Waybackurls: The Ultimate Tool for Recon in Bug Bounty Hunting

 In the ever-evolving field of bug bounty hunting, reconnaissance (or recon) is a critical phase. A successful recon strategy can make the difference between finding a high-severity vulnerability or coming up empty-handed. Among the plethora of tools available, waybackurls stands out as one of the most effective tools for historical URL discovery. This article will dive deep into what waybackurls is, why it’s invaluable for bug bounty hunters, and how you can use it to maximize your recon efforts.

Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine is an initiative of the Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, building a digital library of…

web.archive.org

What Is Waybackurls?

Waybackurls is a powerful open-source tool designed to fetch URLs archived in the Wayback Machine and other sources. It’s written in Go, making it fast and efficient, and is often used by security researchers to uncover hidden endpoints, old directories, and forgotten assets that may still be live or reveal valuable insights.

By leveraging waybackurls, you can:

  • Discover forgotten subdomains and pages.
  • Find endpoints that expose sensitive data.
  • Identify deprecated APIs and hidden parameters.
  • Explore attack surfaces beyond what’s visible today.

Why Is Waybackurls Essential for Bug Bounty Hunters?

Historical Insight

The Wayback Machine archives snapshots of websites over time, providing a unique opportunity to explore what a target looked like years ago. Sometimes, vulnerabilities exist in older assets that were never properly decommissioned.

Enhanced Reconnaissance

Waybackurls retrieves a wealth of historical data that complements modern scanning tools, ensuring no stone is left unturned.

Increased Scope

For bug bounty programs with broad scopes, archived URLs can reveal additional endpoints, parameters, or features that are no longer linked on the main site but still accessible.

Installing Waybackurls

Before diving into its usage, let’s install waybackurls. The tool is straightforward to set up on any system with Go installed.

Prerequisites

  • Go installed on your system (download from golang.org).

Installation Steps

# Install waybackurls using Go
$ go install github.com/tomnomnom/waybackurls@latest
# Add Go binaries to your PATH
$ export PATH=$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin

Once installed, verify it by running:

$ waybackurls -h

How to Use Waybackurls Effectively

Using waybackurls is simple, yet its output can be incredibly powerful. Below are some practical steps to incorporate it into your recon workflow.

Basic Command

To fetch archived URLs for a specific domain, use:

$ echo "target.com" | waybackurls

This command outputs all URLs archived in the Wayback Machine for the domain target.com.

Combine with Other Tools

Waybackurls becomes even more powerful when combined with other tools:

  • Filtering URLs with grep:
$ echo "target.com" | waybackurls | grep "php"
  • This command filters URLs with .php, which might indicate dynamic pages prone to vulnerabilities like SQL injection.
  • Sorting and Removing Duplicates:
$ echo "target.com" | waybackurls | sort -u
  • Integrating with httpx: Test which URLs are live using httpx:
$ echo "target.com" | waybackurls | httpx -silent

Finding Hidden Parameters

Archived URLs often contain query parameters that reveal additional functionality. For example:

$ echo "example.com" | waybackurls | grep "?"

Directory Discovery

Discover hidden directories by filtering for paths:

$ echo "example.com" | waybackurls | grep "/admin"

Automating Recon with Waybackurls

Integrate waybackurls into a script for automated recon (Dependencies: waybackurls, httpx, nuclei, grep, curl):

#!/bin/bash

# Usage: ./bugbounty_tool.sh --url <target>
# Dependencies: waybackurls, httpx, nuclei, grep, curl

banner() {
cat <<'EOF'
 __     __                _                    
 \ \   / /__ _ __ _   _  | |    __ _ _____   _ 
  \ \ / / _ \ '__| | | | | |   / _` |_  / | | |
   \ V /  __/ |  | |_| | | |__| (_| |/ /| |_| |
    \_/ \___|_|   \__, | |_____\__,_/___|\__, |
           |___/                  |___/ 
__        __          ____             _    _   _      _     
\ \      / /_ _ _   _| __ )  __ _  ___| | _| | | |_ __| |___ 
 \ \ /\ / / _` | | | |  _ \ / _` |/ __| |/ / | | | '__| / __|
  \ V  V / (_| | |_| | |_) | (_| | (__|   <| |_| | |  | \__ \
   \_/\_/ \__,_|\__, |____/ \__,_|\___|_|\_\\___/|_|  |_|___/
                |___/                                        

                                                                      
                    @VeryLazyTech - Medium
                    
EOF
}

# Call the banner function
banner

set -e

# Check if the target URL is provided
if [[ "$1" != "--url" || -z "$2" ]]; then
  echo "Usage: $0 --url <target>"
  exit 1
fi

TARGET=$2

# Create a directory for results
mkdir -p results
cd results || exit

# Step 1: Fetch historical URLs
echo "[+] Fetching historical URLs for $TARGET..."
echo "$TARGET" | waybackurls > historical_urls.txt
echo "[+] Historical URLs saved to historical_urls.txt"

# Step 2: Filter URLs (e.g., .php and parameterized URLs)
echo "[+] Filtering URLs for .php files and parameterized URLs..."
grep -E "\.php|\?" historical_urls.txt > filtered_urls.txt
echo "[+] Filtered URLs saved to filtered_urls.txt"

# Step 3: Check live status of URLs
echo "[+] Checking live status of URLs..."
cat historical_urls.txt | httpx -silent -status-code -o live_urls_with_status.txt
cat live_urls_with_status.txt | grep "200" | cut -d' ' -f1 > live_urls.txt
echo "[+] Live URLs saved to live_urls.txt"

# Step 4: Analyze JavaScript files for sensitive data
echo "[+] Analyzing JavaScript files for sensitive data..."
mkdir -p js_analysis
cat live_urls.txt | grep "\.js" | while read -r js; do
  echo "[-] Scanning $js for sensitive keywords..."
  curl -s "$js" | grep -E "apiKey|token|password" >> js_analysis/sensitive_js_data.txt
done
echo "[+] JavaScript analysis complete. Results saved to js_analysis/sensitive_js_data.txt"

# Step 5: Test for vulnerabilities
echo "[+] Running Nuclei vulnerability scans on live URLs..."
nuclei -l live_urls.txt -t /home/kali/.local/nuclei-templates/network/vulnerabilities -o vulnerabilities.txt
echo "[+] Vulnerability scan complete. Results saved to vulnerabilities.txt"

echo "Process complete. All results are in the 'results' directory."

Tips for Maximizing Waybackurls

  1. Use in Combination with Other Tools: Pair it with tools like Burp Suite, OWASP ZAP, and Nmap to broaden your recon.
  2. Explore Beyond HTTP: Test URLs with both HTTP and HTTPS to uncover misconfigurations.
  3. Focus on Parameters: URLs with parameters often reveal more about the backend systems.
  4. Review Archived Content: Use tools like wget or curl to download and analyze archived pages.
  5. Keep Your Workflow Organized: Save outputs for later analysis using tools like Amass or Assetfinder.

Alternatives to Waybackurls

While waybackurls is a top-tier tool, you might also explore these alternatives:

  • gau (GetAllURLs): Fetch URLs from multiple sources, including Wayback Machine, AlienVault, and Common Crawl.
  • ParamSpider: Focuses on finding query parameters across archived URLs.
  • Hakrawler: Great for crawling web assets dynamically.

Waybackurls is an indispensable tool in the arsenal of any bug bounty hunter. Its ability to uncover historical and hidden URLs provides a significant edge during recon. When combined with other tools and a systematic approach, it can lead to the discovery of critical vulnerabilities and lucrative bug bounties.

Comments

Post a Comment