Exam PT0-002 topic 1 question 267 discussion

The tool selection will be WPScan, however I think the given answer is wrong for the pages to disallow for robot.txt. For Wordpress, it should be: "/wp-admin" and "/wp-login.php" - there is no "/admin" wordpress directory as default unless an administrator created it. If you google the default Wordpress admin directories or ask Chatgpt you'll find the answer to be similar to this: By default, the WordPress admin login page is located at http://yoursite.com/wp-admin or http://yoursite.com/wp-login.php. Replace "yoursite.com" with your actual domain.

For the tool selection: Given that this is a web application assessment and we are investigating the robots.txt file, WPScan would be the most suitable tool to use for further investigation, assuming the web application is based on WordPress. WPScan is specifically designed to scan WordPress websites for vulnerabilities. For the entries in the robots.txt file that should be recommended for removal: Allow: /admin - This entry allows web crawlers to access the admin directory, which could expose sensitive information. Allow: /wp-login.php - Allowing access to the WordPress login page through robots.txt could attract unwanted attention from attackers. Both of these entries expose sensitive areas of the web application to potential attackers and should be removed.

I asked Gemini AI the exact question and it said “The two robots.txt entries a penetration tester should recommend for removal are: 14 Allow: admin 15 Allow: /wp-admin These entries explicitly allow access to common administrative interfaces, which are prime targets for attackers. Removing them doesn't necessarily block access (as robots.txt is advisory), but it removes the invitation to attackers and discourages casual exploration. A properly secured site should already restrict access to these areas, but the robots.txt should not advertise their existence.” So ig that’s what I’m going with

While I do agree with what others are saying about wp-admin and wp-login.php, I also believe that User-Agent: * should be removed. User-Agent: * is explicitly allowing all web crawlers, and although it says Disallow: /search under it, not all web crawlers respect or listen to robots.txt so it's better to be safe than sorry

Entry 4: User-agent: acunetix — Explicitly indicates a vulnerability scanner, making it easier for attackers to tailor their approach. Entry 17: Allow: /wp-login.php — Exposes a sensitive login URL, which attackers could exploit.

Since the robots.txt file reveals entries like /wp-admin and /wp-login.php, it suggests that the target may be running WordPress, making WPScan the ideal choice for further investigation. /admin URL does not exist by default. /wp-admin and /wp-login.php are critical parts of WordPress's administrative backend. Exposing these URLs in robots.txt can help attackers identify sensitive endpoints.

WPSscan This is because there are entries such as /wp-admin and /wp-login.php which are specific to WordPress sites. WPScan is specifically designed to find vulnerabilities in WordPress installations. Entries to Recommend for Removal The two entries in the robots.txt file that the penetration tester should recommend for removal are: 1. User-agent: * (Entry 1) - Allowing all user agents could expose too much information to any crawler, including malicious ones. 2. Allow: /wp-admin (Entry 16) - This entry could expose administrative directories, which is sensitive information that should not be disclosed. Therefore, the selections are: • Tool: WPScan • Entries to recommend for removal: • User-agent: * • Allow: /wp-admin

In a robots.txt file, the "Allow" directive is used to explicitly allow access to specific URLs for web crawlers. However, if you want to restrict access to certain sensitive or administrative URLs, you would typically use the "Disallow" directive instead of "Allow." Therefore, in this scenario, you would want to remove: Allow: /admin Allow: /wp-admin Removing these directives would prevent web crawlers from accessing URLs related to administrative sections of the website ("/admin" and "/wp-admin"), which can help improve security by restricting unauthorized access to sensitive areas. Allow:/wp-login.php This directive allows access to the "/wp-login.php" URL, which is typically the login page for WordPress sites. If you're aiming to restrict access to administrative areas, it's generally advisable to allow access to the login page so that legitimate users can authenticate and access the site's admin interface. Therefore, you would not remove this directive

The WordPress root directory contains the following files and folders: wp-admin wp-content wp-includes .htaccess index.php license.txt readme.html wp-activate.php wp-blog-header.php wp-comments-post.php wp-config-sample.php wp-cron.php wp-links-opml.php wp-load.php wp-login.php wp-mail.php wp-settings.php wp-signup.php wp-trackback.php xmlrpc.php wp-feed.php