I need to either find a file in which the version is encoded or a way of polling it across the web so it reveals its version. The server is running at a host who will not provide me command line access, although I can browse the install location via FTP.
I have tried HEAD and do not get a version number reported.
If I try a missing page to get a 404 it is intercepted, and a stock page is returned which has no server information on it. I guess that points to the server being hardened.
Still no closer…
I put a PHP file up as suggested, but I can’t browse to it and can’t quite figure out the URL path that would load it. In any case I am getting plenty of access denied messages and the same stock 404 page. I am taking some comfort from knowing that the server is quite robustly protected.
The method
Connect to port 80 on the host and send it
This needs to be followed by carriage-return + line-feed twice
You’ll get back something like this
You can then extract the apache version from the Server: header
Typical tools you can use
You could use the HEAD utility which comes with a full install of Perl’s LWP library, e.g.
Or, use the curl utility, e.g.
You could also use a browser extension which lets you view server headers, such as Live HTTP Headers or Firebug for Firefox, or Fiddler for IE
Stuck with Windows?
Finally. if you’re on Windows, and have nothing else at your disposal, open a command prompt (Start Menu->Run, type "cmd" and press return), and then type this
Then type (carefully, your characters won’t be echoed back)
Press return twice and you’ll see the server headers.
Other methods
As mentioned by cfeduke and Veynom, the server may be set to return limited information in the Server: header. Try and upload a PHP script to your host with this in it
Request the page with a web browser and you should see the Apache version reported there.
You could also try and use PHPShell to have a poke around, try a command like