A long time ago i blogged on the joys of using VBS to automate bruteforcing [1|2]when one didnt want to mess about duplicating an applications functionality at the protocol level.. Yesterday i had need to brute-force a web application which tried hard to be difficult and annoying..

Normally i would have used crowbar, Suru or a ugly mangled Python script, but the application was strangely difficult..

i.e. the login process is multi staged, with new cookies being handed out at various stages. 302 redirects are used heavily and then to top it off a healthy dose of JavaScript is sent back in replies that also affect your navigation.. Now all of this can be scripted (obviously) but i figured i would try automating Safari with applescript to get the same effect..

Co-opting the browser means i dont have to worry about redirects and javascript and (other stuff i didnt want to be messing with on new years day).. and so..

(click for full-size)

So this script effectively fires up Safari and iterates through my list of usernames. It then uses JavaScript to fill in the parts of the forms i need to fill in (only a few samples left in this example) and clicks submit when needed.. It uses username+123 as a password. Once it jumps through all the hoops it needs to, it screenshots the result and saves it in ~/captures/XXXX.png (where XXXX is the username being tested).

This was quick and dirty, if i had more time i would have chosen to read the results and only screenshot results that didnt match “your credentials are invalid”.. ahh.. for another day..

*** a word of warning.. AppleScript is described as “an English-like language used to create script files that control the actions of the computer and the applications that run on it.” This english-like-ness makes it extremely obtuse at times..

In a subsequent version of the brute force, i wished to use the username from my list, and the users First Name as his password. Now this is an obvious call for a hash/dictionary/associative array.. The sparse documentation that i was able to find on AppleScript records did not appear to help me a jot (but this could just be poor google skills).

Instead i opted for saving the username and password as a “:” delimited string. I then split the string at runtime and submit as before.. ugly, but effective..

its not perfect, but its neat and a nice tool to keep in your arsenal..

/mh