Burp Suite Professional Edition
Comprehensive overview of Burp Suite Professional Edition's advanced features, capabilities, and benefits
Burp Suite Professional Edition is the industry-standard tool for web application security testing. It extends the capabilities of the Community Edition with advanced features, automation, and enhanced workflow options that significantly improve testing efficiency and effectiveness.
Key Exclusive Features
Automated Vulnerability Scanner
Scanner Overview
The automated vulnerability scanner is the most significant feature exclusive to the Professional Edition. It provides:
- Comprehensive detection of web vulnerabilities
- Both passive and active scanning capabilities
- Low false-positive rate compared to other automated tools
- Detailed explanations of identified vulnerabilities
- Evidence-based reporting
- Customizable scan configurations
The scanner can identify over 100 different vulnerability types across various technologies and platforms.
Scan Types
The Professional scanner offers multiple scanning approaches:
Passive Scanning
- Analyzes requests and responses without sending additional traffic
- Identifies information disclosure, security headers, cookie issues
- Zero impact on the target application
- Runs automatically in the background
Active Scanning
- Sends crafted requests to identify vulnerabilities
- Tests for injection flaws, XSS, SSRF, and more
- Configurable scan intensity and throttling
- Can be targeted at specific functions or entire applications
Authenticated Scanning
- Maintains session state during scanning
- Tests privileged functionality
- Identifies authorization flaws
Detectable Vulnerabilities
The scanner can detect a wide range of vulnerabilities, including:
- SQL, NoSQL, and command injection
- Cross-site scripting (XSS)
- Cross-site request forgery (CSRF)
- XML external entity (XXE) injection
- Server-side request forgery (SSRF)
- Server-side template injection (SSTI)
- Insecure deserialization
- Path traversal and file inclusion
- Authentication and session management flaws
- Access control vulnerabilities
- Information disclosure
- Cryptographic weaknesses
- Business logic vulnerabilities
- API-specific vulnerabilities
- And many more...
The scanner is regularly updated to detect emerging vulnerability classes and variations.
Enhanced Intruder Tool
Unrestricted Performance
Unlike the rate-limited Community Edition, the Professional Edition's Intruder operates at full speed:
- No artificial rate limiting
- Maximum throughput limited only by network and target
- Capable of thousands of requests per second
- Parallel request handling
- Resource optimization
This performance difference is critical for time-sensitive testing, such as brute force attacks or comprehensive fuzzing.
Advanced Attack Types
The Professional Edition includes all four Intruder attack types:
Sniper
- Tests each payload in each position one at a time
- Ideal for testing individual parameters
Battering Ram
- Uses the same payload in all marked positions simultaneously
- Useful for testing multiple instances of the same parameter
Pitchfork
- Uses items from different payload sets in lockstep
- Perfect for testing username/password combinations
Cluster Bomb
- Tests all combinations of payloads across positions
- Essential for comprehensive testing of parameter interactions
The Cluster Bomb and Pitchfork attack types are exclusive to the Professional Edition and are crucial for many advanced testing scenarios.
Advanced Payload Options
The Professional Edition offers enhanced payload handling:
- Additional payload types (e.g., character substitution)
- Advanced payload processing rules
- Payload encoding and decoding options
- Custom payload generators
- Recursive grep extraction
- Payload processing rules
- Sophisticated match/replace functionality
These capabilities allow for highly customized and targeted attacks that can identify complex vulnerabilities.
Project Saving and Workflow
Project Management
The Professional Edition allows you to save your work as project files, which provides:
- Persistence between sessions
- Complete state restoration
- Collaborative testing capabilities
- Historical record of testing activities
- Evidence preservation for reporting
Projects can be saved in various formats, including compressed files for efficient storage.
Enhanced Workflow
The Professional Edition includes several workflow improvements:
- Task scheduling for automated operations
- Custom issue definitions
- Advanced scope control
- Search functionality across all tools
- Annotations and comments
- Custom highlighting rules
- Improved target site map
These features significantly improve efficiency when testing complex applications or working in teams.
Burp Collaborator
Collaborator Overview
Burp Collaborator is a service that helps detect vulnerabilities that are not immediately visible in the application's response:
- Operates as an external server that logs interactions
- Detects out-of-band (OOB) vulnerabilities
- Provides unique subdomains for each test
- Monitors DNS, HTTP, and SMTP interactions
While the Community Edition has limited access to Collaborator, the Professional Edition provides full functionality.
Detectable Vulnerabilities
Collaborator is essential for detecting:
- Blind SQL injection
- Blind command injection
- Server-side request forgery (SSRF)
- XML external entity (XXE) injection
- Remote file inclusion
- Out-of-band (OOB) data exfiltration
- SMTP header injection
These vulnerabilities often cannot be detected through traditional in-band testing methods.
Private Collaborator Server
The Professional Edition allows you to set up a private Collaborator server:
- Complete control over data
- Enhanced security for sensitive testing
- Custom domain configuration
- Integration with internal networks
- Compliance with data handling policies
This is particularly valuable for organizations with strict security or compliance requirements.
Extensions Support
BApp Store Access
The Professional Edition supports extensions from the Burp App Store (BApp Store):
- Access to 100+ community and PortSwigger extensions
- Specialized tools for specific technologies
- Custom scan checks
- Reporting enhancements
- Workflow improvements
- Integration with other security tools
Extensions significantly expand Burp Suite's capabilities and allow customization for specific testing needs.
Popular Extensions
Some of the most valuable extensions include:
- Autorize: Advanced authorization testing
- JWT Decoder: Analysis and manipulation of JSON Web Tokens
- Turbo Intruder: High-performance custom intruder attacks
- Active Scan++: Additional active scanning checks
- Software Vulnerability Scanner: Detects vulnerable libraries
- Retire.js: Identifies vulnerable JavaScript libraries
- CSRF Scanner: Advanced CSRF detection
- Param Miner: Discovers hidden parameters
- Logger++: Enhanced logging and analysis
- Content Type Converter: Manipulates content type headers
These extensions can significantly enhance testing capabilities for specific scenarios.
Custom Extension Development
The Professional Edition allows you to develop custom extensions:
- Java-based extension API
- Python-based extension support
- Access to all Burp tools and functionality
- Custom UI components
- Integration with external tools and services
This enables organizations to build specialized tools for their unique testing requirements.
Advanced Features
Session Handling Rules
Session Handling Overview
The Professional Edition includes advanced session handling capabilities:
- Automated session management
- Complex authentication handling
- Cookie jar management
- Session validation rules
- Custom session handling actions
These features are essential when testing applications with sophisticated authentication mechanisms.
Macros
Macros allow you to record and replay sequences of requests:
- Automate multi-step processes
- Handle complex authentication flows
- Extract and reuse dynamic values
- Maintain session state during testing
- Test workflow-dependent vulnerabilities
Macros are particularly valuable when testing applications with CSRF tokens, multi-factor authentication, or complex session management.
Target Scope and Site Map
Advanced Scope Control
The Professional Edition offers enhanced target scope definition:
- Fine-grained inclusion and exclusion rules
- Regular expression-based scope rules
- File extension filtering
- Protocol-specific rules
- Advanced host matching
This allows precise control over which parts of an application are tested, which is crucial for large or complex applications.
Enhanced Site Map
The site map in the Professional Edition includes:
- Advanced filtering options
- Custom issue types
- Annotations and comments
- Search functionality
- Export capabilities
- Visualization options
These features improve navigation and analysis of complex application structures.
REST API
API Overview
The Professional Edition includes a REST API that allows:
- Programmatic control of Burp Suite
- Integration with CI/CD pipelines
- Custom automation scripts
- Integration with other security tools
- Remote control and monitoring
This API enables advanced automation and integration scenarios that are not possible with the Community Edition.
API Use Cases
Common API use cases include:
- Scheduled security scans
- Integration with issue tracking systems
- Custom reporting workflows
- Automated testing as part of CI/CD
- Orchestration of complex testing scenarios
The API documentation is available through the Burp Suite interface and on the PortSwigger website.
Professional Support and Updates
Professional Support
Professional Edition users receive:
- Direct support from PortSwigger's technical team
- Access to knowledge base articles
- Priority issue resolution
- Feature request consideration
This support can be invaluable when encountering complex issues during security testing.
Automatic Updates
The Professional Edition includes:
- Automatic update notifications
- Seamless update process
- Regular feature additions
- Vulnerability detection improvements
- Scanner rule updates
These updates ensure that Burp Suite remains effective against evolving security threats.
Use Cases
Enterprise Security Testing
The Professional Edition is ideal for enterprise security teams:
- Comprehensive application security testing
- Integration with development workflows
- Standardized testing methodology
- Collaborative testing across teams
- Compliance with security standards
Professional Penetration Testing
Security consultants and penetration testers benefit from:
- Efficient vulnerability discovery
- Comprehensive reporting capabilities
- Time-saving automation
- Advanced exploitation techniques
- Customizable testing approach
Bug Bounty Hunting
Bug bounty hunters rely on the Professional Edition for:
- Rapid application analysis
- Efficient vulnerability discovery
- Testing complex authentication mechanisms
- Identifying high-value vulnerabilities
- Providing detailed proof-of-concept evidence
Development Teams
Development teams integrate the Professional Edition into their workflow for:
- Pre-release security testing
- Developer security training
- Continuous security assessment
- Vulnerability verification
- Security regression testing
Licensing and Trial
Callout:
Pricing information may change over time. Always check the PortSwigger website for the most current pricing details.
Licensing Options
- User-based licensing: Licenses are per-user, not per-machine
- Individual licenses: For single users
- Enterprise licenses: For teams with multiple users
- Volume discounts: Available for multiple licenses
- Academic discounts: Available for educational institutions
Trial Version
- 30-day free trial available
- Full functionality during the trial period
- No credit card required
- Seamless transition to paid license
Getting the Most from Professional Edition
Best Practices
- Configure your environment for optimal performance
- Use project files to maintain state between sessions
- Customize scan configurations for your specific targets
- Leverage extensions for specialized testing needs
- Implement session handling rules for complex applications
- Use macros for multi-step processes
- Configure scope carefully to focus testing efforts
- Combine automated and manual testing for comprehensive coverage
Training Resources
PortSwigger provides extensive resources to help you master Burp Suite Professional:
- Web Security Academy (free, comprehensive web security training)
- Documentation and user guides
- Video tutorials
- Blog posts and research papers
- Community forums
Callout:
Remember that Burp Suite Professional should only be used for ethical security testing with proper authorization. Unauthorized testing may violate laws and regulations.