How to Scan a Website for Vulnerabilities (2026 Guide)

To scan a website for vulnerabilities, you run automated security tools against your application's code, dependencies, and live endpoints to detect issues like cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, insecure headers, and exposed secrets. A 2024 Verizon DBIR report found that over 70% of web application breaches trace back to vulnerabilities in the OWASP Top 10 — the majority of which automated scanners can catch before deployment.

Skipping vulnerability scans means shipping code where a single unescaped input field or misconfigured header can expose your entire database to attackers.

Most web application breaches exploit known, scannable vulnerabilities — not zero-days. If you're not scanning, you're leaving the front door open.

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What a Vulnerability Scan Actually Checks

Website vulnerability scans fall into two categories: static analysis (SAST) and dynamic analysis (DAST).

Static analysis inspects your source code without running it. It catches hardcoded secrets, injection flaws, insecure cryptographic patterns, and dangerous API usage. Tools like Semgrep, CodeQL, and Rafter run SAST scans directly in your CI/CD pipeline.

Dynamic analysis tests your running application by sending crafted HTTP requests — probing for XSS, open redirects, SSRF, and security misconfigurations. DAST tools like OWASP ZAP and Burp Suite simulate real attacker behavior against live endpoints.

A complete scanning strategy uses both. SAST catches bugs at the code level before deployment. DAST catches runtime issues that only appear when the application is live.

How to Run Your First Scan

Start with static analysis — it's faster, requires no running server, and catches the highest-severity issues first.


# Connect your repo and scan with Rafter (takes ~60 seconds)
# 1. Sign up at rfrtr.com/dashboard
# 2. Connect your GitHub repository
# 3. Rafter scans every commit and PR automatically

For dynamic scanning, point OWASP ZAP at your staging URL:


# Quick DAST scan with OWASP ZAP (Docker)
docker run -t zaproxy/zap-stable zap-baseline.py \
  -t https://staging.yoursite.com

Run SAST on every pull request. Run DAST against staging before each release. This two-layer approach catches vulnerabilities at both the code and runtime level without slowing your development cycle.

Common Vulnerabilities Scanners Detect

Vulnerability	Scanner Type	OWASP Category
SQL injection	SAST + DAST	A03: Injection
Cross-site scripting (XSS)	SAST + DAST	A03: Injection
Hardcoded API keys / secrets	SAST	A07: Authentication Failures
Outdated dependencies with CVEs	SCA	A06: Vulnerable Components
Security header misconfigurations	DAST	A05: Misconfiguration
Server-side request forgery (SSRF)	DAST	A10: SSRF

No single scanner catches everything. Combining static analysis tools with dynamic testing and software composition analysis (SCA) covers the widest range of issues.

Scan Frequency and CI/CD Integration

One-off scans create a false sense of security. Every new commit can introduce new vulnerabilities, so scanning must be continuous. Integrate SAST into your CI/CD pipeline to block vulnerable code before it merges. Schedule weekly DAST scans against staging. Run SCA checks whenever dependencies update.

Automated scanning in CI/CD means vulnerabilities get flagged in the same pull request that introduced them — when fixes are cheapest and fastest.

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