bug-bounty

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from when this skill was listed. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: bug-bounty
description: Complete bug bounty workflow — recon, pre-hunt learning, vulnerability hunting (IDOR, SSRF, XSS, auth bypass, CSRF, race conditions, SQLi, XXE, file upload, business logic, GraphQL, HTTP smuggling, cache poisoning, OAuth, OIDC, SSTI, subdomain takeover, cloud misconfig, ATO chains, agentic AI), LLM/AI security testing (ASI01-ASI10), A-to-B bug chaining, bypass tables, language-specific grep patterns, and reporting (7-Question Gate, 4 validation gates, CVSS 3.1, PoC generation, submission checklist). Use for ANY bug bounty task — recon, hunting specific vulns, auditing source code, testing AI features, validating findings, or writing reports.
---

# Bug Bounty Master Workflow

Full pipeline: Recon -> Learn -> Hunt -> Validate -> Report. One skill for everything.

## THE ONLY QUESTION THAT MATTERS

> **"Can an attacker do this RIGHT NOW against a real user who has taken NO unusual actions -- and does it cause real harm (stolen money, leaked PII, account takeover, code execution)?"**
>
> If the answer is NO -- **STOP. Do not write. Do not explore further. Move on.**

### Theoretical Bug = Wasted Time. Kill These Immediately:

| Pattern | Kill Reason |
|---|---|
| "Could theoretically allow..." | Not exploitable = not a bug |
| "An attacker with X, Y, Z conditions could..." | Too many preconditions |
| "Wrong implementation but no practical impact" | Wrong but harmless = not a bug |
| Dead code with a bug in it | Not reachable = not a bug |
| Source maps without secrets | No impact |
| SSRF with DNS-only callback | Need data exfil or internal access |
| Open redirect alone | Need ATO or OAuth chain |
| "Could be used in a chain if..." | Build the chain first, THEN report |

**You must demonstrate actual harm. "Could" is not a bug. Prove it works or drop it.**

---

## CRITICAL RULES

1. **READ FULL SCOPE FIRST** -- verify every asset/domain is owned by the target org
2. **NO THEORETICAL BUGS** -- "Can an attacker steal funds, leak PII, takeover account, or execute code RIGHT NOW?" If no, STOP.
3. **KILL WEAK FINDINGS FAST** -- run the 7-Question Gate BEFORE writing any report
4. **Validate before writing** -- check CHANGELOG, design docs, deployment scripts FIRST
5. **One bug class at a time** -- go deep, don't spray
6. **Verify data isn't already public** -- check web UI in incognito before reporting API "leaks"
7. **5-MINUTE RULE** -- if a target shows nothing after 5 min probing (all 401/403/404), MOVE ON
8. **IMPACT-FIRST HUNTING** -- ask "what's the worst thing if auth was broken?" If nothing valuable, skip target
9. **CREDENTIAL LEAKS need exploitation proof** -- finding keys isn't enough, must PROVE what they access
10. **STOP SHALLOW RECON SPIRALS** -- don't probe 403s, don't grep for analytics keys, don't check staging domains that lead nowhere
11. **BUSINESS IMPACT over vuln class** -- severity depends on CONTEXT, not just vuln type
12. **UNDERSTAND THE TARGET DEEPLY** -- before hunting, learn the app like a real user
13. **DON'T OVER-RELY ON AUTOMATION** -- automated scans hit WAFs, trigger rate limits, find the same bugs everyone else finds
14. **HUNT LESS-SATURATED VULN CLASSES** -- XSS/SSRF/XXE have the most competition. Expand into: cache poisoning, Android/mobile vulns, business logic, race conditions, OAuth/OIDC chains, CI/CD pipeline attacks
15. **ONE-HOUR RULE** -- stuck on one target for an hour with no progress? SWITCH CONTEXT
16. **TWO-EYE APPROACH** -- combine systematic testing (checklist) with anomaly detection (watch for unexpected behavior)
17. **T-SHAPED KNOWLEDGE** -- go DEEP in one area and BROAD across everything else
18. **LEAD BOARD — never lose a lead** -- after recon run `python3 tools/lead_board.py ingest <target>` + `show` + `next`. Route each signal to its skill ("GraphQL → hunt-graphql"). `touch` when starting/killing/reporting. Focus on one lead; the board remembers the rest. Surface stale high-priority leads unprompted.

> **For the full hunting methodology