Annotated Option List

Note: Options with + require an argument

Option	Description
-ask+	Whether to ask about submitting updates: *yes - Ask about each (default) *no - Don't ask, don't send *auto - Don't ask, just send
-Cgidirs+	Scan these CGI dirs: * none * all * or values like "/cgi/ /cgi-a/"
-config+	Use this config file
-Display+	Turn on/off display outputs: * 1 Show redirects * 2 Show cookies received * 3 Show all 200/OK responses * 4 Show URLs which require authentication * D Debug output * E Display all HTTP errors * P Print progress to STDOUT * S Scrub output of IPs and hostnames * V Verbose output
-dbcheck	Check database and other key files for syntax errors
-evasion+	Encoding technique:
	1 Random URI encoding (non-UTF8)
	2 Directory self-reference (/./)
	3 Premature URL ending
	4 Prepend long random string
	5 Fake parameter
	6 TAB as request spacer
	7 Change the case of the URL
	8 Use Windows directory separator ()
	A Use a carriage return (0x0d) as a request spacer
	B Use binary value 0x0b as a request spacer
-Format+	Save file (-o) format:
	csv Comma-separated-value
	json JSON Format
	htm HTML Format
	nbe Nessus NBE format
	sql Generic SQL (see docs for schema)
	txt Plain text
	xml XML Format
	(if not specified the format will be taken from the file extension passed to -output)
-Help	This help information
-host+	Target host/URL
-404code	Ignore these HTTP codes as negative responses (always). Format is "302,301".
-404string	Ignore this string in response body content as negative response (always). Can be a regular expression.
-id+	Host authentication to use, format is id:pass or id:pass:realm
-key+	Client certificate key file
-list-plugins	List all available plugins, perform no testing
-maxtime+	Maximum testing time per host (e.g., 1h, 60m, 3600s)
-mutate+	Guess additional file names:
	1 Test all files with all root directories
	2 Guess for password file names
	3 Enumerate user names via Apache (/~user type requests)
	4 Enumerate user names via cgiwrap (/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~user type requests)
	5 Attempt to brute force sub-domain names, assume that the host name is the parent domain
	6 Attempt to guess directory names from the supplied dictionary file
-mutate-options	Provide information for mutates
-nointeractive	Disables interactive features
-nolookup	Disables DNS lookups
-nossl	Disables the use of SSL
-no404	Disables nikto attempting to guess a 404 page
-Option	Over-ride an option in nikto.conf, can be issued multiple times
-output+	Write output to this file ('.' for auto-name)
-Pause+	Pause between tests (seconds, integer or float)
-Plugins+	List of plugins to run (default: ALL)
-port+	Port to use (default 80)
-RSAcert+	Client certificate file
-root+	Prepend root value to all requests, format is /directory
-Save	Save positive responses to this directory ('.' for auto-name)
-ssl	Force ssl mode on port
-Tuning+	Scan tuning:
	1 Interesting File / Seen in logs
	2 Misconfiguration / Default File
	3 Information Disclosure
	4 Injection (XSS/Script/HTML)
	5 Remote File Retrieval - Inside Web Root
	6 Denial of Service
	7 Remote File Retrieval - Server Wide
	8 Command Execution / Remote Shell
	9 SQL Injection
	0 File Upload
	a Authentication Bypass
	b Software Identification
	c Remote Source Inclusion
	d WebService
	e Administrative Console
	x Reverse Tuning Options (i.e., include all except specified)
-timeout+	Timeout for requests (default 10 seconds)
-Userdbs	Load only user databases, not the standard databases
	all Disable standard dbs and load only user dbs
	tests Disable only db_tests and load udb_tests
-useragent	Over-rides the default useragent
-until	Run until the specified time or duration
-update	Update databases and plugins from CIRT.net
-url+	Target host/URL (alias of -host)
-useproxy	Use the proxy defined in nikto.conf, or argument http://server:port
-Version	Print plugin and database versions
-vhost+	Virtual host (for Host header)