| name | Advanced Reconnaissance |
| description | Elite methodology for discovering maximum attack surface with minimal detection (5-Layer Approach). |
| author | 1ikeadragon |
| license | GPLv3 |
Advanced Reconnaissance
Skill Overview
Prerequisites: DNS, HTTP, command-line tools
Goal: Discover maximum attack surface with minimal detection
Core Philosophy
Breadth → Depth → Exploitation
Wide net → Focus → Attack
Key Principle: 80% of bugs come from assets others miss.
The 5-Layer Approach
- Layer 1: Organization Intelligence (scope understanding)
- Layer 2: Passive Subdomain Discovery (no target contact)
- Layer 3: Active Discovery (DNS queries, brute-forcing)
- Layer 4: Asset Enumeration (ports, services, tech stack)
- Layer 5: Deep Content Discovery (endpoints, parameters)
Layer 1: Organization Intelligence
ASN & IP Range Discovery
- Use
whois and amass intel to find ASNs and IP ranges.
- Reference: Use results to feed into
active_discovery workflows.
Layer 2: Passive Subdomain Discovery
Certificate Transparency & DNS Aggregators
- Tools:
subfinder, amass, crt.sh.
- Goal: Build a seed list for active resolution.
Search Engine Dorking
- Google/GitHub dorks to find shadow IT and dev environments.
Layer 3: Active Subdomain Discovery
DNS Brute-Forcing
- Tools:
puredns, shuffledns.
- Strategy: Use massive wordlists (Jhaddix/SecLists) + Permutations (
altdns).
Layer 4: Asset Discovery
Port Scanning & Service Enumeration
- Tools:
naabu, nmap.
- Output:
live.txt (Httpx results)
- Integration: Feed live web services to
web_application_security skills.
Technology Detection
- Tools:
nuclei -t technologies, whatweb.
- Identify WAFs early (refer to
waf_bypass skill if blocked).
Layer 5: Deep Content Discovery
Crawling & JavaScript Analysis
- Tools:
katana, hakrawler.
- Action: Extract API endpoints from JS files (refer to
javascript_analysis skill for deobfuscation).
Cloud Asset Discovery
- AWS/Azure/GCP: Bucket enumeration and cloud-specific pattern scanning.
Automation
- Build pipelines using
tmux or axiom for distributed scanning.
- Continuous Monitoring: Alert on new subdomains (Cron + Subfinder).
Data Organization
Maintain a standardized directory structure (recon/target/subdomains, recon/target/web, etc.) as defined in the overarching methodology.