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Preprint . 2026
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Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
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Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
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Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
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WSHawk: Stateful Security Assessment of WebSocket Applications through Adaptive Payload Mutation and Browser-Assisted Validation

Authors: Regaan, R;

WSHawk: Stateful Security Assessment of WebSocket Applications through Adaptive Payload Mutation and Browser-Assisted Validation

Abstract

WSHawk is an open-source (AGPL-3.0) toolkit designed for the stateful security assessment of WebSocket and realtime web applications. Unlike traditional stateless HTTP scanners, WSHawk models WebSocket connections as long-lived sessions, separating passive schema learning from active vulnerability probing.This implementation study details the toolkit's core architecture and subsystems:Adaptive Payload Subsystem: A dual-layer engine that combines strategy-scored payload mutation with genetic algorithms (Smart Payload Evolution) to iteratively adapt attack strings based on observed server responses. Browser-Assisted Oracles: A Playwright-backed browser pool that transitions heuristic cross-site scripting (XSS) findings into confirmed, sandboxed execution evidence. Protocol Inference: A protocol-graph subsystem that fingerprints underlying realtime framework families (e.g., GraphQL-WS, SignalR, Socket.IO, ActionCable) and automatically recommends context-aware attack playbooks. Unified Attack Framework: An asyncio-bound workflow engine that executes parallel HTTP and WebSocket attack services, including session replay, authorization diffing, race condition testing, and subscription abuse. Evidence Integrity: A persistence layer that generates tamper-evident, Ed25519-signed, and hash-chained export bundles for verifiable vulnerability reporting.The repository includes a Python-based scanning engine, a loopback daemon, an Electron desktop interface, and a suite of local validation labs for reproducible security testing.

Keywords

python, Browser Security, Protocol Security, Vulnerability Assessment, OWASP, stateful scanning, WebSocket security, Dynamic Application Security Testing, Adaptive Payload Mutation, Playwright, Security Automation, Open Source Security, payload mutation

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average