This tool has been around for a LONG time in some form or another, some of you old-skool guys may remember a package called SATAN, this was the best semi-automatic security analysis tool around back then. From SATAN and it’s development came SARA, which is now in it’s 3rd generation.

Advanced Research’s philosophy relies heavily on software re-use. Rather than inventing a new module, SARA is adapted to interface to other community products. For instance, SARA interfaces with the popular Nmap package for superior “Operating System fingerprinting”. Also, SARA provides a transparent interface to SAMBA for SMB security analysis.

A recent addition to SARA is the ability to operate on a Windows 200* and Windows XP platforms. SARA relies on Cooperative Linux to provide the proper operating environment to operate as Windows process. This product is called coSARA.

The Security Auditor’s Research Assistant (SARA) is a third generation network security analysis tool that is:

1. Operates under Unix, Linux, MAC OS/X or Windows (through coLinux) OS’.
2. Integrates the National Vulnerability Database (NVD).
3. Performs SQL injection tests.
4. Performs exhaustive XSS tests
5. Can adapt to many firewalled environments.
6. Support remote self scan and API facilities.
7. Used for CIS benchmark initiatives
8. Plug-in facility for third party apps
9. CVE standards support
10. Enterprise search module
11. Standalone or daemon mode
12. Free-use open SATAN oriented license
13. Updated twice a month (we try)
14. User extension support
15. Based on the SATAN model

The first generation assistant, the Security Administrator’s Tool for Analyzing Networks (SATAN) was developed in early 1995. It became the benchmark for network security analysis for several years. However, few updates were provided and the tool slowly became obsolete in the growing threat environment.

You can download SARA here:

sara-7.8.4.tgz (Linux)
cosara-7.4.1.exe (Windows)

Or read more here.