Professional

Running scans as part of your manual testing workflow

• Last updated: December 19, 2024

• Read time: 2 Minutes

Burp Scanner is a web vulnerability scanning tool built into Burp Suite Professional. You can use Burp Scanner to automatically map the attack surface and identify vulnerabilities in both web applications and APIs. This streamlines your workflow by automating repetitive tasks, freeing you to use your time and expertise on more complex manual tasks.

You can run different types of web application scans to support a wide range of use cases:

• Crawl - Automatically map the application's attack surface, saving you from having to manually navigate through the whole application, clicking every link and submitting every form.
• Full crawl and audit - Automatically map the attack surface and probe discovered requests for vulnerabilities. Burp Scanner handles the more repetitive auditing tasks so you can concentrate on more sophisticated manual testing.
• Audit selected items - Automatically probe for issues in one or more requests that you think may be vulnerable. This enables you to test for a wide range of vulnerabilities in seconds, rather than hours.

If Burp Scanner discovers any API definitions in a web application scan, it parses the definition, then audits the discovered endpoints. For more information about which API formats Burp Scanner supports, see Requirements for API scanning.

Burp Scanner also offers an API-only scanning option for when you need to do a standalone scan based on an OpenAPI definition or SOAP WSDL.