Nuclei: Automating Web Application and Network Service Testing [Cheat Sheet]

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Nuclei is an open-source framework designed for automating the detection and exploitation of vulnerabilities in web applications and other network services. It allows penetration testers and security researchers to define custom templates that specify a set of HTTP requests to send to a target, along with corresponding matching rules that can be used to identify vulnerabilities or misconfigurations.

Nuclei offers several features that make it a powerful tool for penetration testing, including:

Customizable templates: Nuclei allows users to define custom templates that specify the requests to be sent to a target, along with the matching rules to identify vulnerabilities or misconfigurations.Easy customization: Users can easily customize existing templates or create new ones to suit their needs.Community-driven: Nuclei has a large community of contributors who share their templates, making it easy to get started with testing.Integration support: Nuclei supports a wide range of plugins and integrations, including Burp Suite, Nmap, and Metasploit.Versatile: Nuclei can be used to test web applications, APIs, and other network services.

To use Nuclei, you’ll need to have it installed on your system. You can download the latest version from the official GitHub repository.

Once you have Nuclei installed, you can start creating your templates. A template is essentially a YAML file that specifies the requests to be sent to a target, along with the matching rules to identify vulnerabilities or misconfigurations. Here’s an example template:

id: example-template
info:
name: Example Template
author: Your Name
severity: high
requests:
- method: GET
path:
- /
- /index.html
matchers:
- type: word
words:
- "Welcome"

This template sends two GET requests to the target, one to the root path and one to /index.html. It then uses a word matcher to look for the word "Welcome" in the response. If the word is found, Nuclei will report that the vulnerability or misconfiguration has been detected.

Once you have your template defined, you can run Nuclei and provide it with the template and the target URL. Nuclei will send the requests defined in the template to the target and report any vulnerabilities or misconfigurations that are detected.