Advanced Techniques & Use Cases of Nuclei for Bug Bounty

Enhancing Bug Bounty Efficiency with Automated Security Scanning

In the first part of our discussion on Nuclei, we explored its basics, installation, and how to use predefined templates. Now, let’s dive deeper into advanced techniques, custom template creation, automation, and real-world use cases that make Nuclei a must-have tool for every bug bounty hunter.

1. Customizing Nuclei Templates for Targeted Scanning

While Nuclei provides thousands of predefined templates, customizing them allows researchers to fine-tune scans for specific targets. This is especially useful when hunting for unique vulnerabilities in an application.

How to Create Custom Templates

1. Navigate to the Nuclei templates directory:

cd ~/nuclei-templates

2. Create a new template file:

nano my_custom_template.yaml

3. Define a simple YAML-based template:

id: custom-sql-injection  
info:  
  name: Custom SQL Injection Finder  
  severity: high  
  description: "Detects SQL Injection vulnerabilities on specific endpoints."  
requests:  
  - method: GET  
    path:  
      - "{{BaseURL}}/search.php?query=1' OR '1'='1"  
    matchers:  
      - type: word  
        words:  
          - "syntax error"

4. Run your custom scan:

nuclei -u https://target.com -t my_custom_template.yaml

2. Automating Nuclei with Bash & Python

To increase efficiency, bug bounty hunters often automate Nuclei scans. Below are simple scripts for automation.

1. Bash Automation Script

#!/bin/bash
# Nuclei Automation Script
target_list="targets.txt"
output_dir="nuclei_results"

mkdir -p $output_dir

while IFS= read -r target; do
    echo "Scanning $target..."
    nuclei -u "$target" -t ~/nuclei-templates/ -o "$output_dir/$(basename "$target").txt"
done < "$target_list"

echo "Scanning complete. Check results in $output_dir/"

2. Python Automation Script