the support of TLS/SSL ciphers, protocols as well as some cryptographic flaws.

Web Exploitation

Hex Editors

HexEdit.js – Browser-based hex editing.
Hexinator – World’s finest (proprietary, commercial) Hex Editor.
Frhed – Binary file editor for Windows.
0xED – Native macOS hex editor that supports plug-ins to display custom data types.

Kaitai Struct – File formats and network protocols dissection language and web IDE, generating parsers in C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby.
Veles – Binary data visualization and analysis tool.
Hachoir – Python library to view and edit a binary stream as tree of fields and tools for metadata extraction.

Veil – Generate metasploit payloads that bypass common anti-virus solutions.
shellsploit – Generates custom shellcode, backdoors, injectors, optionally obfuscates every byte via encoders.
Hyperion – Runtime encryptor for 32-bit portable executables (“PE .exes”).
AntiVirus Evasion Tool (AVET) – Post-process exploits containing executable files targeted for Windows machines to avoid being recognized by antivirus software.
peCloak.py – Automates the process of hiding a malicious Windows executable from antivirus (AV) detection.
peCloakCapstone – Multi-platform fork of the peCloak.py automated malware antivirus evasion tool.
UniByAv – Simple obfuscator that takes raw shellcode and generates Anti-Virus friendly executables by using a brute-forcable, 32-bit XOR key.

John the Ripper – One of the best Hacking Tools for Fast password cracker.
Hashcat – Another One of the Hacking Tools The more fast hash cracker.
CeWL – Generates custom wordlists by spidering a target’s website and collecting unique words.
JWT Cracker – Simple HS256 JWT token brute force cracker.
Rar Crack – RAR bruteforce cracker.
BruteForce Wallet – Find the password of an encrypted wallet file (i.e. wallet.dat).

Windows Utilities

Sysinternals Suite – The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities.
Windows Credentials Editor – Inspect logon sessions and add, change, list, and delete associated credentials, including Kerberos tickets.
mimikatz – Credentials extraction tool for Windows operating system.
PowerSploit – PowerShell Post-Exploitation Framework.
Windows Exploit Suggester – Detects potential missing patches on the target.
Responder – LLMNR, NBT-NS and MDNS poisoner.
Bloodhound – Graphical Active Directory trust relationship explorer.
Empire – Pure PowerShell post-exploitation agent.
Fibratus – Tool for exploration and tracing of the Windows kernel.
wePWNise – Generates architecture independent VBA code to be used in Office documents or templates and automates bypassing application control and exploit mitigation software.
redsnarf – Post-exploitation tool for retrieving password hashes and credentials from Windows workstations, servers, and domain controllers.
Magic Unicorn – Shellcode generator for numerous attack vectors, including Microsoft Office macros, PowerShell, HTML applications (HTA), or certutil (using fake certificates).
DeathStar – Python script that uses Empire’s RESTful API to automate gaining Domain Admin rights in Active Directory environments.

GNU/Linux Utilities

Linux Exploit Suggester – Heuristic reporting on potentially viable exploits for a given GNU/Linux system.

macOS Utilities

Bella – Pure Python post-exploitation data mining and remote administration tool for macOS.

LOIC – Open source network stress tool for Windows.
JS LOIC – JavaScript in-browser version of LOIC.
SlowLoris – DoS tool that uses low bandwidth on the attacking side.
HOIC – Updated version of Low Orbit Ion Cannon, has ‘boosters’ to get around common counter measures.
T50 – Faster network stress tool.
UFONet – Abuses OSI layer 7 HTTP to create/manage ‘zombies’ and to conduct different attacks using; GET/POST, multithreading, proxies, origin spoofing methods, cache evasion techniques, etc.

Social Engineer Toolkit (SET) – Open source pentesting framework designed for social engineering featuring a number of custom attack vectors to make believable attacks quickly.
King Phisher – One of the Hacking Tools for Phishing campaign toolkit used for creating and managing multiple simultaneous phishing attacks with custom email and server content.
Evilginx – MITM attack framework used for phishing credentials and session cookies from any Web service.
wifiphisher – Automated phishing attacks against WiFi networks.
Catphish – Tool for phishing and corporate espionage written in Ruby.
Beelogger – Tool for generating keylooger.

Maltego – One of the Hacking Tools and Proprietary software for open source intelligence and forensics, from Paterva.
theHarvester – E-mail, subdomain and people names harvester.
creepy – Geolocation OSINT tool.
metagoofil – Metadata harvester.
Google Hacking Database – Database of Google dorks; can be used for recon.
Google-dorks – Common Google dorks and others you probably don’t know.
GooDork – Command line Google dorking tool.
dork-cli – Command line Google dork tool.
Censys – Collects data on hosts and websites through daily ZMap and ZGrab scans.
Shodan – World’s first search engine for Internet-connected devices.
recon-ng – One of the Hacking Tools Full-featured Web Reconnaissance framework written in Python.
github-dorks – CLI tool to scan Github repos/organizations for potential sensitive information leak.
vcsmap – Plugin-based tool to scan public version control systems for sensitive information.
Spiderfoot – Multi-source OSINT automation tool with a Web UI and report visualizations
BinGoo – GNU/Linux bash based Bing and Google Dorking Tool.
fast-recon – Perform Google dorks against a domain.
snitch – Information gathering via dorks.
Sn1per – ons of the Hacking Tools for Automated Pentest Recon Scanner.
Threat Crowd – Search engine for threats.
Virus Total – VirusTotal is a free service that analyzes suspicious files and URLs and facilitates the quick detection of viruses, worms, trojans, and all kinds of malware.
DataSploit – OSINT visualizer utilizing Shodan, Censys, Clearbit, EmailHunter, FullContact, and Zoomeye behind the scenes.
AQUATONE – Subdomain discovery tool utilizing various open sources producing a report that can be used as input to other tools.
Intrigue – Automated OSINT & Attack Surface discovery framework with powerful API, UI and CLI.
ZoomEye – Search engine for cyberspace that lets the user find specific network components.

Tor – Free software and onion routed overlay network that helps you defend against traffic analysis.
OnionScan – One of the Hacking Tools for investigating the Dark Web by finding operational security issues introduced by Tor hidden service operators.
I2P – The Invisible Internet Project.
Nipe – Script to redirect all traffic from the machine to the Tor network.
What Every Browser Knows About You – Comprehensive detection page to test your own Web browser’s configuration for privacy and identity leaks.
VPN – A virtual private network masks your real IP address and physical location replacing it with that of the server you connect to.

LAN Turtle – Covert “USB Ethernet Adapter” that provides remote access, network intelligence gathering, and MITM capabilities when installed in a local network.
USB Rubber Ducky – Customizable keystroke injection attack platform masquerading as a USB thumbdrive.
Poisontap – Siphons cookies, exposes internal (LAN-side) router and installs web backdoor on locked computers.
WiFi Pineapple – Wireless auditing and penetration testing platform.
Proxmark3 – RFID/NFC cloning, replay, and spoofing toolkit often used for analyzing and attacking proximity cards/readers, wireless keys/keyfobs, and more.

ChipWhisperer – Complete open-source toolchain for side-channel power analysis and glitching attacks.

ctf-tools – Collection of setup scripts to install various security research tools easily and quickly deployable to new machines.
Pwntools – Rapid exploit development framework built for use in CTFs.
RsaCtfTool – Decrypt data enciphered using weak RSA keys, and recover private keys from public keys using a variety of automated attacks.

Penetration Testing Report Templates

Books

Penetration Testing Books

Hackers Handbook Series

Defensive Development

Network Analysis Books

Reverse Engineering Books

Malware Analysis Books

Windows Books

Lock Picking Books

2600: The Hacker Quarterly – American publication about technology and computer “underground.”
Phrack Magazine – By far the longest running hacker zine.

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100+ Best Ethical Hacking & Pentesting Tools – 2023