Top Level Navigation Highlighter

A Burp Suite extension that automatically highlights top-level navigation requests in the Proxy history, making it easier to identify and track primary page navigations during security testing.

What It Does

This extension monitors HTTP requests passing through Burp's Proxy and highlights those that represent top-level navigation events. It does this by checking for the Sec-Fetch-Mode header with values of navigate or nested-navigate, which modern browsers send to indicate primary navigation requests (as opposed to AJAX calls, images, or other resource loads).

Features

• Automatic Highlighting: Requests are highlighted in real-time as they pass through Burp Proxy
• Customizable Colors: Choose your preferred highlight color from the extension's settings tab
• Persistent Settings: Your color preference is saved between Burp sessions
• Lightweight: Minimal performance impact - only processes proxy requests

Installation

From GitHub Releases

1. Download the latest top-level-navigation-highlighter-X.X.X.jar file from the Releases page
2. Open Burp Suite
3. Go to the Extensions tab
4. Click Add under "Installed"
5. Select Extension file and browse to the downloaded JAR file
6. Click Next
7. The extension should load successfully - look for "TLNH loaded" in the extension output

Manual Build (see below)

Follow the build instructions below to create the JAR file yourself.

Usage

1. Once installed, the extension automatically starts monitoring proxy traffic
2. Navigate to the TLNH tab in Burp Suite to configure the highlight color
3. Select your preferred color from the dropdown and click Save
4. Check the Proxy > HTTP history - requests with Sec-Fetch-Mode: navigate or nested-navigate will be highlighted in your chosen color
5. These highlighted requests represent top-level navigations (page loads) rather than background resource requests

Building from Source

Requirements

• Java Development Kit (JDK) 17 or higher
• Apache Maven 3.6+
• Internet connection (for downloading dependencies)

Build Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/boffman/burp-tlnh.git
   cd burp-tlnh

2. Build with Maven:

   mvn clean package

3. The compiled JAR file will be created in the target/ directory:

   target/top-level-navigation-highlighter-1.1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar
   

4. Load this JAR file into Burp Suite using the installation steps above

Build Configuration

The extension is built using:

• Burp Montoya API 2025.8 (provided scope - not bundled in JAR)
• Maven Compiler Plugin targeting Java 17

Troubleshooting

Extension doesn't load

• Ensure you're using Burp Suite with Montoya API support (2023.1+)
• Check the extension output/errors tab for error messages
• Verify you're using Java 17 or higher

Requests aren't being highlighted

• Ensure the browser is sending Sec-Fetch-Mode headers (modern browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Edge should send these)
• Verify the requests are going through the Proxy (check HTTP history, compare with Logger)
• Older browsers or certain request types may not include these headers

Color changes don't appear

• Make sure to click the Save button after selecting a new color
• Changes apply to new requests; existing history items retain their original highlighting

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

Author

boffman