About

Imported from terminalskills/skills (skills/nikto/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add terminalskills/skills --skill nikto. Copyright stays with the author (Apache-2.0).

Nikto

Name: nikto
Author: terminalskills

Overview

Nikto is a web server scanner that checks for 7,000+ potentially dangerous files, outdated server versions, version-specific problems, and server configuration issues. It's noisy (not stealthy) but comprehensive — catches misconfigurations, default files, exposed admin interfaces, and known vulnerable components that automated scanners often miss.

Instructions

Step 1: Basic Scan

# Scan a web server
nikto -h https://target.example.com
# Checks:
# - Server version and known CVEs
# - Dangerous HTTP methods (PUT, DELETE, TRACE)
# - Default files (/phpinfo.php, /server-status, /.env)
# - Directory indexing
# - Missing security headers
# - Outdated components

# Scan specific port
nikto -h target.example.com -p 8080

# Scan multiple ports
nikto -h target.example.com -p 80,443,8080,8443

# Scan with SSL
nikto -h https://target.example.com -ssl

Step 2: Tuning and Targeting

# Tune scan to specific check categories
nikto -h https://target.example.com -Tuning 123456789abcde
# 1: Interesting file / seen in logs
# 2: Misconfiguration / default file
# 3: Information disclosure
# 4: Injection (XSS/Script/HTML)
# 5: Remote file retrieval (inside web root)
# 6: Denial of service (skip in production)
# 7: Remote file retrieval (server-wide)
# 8: Command execution / remote shell
# 9: SQL injection
# a: Authentication bypass
# b: Software identification
# c: Remote source inclusion
# d: WebService
# e: Admin console

# Only check for misconfigurations and info disclosure
nikto -h https://target.example.com -Tuning 23

# Use a specific wordlist for CGI directories
nikto -h https://target.example.com -Cgidirs "all"

# Authenticated scanning
nikto -h https://target.example.com \
  -id admin:password123
# or with cookie
nikto -h https://target.example.com \
  -cookie "session=abc123; token=xyz789"

Step 3: Output and Integration

# Save results in multiple formats
nikto -h https://target.example.com -o nikto-report.html -Format html
nikto -h https://target.example.com -o nikto-report.xml -Format xml
nikto -h https://target.example.com -o nikto-report.csv -Format csv

# JSON output for automation
nikto -h https://target.example.com -o nikto-report.json -Format json

# Scan targets from Nmap output
nmap -sV -p 80,443,8080 -oG - 192.168.1.0/24 | \
  grep "open" | awk '{print $2}' | \
  while read ip; do nikto -h $ip -o "nikto-$ip.html" -Format html; done

Guidelines

Nikto is loud — it sends thousands of requests. Don't use it for stealth assessments.
Run Nikto early in the assessment — it catches low-hanging fruit (default files, misconfigs).
Check tuning categories: -Tuning 23 for quick misconfiguration scan, full scan for thorough assessment.
Combine with Nmap: scan ports first, then run Nikto against discovered web servers.
XML/JSON output integrates with reporting tools and vulnerability management platforms.
False positives are common — verify each finding manually before including in the report.
Run with -Cgidirs all to check CGI directories for legacy vulnerabilities (ShellShock, etc.).
Nikto is complementary to Burp Suite — Nikto checks server config, Burp tests application logic.

Use it

Copy one of these into your project. Installing also returns the manifest and these snippets.

yaml

targets:
  - https://api.opensmartroute.ai/api/v1/registry/terminalskills-skills-nikto/manifest   # or paste the manifest below

Manifest

An Open Capability Manifest: the router reads it to know what this does, what it costs and when to pick it.

terminalskills-skills-nikto.ocm.jsonjson

{
  "ocm": "1",
  "id": "terminalskills-skills-nikto",
  "kind": "skill",
  "name": "nikto",
  "description": "Scan web servers for vulnerabilities with Nikto. Use when a user asks to audit web server configuration, find outdated software, detect dangerous files, check for misconfigurations, or perform web server security scanning.",
  "publisher": "terminalskills",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "capabilities": {
    "domains": [
      "general"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "skill-md",
      "nikto",
      "web-server",
      "vulnerability-scanner",
      "penetration-testing",
      "misconfiguration",
      "skills-sh"
    ],
    "languages": [
      "en"
    ]
  },
  "quality_prior": 0.6,
  "examples": [
    "Scan web servers for vulnerabilities with Nikto. Use when a user asks to audit web server configuration, find outdated software, detect dangerous files, check for misconfigurations, or perform web server security scanning."
  ],
  "primary": false,
  "metadata": {
    "source": {
      "provider": "skills.sh",
      "repository": "https://github.com/terminalskills/skills",
      "path": "skills/nikto/SKILL.md",
      "ref": "HEAD",
      "url": "https://github.com/terminalskills/skills/blob/HEAD/skills/nikto/SKILL.md",
      "key": "terminalskills/skills/skills/nikto/SKILL.md"
    },
    "compatibility": "Linux, macOS (Perl)",
    "license": "Apache-2.0"
  },
  "instructions": "# Nikto\n\n## Overview\n\nNikto is a web server scanner that checks for 7,000+ potentially dangerous files, outdated server versions, version-specific problems, and server configuration issues. It's noisy (not stealthy) but comprehensive — catches misconfigurations, default files, exposed admin interfaces, and known vulnerable components that automated scanners often miss.\n\n## Instructions\n\n### Step 1: Basic Scan\n\n```bash\n# Scan a web server\nnikto -h https://target.example.com\n# Checks:\n# - Server version and known CVEs\n# - Dangerous HTTP methods (PUT, DELETE, TRACE)\n# - Default files (/phpinfo.ph",
  "cost": {
    "context_tokens": 806
  }
}

Fetch it by URL: GET /api/v1/registry/terminalskills-skills-nikto/manifest?version=1.0.0

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