// what it is
Description
Perl scanner that probes for ~7000 dangerous files, default scripts, and outdated server software. Not stealthy by design — generates an obvious log entry — but invaluable as a fast first pass on legacy installs.
// use cases
What people use it for
- Quick triage of a freshly-discovered web server
- Checking for default-creds web admin panels
- Spotting EOL Apache/IIS/nginx versions
// commands
The commands you'll type
Default scan
$ nikto -h https://target.tldScan + output JSON
$ nikto -h target.tld -Format json -output nikto.json