This module responds to all requests for resources with a HTTP 401. This should cause most browsers to prompt for a credential. If the user enters Basic Auth creds they are sent to the console. This may be helpful in some phishing expeditions where it is possible to embed a resource into a page. This attack is discussed in Chapter 3 of The Tangled Web by Michal Zalewski.
To display the available options, load the module within the Metasploit console and run the commands 'show options' or 'show advanced':
msf > use auxiliary/server/capture/http_basic
msf auxiliary(http_basic) > show actions
...actions...
msf auxiliary(http_basic) > set ACTION < action-name >
msf auxiliary(http_basic) > show options
...show and set options...
msf auxiliary(http_basic) > run
Time is precious, so I don’t want to do something manually that I can automate. Leveraging the Metasploit Framework when automating any task keeps us from having to re-create the wheel as we can use the existing libraries and focus our efforts where it matters.
– Jim O’Gorman | President, Offensive Security