Creating an HTTP Web Server with the Apache Web Server
The Apache Web Server is probably the most commonly used service on
Linux systems. Apache is found on over 55 percent of the world’s web serv-
ers, so any self-respecting Linux admin should be familiar with it. As a
hacker aspiring to hack websites, it’s critical to understand the inner work-
ings of Apache, websites, and the backend databases of these sites. You can
also use Apache to set up your own web server, from which you could serve
up malware via cross-site scripting (XSS) to anyone who visits your site, or
you could clone a website and redirect traffic to your site via abuse of the
Domain Name System (DNS). In either of these cases, a basic knowledge of
Apache is required.
Using and Abusing Services
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Starting with Apache
If you have Kali running on your system, Apache is already installed. Many
other Linux distros have it installed by default as well. If you don’t have
Apache installed, you can download and install it from the repositories by
entering the following:
kali >apt-get install apache2
The Apache Web Server is often associated with the MySQL database
(which we will look at in the next section) and these two services are very
often paired with a scripting language such as Python or PHP to develop
web applications. This combination of Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP
or Python forms a powerful and robust platform for the development and
deployment of web-based applications, known collectively as LAMP. These
are the most widely used tools for developing websites in the Linux world—
and they’re very popular in the Microsoft world too, where they’re generally
referred to as WAMP, with the W standing for Windows.
From the command line enter the following:
kali >service apache2 start
Now that Apache is running in the background, it should be able to
serve up its default web page. Enter http://localhost/ in your favorite web
browser to bring up the web page, which should look something like
Figure 12-1.
Figure 12-1: The Apache2 Web Server default page
As you can see, Apache displays “It works” as its default web page. Now
that you know your Apache Web Server is working, let’s customize it!
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