Best Browser Extensions for Ethical Hackers & Pentesters (2025 Edition)

Whether you're a bug bounty hunter, CTF enthusiast, or red teamer, having the right tools in your browser can supercharge your workflow.

Here’s a curated list of the best browser extensions for hacking, fingerprinting, payload crafting, scanning, and more — all tested and trusted by the hacking community.

Tools for Reconnaissance and Digital Fingerprinting

Wappalyzer

• Purpose: Detects website technologies (CMS, JS libraries, web servers, etc.)

• Why: Helps plan specific attacks based on tech stack

• Get Wappalyzer

Shodan

• Purpose: View open ports, services, IPs of exposed devices

• Why: Excellent for asset discovery and external recon

• Visit Shodan

Proxy & Traffic Control

FoxyProxy Standard

• Purpose: Quickly switch proxy profiles (e.g., Burp, ZAP)

• Why: Essential for intercepting and replaying traffic

• FoxyProxy for Firefox

Multi-Account Containers

• Purpose: Separate sessions and cookies in different tabs

• Why: Ideal for role-based testing and session management

• Get it here

Request Crafting & Payload Tampering

Manually crafting payloads is a powerful way to bypass filters and uncover vulnerabilities.

HackBar / HackBar V2

• Purpose: Encode, decode, fuzz, inject SQL/XSS payloads easily

• Why: Speeds up manual testing

• HackBar V2 GitHub

Tamper Data (Legacy)

• Purpose: Intercept and modify HTTP headers, parameters, and requests

• Why: Great for manual manipulation, IDOR testing

• Tamper Data Add-on

Hack-Tools

• Purpose: Toolbox with payloads, encoders, hash tools, reverse shells

• Why: One-stop-shop for most common web attack vectors

• Hack-Tools on Chrome Store

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🧬 Vulnerability Scanners (Lightweight)

These automated tools help test common bugs like XSS and SQLi right from your browser.

Easy XSS

• Purpose: Injects and tests XSS payloads automatically

• Why: Helps identify reflected and stored XSS

• Easy XSS GitHub

SQL Inject Me

• Purpose: Sends SQL payloads into form fields

• Why: Useful for basic detection of SQLi

• Firefox Add-on (Legacy)

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Session & Cookie Management

For testing session hijacking, fixation, and expiration, these tools are a must.

🍪 Cookie Editor / Cookie Quick Manager

• Purpose: View, modify, delete cookies on the fly

• Why: Needed for replay attacks and testing auth flaws

• Cookie Quick Manager

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Hardening, JS Scanner & Misc Tools

These tools help discover hidden issues and allow you to disable browser features safely during tests.

NoScript Security Suite

• Purpose: Disable JS, Flash, Java, and more

• Why: Helps test app behavior without active content

• Get NoScript

Retire.js

• Purpose: Detect outdated JS libraries on a page

• Why: Great for finding known vulnerabilities in dependencies

• Retire.js GitHub

Penetration Testing Kit (PTK)

• Purpose: All-in-one toolkit with DAST scanner, JWT decoder, proxy log, and tamper tools

• Why: Ideal for browser-only recon and testing

• PTK Extension

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Final Thoughts

These browser extensions aren’t just convenient — they save hours of manual work. Whether you’re fuzzing forms, switching sessions, or identifying outdated libraries, these tools bring web app security to your fingertips.

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Bonus Tip

Combine these with:

• Burp Suite or OWASP ZAP

• Browser profiles for sandboxed environments

• Open-source intelligence tools like Amass or Sublist3r

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