Nikto is a widely-used, open-source web server vulnerability scanner designed to help identify security issues in web servers. Here’s a detailed breakdown:

🛠️ What Is Nikto?

Nikto is a command-line tool written in Perl that scans web servers for:

• Dangerous files and scripts (CGIs)
• Outdated server software
• Misconfigurations
• Known vulnerabilities

It’s not stealthy—Nikto is designed to be fast and thorough, which means its scans are easily detectable by server logs.

🔍 Key Features

• Scans for 6,700+ known vulnerabilities
• Checks 1,200+ server versions for outdated software
• Supports SSL and HTTP proxies
• Saves results in multiple formats (XML, CSV, etc.)
• Integrates with tools like Nmap and Metasploit
• Can perform dictionary attacks and username guessing

🚀 How to Use Nikto

Basic usage from the command line:

perl nikto.pl -host  https://example.com 

Other options include:

• -port: Specify a port
• -ssl: Use SSL
• -output: Save results to a file
• -Tuning: Customize scan types

You can find a full cheat sheet here.

💻 Installation

Nikto runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, but requires Perl to function. You can install it via:

git clone  https://github.com/sullo/nikto.git 
cd nikto/program
perl nikto.pl

More installation help is available on Cyberly’s Nikto guide.

🧠 Why Use Nikto?

Nikto is trusted by ethical hackers and security professionals because:

• It’s free and open-source
• It’s regularly updated
• It’s easy to use for quick vulnerability assessments