How to use PwnFox with Burp Suite

I'm working as an Information Security Specialist at 2NS and this time I wanted to teach you how to use PwnFox extension with Burp Suite!

What is PwnFox, and why is it used?

PwnFox is a Firefox and Burp Suite extension that provides useful tools for security testing websites. It can be especially helpful when performing access control tests with the Auth Analyzer Burp extension (I have published a blog post about this too: Testing Authorization with Auth Analyzer in Burp Suite).

PwnFox utilizes Firefox Containers to create separate environments for different user roles or sessions during security testing. Firefox Containers allow you to open new tabs in separate containers, each with its own isolated environment, including separate cookies, local storage, cache, and site data. This means that cookies set in one container are not accessible in another, and each container acts like a separate browser profile.

If you want to learn more about how Firefox Containers work, you can read the tutorial written by Mozilla: How to use Firefox containers.

What PwnFox does is color-code and tag HTTP traffic based on the originating container. This makes it easy to see which requests are coming from which profile and allows for more precise traffic analysis. Burp Suite will highlight the traffic coming from each container to match the color of the container you are using.

Tutorial

Let's install and use PwnFox next.

Prerequisites

This tutorial will not cover how Burp Suite is used. I recommend having at least a basic understanding of Burp Suite before following this tutorial. PortSwigger has created a great tutorial series that you can start with: Burp Suite Professional video tutorials.

My setup:

• Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
• Clean installation of Burp Suite Community Edition (free version)
• Clean installation of Firefox

Setup PwnFox Browser Extension

Let's start by installing the PwnFox browser extension.

Open Firefox and go to Settings -> Extensions and Themes, and search for the PwnFox extension.

Open the installed extension and check "Proxify only containers tabs" and "Enable."

This setting ensures that only the network traffic from new tabs opened by clicking on a color under "New container tab" in the extension will be sent to Burp Suite.

Install PwnFox Burp Suite Extension

Next, we need to install the extension in Burp Suite.

Go to Github and download the latest PwnFox.jar file.

Open Burp Suite and go to Extensions -> Installed -> Add.

Select the downloaded PwnFox.jar file and click "Next". The following screen should display "PwnFox loaded" if the setup did not encounter any issues. Click "Close".

Now, the setup is complete!

Using PwnFox with Burp Suite

So, how do you actually use this extension?

First, open a new container tab from the PwnFox browser extension. Choose any color you like.

I chose the green one, as you can see from the address bar and on top of the "New Tab."

If you open another tab with a different color, it will be easy to identify which container you are using.

Open Burp Suite and go to Proxy -> HTTP history tab. Try navigating to any website using two different container tabs.

You should see network traffic that is highlighted according to the container color you chose.

That's it!

I hope this blog post helped you to understand what PwnFox extension is and how it can be installed!

You can also follow my Instagram @whatminjahacks if you are interested to see more about my days as an Information Security Specialist at 2NS and learn more about cyber security with me!