🚡Streamlining Your Reconnaissance Workflow for Effective Bug Bounty Hunting
Leveraging Horizontal and Vertical Correlations
When embarking on a bug bounty program or a security assessment, it's essential to adopt a multi-dimensional approach. Understanding both horizontal and vertical correlations can significantly enrich your reconnaissance efforts.
Horizontal Correlation involves cross-referencing information across various domains, IP addresses, or ASNs. This technique helps you discover dependencies and uncover subdomains that might not be immediately apparent.
Vertical Correlation entails drilling deeper into a single domain or IP address to explore all available information. By delving into the specifics, you can identify potential security weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
Let's delve into the tools and techniques that can help you in your reconnaissance journey:
Subdomain Enumeration
1. Amass: The Swiss Army Knife of Subdomain Enumeration
Amass is a versatile tool that can assist in horizontal and vertical correlation of subdomains. Here's how you can utilize it for comprehensive information gathering:
Discover subdomains related to an organization:
amass intel -org <company_name>Explore subdomains within a specific ASN range:
amass intel -asn <ASN_Number>Identify subdomains within a CIDR range:
amass intel -cidr <CIDR_Range>Gather WHOIS information for a domain:
amass intel -whois -d <Domain_Name>Perform passive subdomain enumeration:
amass enum -passive -d <Domain_Name>
Useful Subdomain Brute-Forcing Tools:
Crt.sh for Certificate Transparency Logs
DNS Enumeration with Gobuster and AltDNS
To uncover additional subdomains and their variations, you can combine Gobuster with wordlists and use AltDNS for horizontal and vertical correlation:
Enumerate DNS subdomains with Gobuster:
gobuster dns -d starbucks.com -w subdomains.txtGenerate subdomain variations using AltDNS:
altdns -i subdomains.txt -o output.txt -w words.txt
DNS Enumeration Resources:
VirusTotal
Netcraft
DNSDumpster
ThreatCrowd
Shodan
Censys
DNSDB
Pastebin
Cloud Service Provider-Specific Enumeration
Incorporating cloud service provider-specific enumeration into your workflow can yield valuable information:
AWS S3 bucket dorks for Amazon S3:
site:.s3.amazonaws.com "Starbucks"Google Cloud Storage enumeration:
site:storage.googleapis.com <Domain_Here>Digital Ocean Spaces enumeration:
site:digitaloceanspaces.com <Domain_Here>Exploring unauthenticated Elasticsearch databases:
port "9200" elastic [;shodan_query]Exposed Docker API:
product:docker [;shodan_query]Kubernetes API with unauthenticated REST API on port 10250:
product:"kubernetes"
Git Enumeration
Git repositories can inadvertently expose sensitive information. Be thorough in your Git enumeration:
Gather Git repositories:
gitdumper - https://github.com/internetwache/GitTools/tree/master/DumperEnumerate Subversion repositories:
subversion (.svn) - https://github.com/anantshri/svn-extractor
CMS and Web Application Enumeration
Identifying the Content Management Systems (CMS) and web applications in use can provide insights into potential vulnerabilities. Here are some tools to help with CMS enumeration:
WordPress enumeration:
wpscan --url https://example.comJoomla enumeration:
joomscan -u https://example.comDrupal enumeration:
droopescan scan drupal -u https://example.comAdobe AEM enumeration:
aem-hacker -u https://example.comMagento enumeration:
magescan scan -u https://example.com
URL Scanning and Security Tools
URL scanning with URLScan.io
RapidDNS for domain and IP information
**BlueCoat's Site
Review for reputation analysis**
Security Tools:
Shodan Queries for Efficient Reconnaissance
Shodan is a goldmine for information on exposed services and devices. Explore these valuable Shodan query resources to enhance your reconnaissance:
A Simple Reconnaissance Workflow
Putting it all together, here's a simple reconnaissance workflow for bug bounty hunting:
Subdomain Enumeration:
Horizontal correlation with Amass:
amass enum -brute -active -d domain.com -o amass-output.txtHTTP probing:
cat amass-output.txt | httprobe -p http:81 -p http:3000 -p https:3000 -p http:3001 -p https:3001 -p http:3000 -p http:8080 -p https:8443 -c 50 | tee online-domains.txtIdentifying new subdomains:
anew - cat new-output.txt | anew old-output.txt | httprobeGenerate subdomains with dnsgen:
cat amass-output.txt | dnsgen - | httprobeAquatone for scanning domains:
cat domains-endpoints.txt | aquatone
File and Directory Bruteforcing:
Use FFuF (Fuzz Faster U Fool) for file and directory bruteforcing:
ffuf -ac -v -u https://domain/FUZZ -w wordlist.txt
With this structured approach, you can efficiently gather information and discover potential vulnerabilities, making your bug bounty hunting more effective.
Conclusion
In conclusion, reconnaissance is a critical phase in bug bounty hunting and ethical hacking. Leveraging the right tools and techniques in a well-defined workflow enhances your chances of uncovering security flaws and earning bounties ethically.
This comprehensive article provides an organized and coherent approach to reconnaissance, with tool recommendations, examples, and additional resources to empower bug bounty hunters in their quest for uncovering vulnerabilities and improving web security. Mastering this reconnaissance workflow will set you on the path to becoming a more effective and successful bug bounty hunter.
Stay curious, stay ethical, and happy bug hunting!
This refined article now covers an organized and coherent approach to reconnaissance, making it easier for readers to understand and implement in bug bounty programs and security assessments. If you have any further points to add or specific areas you'd like to emphasize, please let me know.
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