httpry Specialized HTTP Packet Sniffer 0.1.8

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core program

httpry is a specialized packet sniffer designed for displaying and logging HTTP traffic. It is not intended to perform analysis itself, but to capture, parse, and log the traffic for later analysis. It can be run in real-time displaying the traffic as it is parsed, or as a daemon process that logs to an output file. It is written to be as lightweight and flexible as possible, so that it can be easily adaptable to different applications.

What can you do with it? Here's a few ideas:

• See what users on your network are requesting online
  
• Check for proper server configuration (or improper, as the case may be)
  
• Research patterns in HTTP usage
  
• Watch for dangerous downloaded files
  
• Verify the enforcement of HTTP policy on your network
  
• Extract HTTP statistics out of saved capture files
  
• It's just plain fun to watch in realtime
  

Here's an example of the log file output using the default output format string:

# httpry version 0.1.8
# Fields: timestamp,source-ip,dest-ip,direction,method,host,request-uri,http-version,status-code,reason-phrase
2009-01-12 15:02:31 192.168.0.16 209.85.171.103 > GET www.google.com / HTTP/1.1 - -
2009-01-12 15:02:31 192.168.0.16 209.85.171.103 > GET www.google.com / HTTP/1.1 - -
2009-01-12 15:02:32 192.168.0.16 209.85.171.103 > GET www.google.com / HTTP/1.1 - -
2009-01-12 15:02:33 192.168.0.16 209.85.171.103 > GET www.google.com / HTTP/1.1 - -
2009-01-12 15:02:33 209.85.171.103 192.168.0.16 < - - - HTTP/1.1 200 OK
2009-01-12 15:02:33 192.168.0.16 209.85.171.103 > GET www.google.com /intl/en_ALL/images/logo.gif HTTP/1.1 - -
2009-01-12 15:02:33 209.85.171.103 192.168.0.16 < - - - HTTP/1.1 200 OK
2009-01-12 15:02:33 192.168.0.16 209.85.171.103 > GET www.google.com /extern_js/f/CgJlbhICdXMrMAo4DSwrMA44AywrMBg4Ayw/AQ-hC7_2R8g.js HTTP/1.1 - -
2009-01-12 15:02:33 209.85.171.103 192.168.0.16 < - - - HTTP/1.1 200 OK
2009-01-12 15:02:33 192.168.0.16 209.85.173.101 > GET clients1.google.com /generate_204 HTTP/1.1 - -
2009-01-12 15:02:33 209.85.173.101 192.168.0.16 < - - - HTTP/1.1 204 No Content

parsing scripts

Of course, the fun of collecting data is finding ways to analyze it. The log files are designed to be easily parsed by command line utilities, but sometimes you need to dig a little deeper. Complementing the core httpry program is a set of parsing scripts for mining information out of generated log files. Most of these scripts are written as plugins for a core parsing script and include functionality for extracting search terms, searching for specified terms within client flows, and outputting the logs in XML among other things. It is relatively straightforward to write custom plugins for additional parsing tasks.

latest news

The latest release adds a number of useful features and tweaks. VLAN tagged packets are now handled, and the PPP link type is supported. There's a new option available for specifying a custom ethernet header offset. Packet parsing is also improved with better handling of partial headers and a non-zero read timeout for live captures. For specifics of the changes in this release, check out the changelog

As with many previous releases, most of the major features and improvements in this version are a direct result of contributions of code or ideas, which are always appreciated. The doc/AUTHORS file specifically lists those individuals as their contributions are greatly appreciated! The httpry codebase is hosted on GitHub if you would like to file a bug or contribute back to the project.

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