Web Services: Enumeration and Profiling

Overview

Web services hacking begins with the Web Services Definition Language or WSDL. A WSDL file is a major source of information for an attacker. Examining a WSDL description provides critical information like methods, input and output parameters. It is important to understand the structure of a WSDL file, based on which one should be able to enumerate web services. The outcome of this process is a web services profile or matrix. The scope of this paper is restricted to understanding this process. Once this is done, attack vectors for web services can be defined.