OWASP Security Shepherd

The OWASP Security Shepherd Project is a web and mobile application security training platform. Security Shepherd has been designed to foster and improve security awareness among a varied skill-set demographic. The aim of this project is to take AppSec novices or experienced engineers and sharpen their penetration testing skill set to security expert status.

Documentation

The documentation is at https://owasp.github.io/SecurityShepherd/: how to play, how to run Security Shepherd and an event, and how to contribute.

Quick start

You need Git, JDK 17, Maven 3.9.2 or newer, and Docker with Docker Compose.

git clone https://github.com/OWASP/SecurityShepherd.git
cd SecurityShepherd
# Build the WAR and generate the database scripts the images need
mvn -Pdocker clean install -DskipTests
# Build the images and start the containers
docker compose up -d --build

Then open https://localhost and follow Getting started to configure the database and log in.

This is a quick start for a laptop or a classroom lab, not a production deployment: it uses well-known default passwords and a self-signed certificate. Before other people use it, follow Deploying into production. To move an existing installation to 4.0, see Upgrading.

Pre-built images are published to Docker Hub as owasp/security-shepherd. Verifying the images explains the tags and how to check an image's SBOM and provenance.

The 3.1 virtual machine and manual installation packs are still on the releases page, and the wiki describes them.

What can Security Shepherd be used for?

Security Shepherd can be used as a;

• Teaching Tool for All Application Security
• Web Application Pen Testing Training Platform
• Mobile Application Pen Testing Training
• Safe Playground to Practise AppSec Techniques
• Platform to demonstrate real Security Risk examples

Why choose Security Shepherd?

There are a lot of purposefully vulnerable applications available in the OWASP Project Inventory, and even more across the internet. Why should you use Security Shepherd? Here are a few reasons;

• Wide Topic Coverage
  Shepherd includes over sixty levels across the entire spectrum of Web and Mobile application security under a single project.
• Gentle Learning Curve
  Shepherd is a perfect for users completely new to security with levels increasing in difficulty at a pleasant pace.
• Layman Write Ups
  When each security concept is first presented in Shepherd, it is done so in layman terms so that anyone (even beginners) can absorb them.
• Real World Examples
  The security risks in Shepherd are real vulnerabilities that have had their exploit impact dampened to protect the application, users, and environment. There are no simulated security risks which require an expected, specific attack vector in order to pass a level. Attack vectors when used on Shepherd are how they would behave in the real world.
• Scalability
  Shepherd can be used locally by a single user or easily as a server for a high amount of users.
• Highly Customisable
  Shepherd enables admins to set what levels are available to their users and in what way they are presented (Open, CTF and Tournament Layouts)
• Perfect for Classrooms
  Shepherd gives it's players user specific solution keys to prevent students from sharing keys, rather than going through the steps required to complete a level.
• Scoreboard
  Security Shepherd has a configurable scoreboard to encourage a competitive learning environment. Users that complete levels first, second and third get medals on their scoreboard entry and bonus points to keep things entertaining on the scoreboard.
• User Management
  Security Shepherd admins can create users, create admins, suspend, unsuspend, add bonus points, or take penalty points away from users' accounts with the admin user management controls. Admins can also segment their students into specific class groups. Admins can view the progress a class has made to identify struggling participants. An admin can even close public registration and manually create users if they wish for a private experience.
• Robust Service
  Shepherd has been used to run online CTFs such as the OWASP Global CTF and OWASP LATAM Tour CTF 2015, both surpassing 200 active users and running with no down time, bar planned maintenance periods.
• Configurable Feedback
  An administrator can enable a feedback process, which must be completed by users before a level is marked as complete. This is used both to facilitate project improvements based on feedback submitted and for system administrators to collect "Reports of Understanding" from their students.