Decoding opaque data with Burp Suite - Port Swigger
Summary: PortSwigger describes how Burp Suite's Inspector and Decoder tools handle opaque, non-human-readable data during attack surface analysis, automatically decoding formats such as URL and Base64 and letting analysts edit the decoded text to see how the response changes. The Inspector shows highlighted data from Proxy HTTP History and re-encodes edits when changes are applied, while Decoder lets users stack multiple decoding and encoding functions in sequence.
What you should know: Opaque data in transit can carry usernames or timestamps, and the ability to edit it and observe the response is the difference between assuming a field is inert and knowing whether it drives application behavior.
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- Topics
- Vulnerabilities & Patching
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