CEH Web Application and Injection Attacks Practice Question
Which TWO of the following are common tools used for web application security testing? (Choose 2)
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Burp Suite
Burp Suite and OWASP ZAP are both widely used web application security testing tools.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Burp Suite
Why this is correct
Burp Suite is a comprehensive, integrated platform specifically designed for performing security testing of web applications. It functions as an intercepting proxy, allowing testers to capture, analyze, and manipulate all HTTP/S traffic between a browser and a web server. Beyond proxying, it includes a powerful scanner for automated vulnerability detection, an intruder for custom brute-forcing and fuzzing, and a repeater for manual request modification and re-sending, making it indispensable for both automated and manual web application penetration testing.
- ✗
Wireshark
Why it's wrong here
Wireshark is a powerful network protocol analyzer used for capturing and interactively browsing the traffic running on a computer network. While it can display HTTP/S traffic, its primary function is to analyze network packets at lower layers of the OSI model (e.g., Data Link, Network, Transport) to diagnose network issues or understand protocol behavior. It is not designed to identify application-layer vulnerabilities, manipulate web requests for security testing, or perform active scanning against web applications.
- ✗
Nessus
Why it's wrong here
Nessus is a widely recognized vulnerability scanner primarily focused on identifying security vulnerabilities in operating systems, network devices, and various services running on hosts. It excels at detecting missing patches, misconfigurations, and known vulnerabilities in infrastructure components. However, Nessus is not specifically engineered to perform deep, application-layer web vulnerability scanning, such as identifying SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), or business logic flaws within a web application's code or functionality.
- ✓
OWASP ZAP
Why this is correct
OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy) is a free, open-source web application security scanner actively maintained by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) community. It functions as an intercepting proxy, enabling testers to inspect and modify requests and responses, similar to commercial tools. ZAP offers robust features including active and passive scanning, a fuzzer, spidering, and API testing capabilities, making it an excellent tool for both beginners and experienced professionals to find common web application vulnerabilities.
- ✗
Metasploit
Why it's wrong here
Metasploit is an advanced exploitation framework primarily used for developing, testing, and executing exploit code against remote target machines. Its strength lies in its extensive database of exploits and payloads for various systems, services, and applications, often at the operating system or service level. While Metasploit can be used to exploit *known* web application vulnerabilities if a specific module exists, it is not designed as a primary tool for *discovering* or *analyzing* web application-specific flaws like input validation issues, broken authentication, or logic errors.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This CEH question is part of Courseiva's 870-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CEH practice question is part of Courseiva's free EC-Council certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CEH exam.