Excluding Parameters From a Scan

Acunetix 360 scans are fully configurable, right down to excluding or including parameters. Acunetix 360 maintains a list of currently Ignored Parameters. You can add, edit and remove items from this list.

Excluded Parameters Definitions

For each parameter, Acunetix 360 displays the following definitions listed in Ignored Parameters.

How to Specify a Parameter to Exclude From a Scan
  1. From the main menu, select Policies, then New Scan Policy. The New Scan Policy window is displayed.
  2. Click the Ignored Parameters tab.

The configured POST, GET and COOKIE Types list of Ignored Parameters is displayed.

  1. Click New.
  2. Complete the NAME, PATTERN and TYPE definitions. (Alternatively, edit the definitions of an existing parameter.)
  3. Click Save.
How to Specify all POST, GET and COOKIE Parameters in a Scan

You can exclude all parameters for a specific HTTP verb (for example, the POST verb).

Add the following entry to the list of Ignored Parameters:

  • Name:                All POST Parameters
  • Pattern:        *
  • Type:                POST

Pattern Options

There are three pattern options:

  • Character Lists
  • Special Characters
  • Character Ranges

Character Lists

  • A group of one or more characters (charlist) enclosed in square brackets ([ ]) can be used to match any single character in a parameter, and can include almost any character code, including digits
  • An exclamation point (!) at the beginning of a charlist means that a match is made if any character, except the characters in charlist, is found in a parameter:
  • When used outside brackets, the exclamation point matches itself
Example
  • Name: foo
  • Pattern: foo[b]?[rz]

Special Characters

To match these special characters, enclose them in brackets:

  • Left square bracket ([)
  • Question mark (?)
  • Number (hash) symbol (#)
  • Asterisk (*)
Example
  • Name: foo#[]*?baz
  • Pattern: foo[#][[][]][*][?]baz

Character Ranges

  • By using a hyphen (-) to separate the lower and upper bounds of the range, charlist can specify a range of characters, for example:
  • [A-Z] results in a match if the corresponding character position in the parameter contains any character within the range A-Z
  • [!H-L] results in a match if the corresponding character position in the parameter contains any character outside the range H-L
  • When you specify a range of characters, they must appear in ascending sort order (from lowest to highest)
  • [A-Z] is a valid pattern; [Z-A] is not
Example
  • Name: foobar
  • Pattern: foo[a-c]?[!a-c]

Multiple Character Ranges

To specify multiple ranges for the same character position, put them within the same brackets, without delimiters:

  • [A-CX-Z] results in a match if the corresponding character position in the parameter contains any character within either the range A-C or X-Z
  • Example, Name: foo, Pattern: fooba[r-ty-z]

Use of the Hyphen

  • A hyphen (-) can appear either at the beginning (after an exclamation point, if any) or at the end of a charlist to match itself
  • In any other location, the hyphen identifies a range of characters delimited by the characters on either side of the hyphen

 

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