How to use the command 'mitmproxy' (with examples)

mitmproxy is an interactive man-in-the-middle HTTP proxy tool. It allows you to intercept and modify HTTP traffic between clients and servers, making it a powerful tool for testing and debugging network requests. You can start mitmproxy with various options to suit your specific needs.

Use case 1: Start mitmproxy with default settings

Code:

mitmproxy

Motivation: Starting mitmproxy with default settings allows you to quickly launch the proxy and start intercepting HTTP traffic. This is useful for general testing and analysis purposes.

Explanation: This command runs mitmproxy with the default settings. The proxy will listen on the default address (localhost) and port (8080).

Example output:

Proxy server listening at http://127.0.0.1:8080

Use case 2: Start mitmproxy bound to a custom address and port

Code:

mitmproxy --listen-host ip_address --listen-port port

Motivation: In some cases, you may want to bind mitmproxy to a specific IP address and port. This is useful when you have multiple network interfaces or when you want to listen on a non-standard port.

Explanation: This command starts mitmproxy and binds it to a custom IP address and port specified using the --listen-host and --listen-port options respectively. Replace ip_address with the desired IP address and port with the desired port number.

Example output:

Proxy server listening at http://192.168.1.100:8888

Use case 3: Start mitmproxy using a script to process traffic

Code:

mitmproxy --scripts path/to/script.py

Motivation: mitmproxy allows you to specify a Python script that will be executed to process intercepted traffic. This is useful when you need to perform custom modifications or analysis on the HTTP traffic.

Explanation: This command starts mitmproxy and uses the specified Python script (path/to/script.py) to process intercepted traffic. The script can access and modify the intercepted requests and responses.

Example output:

Proxy server listening at http://127.0.0.1:8080
Executing script: path/to/script.py

Use case 4: Export the logs with SSL/TLS master keys to external programs

Code:

SSLKEYLOGFILE="path/to/file" mitmproxy

Motivation: When intercepting HTTPS traffic, mitmproxy can generate SSL/TLS master keys, which are needed to decrypt and analyze the encrypted traffic in external programs like Wireshark. This use case allows you to export these keys.

Explanation: This command starts mitmproxy and sets the environment variable SSLKEYLOGFILE to the specified file path (path/to/file). This file will contain the SSL/TLS master keys, allowing external programs to decrypt the captured HTTPS traffic.

Example output:

Proxy server listening at http://127.0.0.1:8080
SSL master key log file: path/to/file

Conclusion

The mitmproxy command provides a versatile way to intercept and modify HTTP traffic. Whether you need to quickly start the proxy, customize the address and port, process traffic with a script, or export SSL/TLS master keys, mitmproxy has you covered. Experiment with these examples to enhance your network testing and analysis capabilities.