How to use the command HTTPFlow (with examples)
HTTPFlow is a command-line utility designed to capture and dump HTTP streams. It can be used to monitor and analyze HTTP traffic on any network interface. This article will provide examples of different use cases for the HTTPFlow command.
Use case 1: Capture traffic on all interfaces
Code:
httpflow -i any
Motivation:
The motivation for using this example is to capture HTTP traffic on all available network interfaces. By using the “any” option, HTTPFlow will capture HTTP streams from all network interfaces and display them for analysis.
Explanation:
-i any: This argument tells HTTPFlow to capture traffic from all network interfaces.
Example output:
192.168.1.10:60950 -> 172.217.167.138:443 GET / HTTP/1.1
Use case 2: Use a bpf-style capture to filter the results
Code:
httpflow host httpbin.org or host baidu.com
Motivation:
The motivation for using this example is to filter the captured HTTP traffic based on specific hosts. By using a bpf-style capture filter, HTTPFlow will only display HTTP streams that are sent to or received from the specified hosts.
Explanation:
host httpbin.org: This argument filters the captured traffic and only displays HTTP streams related to the host “httpbin.org”.or: This argument is used as a logical operator to specify additional filters.host baidu.com: This argument filters the captured traffic and only displays HTTP streams related to the host “baidu.com”.
Example output:
192.168.1.10:60950 -> 172.217.167.138:443 GET / HTTP/1.1
Use case 3: Use a regular expression to filter requests by URLs
Code:
httpflow -u 'regular_expression'
Motivation:
The motivation for using this example is to filter the captured HTTP traffic based on specific URLs using regular expressions. By specifying a regular expression, HTTPFlow will only display HTTP streams that match the pattern.
Explanation:
-u 'regular_expression': This argument filters the captured traffic and only displays HTTP streams with URLs that match the provided regular expression.
Example output:
192.168.1.10:60950 -> 172.217.167.138:443 GET /api/users HTTP/1.1
Use case 4: Read packets from pcap format binary file
Code:
httpflow -r out.cap
Motivation:
The motivation for using this example is to analyze HTTP traffic captured and saved in a pcap format binary file. By specifying the file path with the “-r” option, HTTPFlow will read the packets from the file and display the HTTP streams for analysis.
Explanation:
-r out.cap: This argument tells HTTPFlow to read the packets from the specified pcap format binary file.
Example output:
192.168.1.10:60950 -> 172.217.167.138:443 GET / HTTP/1.1
Use case 5: Write the output to a directory
Code:
httpflow -w path/to/directory
Motivation:
The motivation for using this example is to save the captured HTTP streams to a specified directory. By using the “-w” option, HTTPFlow will write the output files containing the captured HTTP streams to the specified directory.
Explanation:
-w path/to/directory: This argument tells HTTPFlow to write the output files to the specified directory.
Example output:
Output files written to path/to/directory/
Conclusion
HTTPFlow is a versatile command-line utility that can be used to capture and analyze HTTP streams. By using different options and arguments, users can customize the capture and filtering of HTTP traffic. The examples provided in this article cover some common use cases for the HTTPFlow command, showcasing its flexibility and usefulness in network analysis and troubleshooting.
