burp-rest-api

Overview

A REST/JSON API to the Burp Suite security tool.

Since the first commit back in 2016, burp-rest-api has been the default tool for BurpSuite-powered web scanning automation. Many security professionals and organizations have relied on this extension to orchestrate the work of Burp Spider and Scanner.

Getting Started (or "How To Run burp-rest-api")

1. Download the latest burp-rest-api JAR (e.g. burp-rest-api-2.2.0.jar) and the launcher burp-rest-api.{sh,bat} script from the release page
2. Place them within a directory having the original Burp Suite Professional JAR (e.g. burpsuite_pro_v2020.2.1.jar). Please note that the actual JAR filename doesn't matter since the launcher will include all JARs in the classpath
3. On Linux and Mac, mark the launcher as executable using chmod +x burp-rest-api.sh
4. Bootstrap the system using either ./burp-rest-api.sh or ./burp-rest-api.bat, depending on the operating system

Burp Suite Support and Limitations

burp-rest-api supports both the legacy Burp Suite Professional v1.7 and the newer Burp Suite Professional v2022.x. Since this project relies on Burp Extender API, the behaviour of certain functionalities might be slighlty different depending on the version of Burp. For example, the Burp Suite Scanner configuration in v2022.x is no longer customizable.

Configuration

By default, Burp is launched in headless mode with the Proxy running on port 8080/tcp (localhost only) and the REST endpoint running on 8090/tcp (localhost only).

To run Burp in UI mode from the command line, use one of the following commands:

    ./burp-rest-api.sh --headless.mode=false

On Java <= 1.8, it is also possible to execute burp-rest-api in the following way:

    java -jar burp-rest-api-2.2.0.jar --headless.mode=false --burp.jar=./lib/burpsuite_pro.jar

To modify the server port on which the API is accessible, use one of the following commands:

    ./burp-rest-api.sh --server.port=8081

or

    ./burp-rest-api.sh --port=8081

You can also modify the server address, used for network address binding:

    ./burp-rest-api.sh --server.address=192.168.1.2

or

    ./burp-rest-api.sh --address=192.168.1.2

Command Line Arguments

The following command line arguments are used only by the extension to configure the run mode and port number.

--burp.jar=<filaname.jar> : Loads the Burp jar dynamically, and expose it through REST APIs. This flag works on Java <= 1.8 only! Use the burp-rest-api.{sh,bat} script for newer java versions.

--burp.ext=<filename.{jar,rb,py} : Loads the given Burp extensions during application startup. This flag can be repeated.

--server.port=<port_number> : The REST API endpoint is available at the given port number. --port=<port_number> works as short hand argument.

--server.address=<network address> : Network address to which the REST API endpoint should bind. --address=<address_ip> works as short hand argument.

--apikey=<customApiKey> : Enables API key authentication to protect APIs at /burp/*. The customApiKey, if passed as an argument, must be included in every HTTP request as an additional header: "API-KEY: <customApiKey>".

--headless.mode=<true/false> : When set to false, runs Burp Suite in UI mode. Otherwise runs Burp Suite in headless mode. Default value: System Property (java.awt.headless)

Command line arguments passed to the executable burp-rest-api JAR are forwarded to the Burp Suite JAR. Hence, one may pass the following Burp Suite JAR command line arguments to the burp-rest-api JAR for the same functionality as if passing to the Burp Suite JAR directly.

--project-file=<filename> : Opens the specified Data Project File used for keeping the state of the tool. The file will be created as a new project if it doesn't exist already.

--config-file=<filename> : Opens the project using the options contained in the selected Project Configuration File. To load multiple project configurations, this argument can be passed more than once with different values.

--user-config-file=<filename> : Opens the project using the options contained in the selected User Configuration File. To load multiple user configurations, this argument can be passed more than once with different values.

For more information on Projects, refer to the Burp Suite documentation here and here. For scanner settings, please refer to the "Burp Suite Support and Limitations" section.

Default Burp Configuration

If the burp-rest-api JAR is launched without the --project-file, --config-file or --user-config-file arguments, then Burp Suite is launched with a temporary project file and some default configuration. The temporary project file gets created upon launch of Burp Suite, and gets deleted at the end of the run.

For the default configuration used to launch Burp Suite, please refer to the files burp-default-project-options.json and burp-default-user-options.json inside the JAR under the static folder.

HTTP API

Swagger is used to define API documentation. Once the JAR is launched, access the following resources for API docs and Swagger UI. Port 8090 is the default server port.

API Docs: http://localhost:8090/v2/api-docs

Swagger UI: http://localhost:8090/swagger-ui.html#/

Client

This project also comes with a client (BurpClient.java) written in Java for use in other projects. Refer to the Integration Test file BurpClientIT.java for the usage of BurpClient.java.

Credits

This project is originally inspired from Resty-Burp, and is developed in partnership with Doyensec LLC.

Contributing

The burp-rest-api project team welcomes contributions from the community. If you wish to contribute code and you have not signed our contributor license agreement (CLA), our bot will update the issue when you open a Pull Request. For any questions about the CLA process, please refer to our CLA FAQ. For more detailed information, refer to CONTRIBUTING.md and FAQ.md.

Extension Development

The following section contains useful information to get started with the development of the extension.

Prerequisites

• Java 8-14 x64
• Gradle
• Licensed Burp Suite Professional version 1.7.x or later from: http://portswigger.net/burp/. Considering that Burp Suite Professional 2022.x is out of beta, we would recommend to use the latest Burp Suite JAR.

Build & Run

1. Download the Professional edition of Burp Suite JAR
2. The project can be run by directly launching the JAR created from building the project
3. Create a lib folder under the project directory and place the Burp Suite JAR file into it and rename it to "burpsuite_pro.jar" in order to run the integration tests

    # build the jar
    ./gradlew clean build
    # and run it (Java <= 1.8 only!)
    java -jar build/libs/burp-rest-api-2.2.0.jar --burp.jar=./lib/burpsuite_pro.jar

The version number of the JAR should match the version number from build.gradle while generating the JAR.

If you want to run the extension on recent (JRE > 9) versions of the JVM, use the burp-rest-api.{sh,bat} launcher script after copying burpsuite_pro.jar and the burp-rest-api.jar in the same directory of the script.

# On Unix (Linux, macOS)
./burp-rest-api.sh
# On Windows
./burp-rest-api.bat

License

Copyright (c) 2016 VMware, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Copyright (c) 2022 Doyensec LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.