burpsuite-project-parser – Security skill for AI agents

Supporting material availability

This catalog copy contains the inline guidance below, but does not include the following supporting paths. They are external prerequisites, not bundled files:

• scripts/burp-search.sh (wrapper; unavailable in this catalog tree)

Ask for the original supporting material or an existing installation before using a step that depends on these paths; this catalog does not identify a verified download source for them. Resolve each path relative to that installation, inspect its contents, and verify any applicable license and execution prerequisites. Do not run a command or claim a referenced procedure was followed until its required file exists. Do not fabricate the missing scripts or treat an unrelated file with the same name as equivalent. Independent steps fully documented here can proceed within the user’s authorized scope; report any dependent step as unavailable.

Burp Project Parser

Search and extract data from Burp Suite project files using the burpsuite-project-file-parser extension.

When to Use

• Searching response headers or bodies with regex patterns
• Extracting security audit findings from Burp projects
• Dumping proxy history or site map data
• Analyzing HTTP traffic captured in a Burp project file

Prerequisites

This skill delegates parsing to Burp Suite Professional - it does not parse .burp files directly.

Required:

1. Burp Suite Professional - Must be installed ([portswigger.net](https://portswigger.net/burp/pro))

2. burpsuite-project-file-parser extension - Provides CLI functionality

Install the extension:

1. Download from [github.com/BuffaloWill/burpsuite-project-file-parser](https://github.com/BuffaloWill/burpsuite-project-file-parser)

2. In Burp Suite: Extender → Extensions → Add

3. Select the downloaded JAR file

Quick Reference

Use the wrapper script:

{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh /path/to/project.burp [FLAGS]

The script uses environment variables for platform compatibility:

• BURP_JAVA: Path to Java executable
• BURP_JAR: Path to burpsuite_pro.jar

See [Platform Configuration](#platform-configuration) for setup instructions.

Sub-Component Filters (USE THESE)

ALWAYS use sub-component filters instead of full dumps. Full proxyHistory or siteMap can return gigabytes of data. Sub-component filters return only what you need.

Available Filters

| Filter | Returns | Typical Size |

|--------|---------|--------------|

| proxyHistory.request.headers | Request line + headers only | Small (< 1KB/record) |

| proxyHistory.request.body | Request body only | Variable |

| proxyHistory.response.headers | Status + headers only | Small (< 1KB/record) |

| proxyHistory.response.body | Response body only | LARGE - avoid |

| siteMap.request.headers | Same as above for site map | Small |

| siteMap.request.body | | Variable |

| siteMap.response.headers | | Small |

| siteMap.response.body | | LARGE - avoid |

Default Approach

Start with headers, not bodies:

# Header subset only; redact cookies, Authorization and other secrets before display
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp proxyHistory.request.headers | head -c 50000
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp proxyHistory.response.headers | head -c 50000

# BAD - full records include bodies, can be gigabytes
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp proxyHistory  # NEVER DO THIS

Only fetch bodies for specific URLs after reviewing headers, and ALWAYS truncate:

# 1. First, find interesting URLs from headers
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp proxyHistory.response.headers | \
  jq -r 'select(.headers | test("text/html")) | .url' | head -n 20

# 2. Then search bodies with targeted regex - MUST truncate body to 1000 chars
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp "responseBody='.*specific-pattern.*'" | \
  head -n 10 | jq -c '.body = (.body[:1000] + "...[TRUNCATED]")'

HARD RULE: Body content > 1000 chars must NEVER enter context. If the user needs full body content, they must view it in Burp Suite's UI.

Regex Search Operations

Search Response Headers

responseHeader='.*regex.*'

Searches all response headers. Output: {"url":"...", "header":"..."}

Example - find server signatures:

responseHeader='.*(nginx|Apache|Servlet).*' | head -c 50000

Search Response Bodies

responseBody='.*regex.*'

MANDATORY: Always truncate body content to 1000 chars max. Response bodies can be megabytes each.

# REQUIRED format - always truncate .body field
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp "responseBody='.*<form.*action.*'" | \
  head -n 10 | jq -c '.body = (.body[:1000] + "...[TRUNCATED]")'

Never retrieve full body content. If you need to see more of a specific response, ask the user to open it in Burp Suite's UI.

Other Operations

Extract Audit Items

auditItems

Returns all security findings. Output includes: name, severity, confidence, host, port, protocol, url.

Note: Audit items can still contain sensitive metadata; bound bytes and redact before display.

Dump Proxy History (AVOID)

proxyHistory

NEVER use this directly. Use sub-component filters instead:

• proxyHistory.request.headers
• proxyHistory.response.headers

Dump Site Map (AVOID)

siteMap

NEVER use this directly. Use sub-component filters instead.

Output Limits (REQUIRED)

CRITICAL: Always check result size BEFORE retrieving data. A broad search can return thousands of records, each potentially megabytes. This will overflow the context window.

Step 1: Always Check Size First

Before any search, check BOTH record count AND byte size:

# Check record count AND total bytes - never skip this step
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp proxyHistory.request.headers | wc -cl
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp "responseHeader='.*Server.*'" | wc -cl
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp auditItems | wc -cl

The wc -cl output shows: <lines> <bytes> (e.g., 42 524288 means42 newline-delimited records across512KiB).

Interpret the results - BOTH must pass:

| Metric | Safe | Narrow search | Too broad | STOP |

|--------|------|---------------|-----------|------|

| Lines | < 50 | 50-200 | 200+ | 1000+ |

| Bytes | < 50KB | 50-200KB | 200KB+ | 1MB+ |

A single 10MB response on one line will show high byte count but only 1 line - the byte check catches this.

Step 2: Refine Broad Searches

If count/size is too high:

1. Use sub-component filters (see table above):

   # Instead of: proxyHistory (gigabytes)
   # Use: proxyHistory.request.headers (kilobytes)
   

2. Narrow regex patterns:

   # Too broad (matches everything):
   responseHeader='.*'

   # Better - target specific headers:
   responseHeader='.*X-Frame-Options.*'
   responseHeader='.*Content-Security-Policy.*'
   

3. Filter with jq before retrieving:

   # Get only specific content types
   {baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp proxyHistory.response.headers | \
     jq -c 'select(.url | test("/api/"))' | head -n 50
   

Step 3: Always Truncate Output

Even after narrowing, always pipe through truncation:

# ALWAYS use head -c to limit total bytes (max 50KB)
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp proxyHistory.request.headers | head -c 50000

# For body searches, truncate each JSON object's body field:
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp "responseBody='pattern'" | \
  head -n 20 | jq -c '.body = (.body | if length > 1000 then .[:1000] + "...[TRUNCATED]" else . end)'

# Limit both record count AND byte size:
{baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp auditItems | head -n 50 | head -c 50000

Hard limits to enforce:

• head -c 50000 (50KB max) on ALL output
• Truncate .body fields to 1000 chars - MANDATORY, no exceptions

  jq -c '.body = (.body[:1000] + "...[TRUNCATED]")'
  

Never run these without counting first AND truncating:

• proxyHistory / siteMap (full dumps - always use sub-component filters)
• responseBody='...' searches (bodies can be megabytes each)
• Any broad regex like .* or .+

Investigation Workflow

1. Identify scope - What are you looking for? (specific vuln type, endpoint, header pattern)

2. Search audit items first - Start with Burp's findings:

   {baseDir}/scripts/burp-search.sh project.burp auditItems | jq 'select(.severity == "High")'
   

3. Check confidence scores - Filter for actionable findings:

   ... | jq 'select(.confidence == "Certain" or .confidence == "Firm")'
   

4. Extract affected URLs - Get the attack surface:

   ... | jq -r '.url' | sort -u
   

5. Search raw traffic for context - Examine actual requests/responses:

   {baseDir}/scr

… (full content is in the download package)