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Course 3 - Mastering Nuclei for Bug Bounty | Episode 8: Nuclei File-Based Templates: Implementing Content Matching and Secret Extraction
Published 6 months, 2 weeks ago
Description
In this lesson, you’ll learn about:
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- Nuclei file-based templates — purpose: extending Nuclei beyond HTTP to scan local files and codebases for sensitive content (hard‑coded secrets, API keys, credentials, tokens).
- File block basics: replace requests with a file: block in the template to target files instead of sending network requests.
- Targeting options:
- extensions: specify file types to scan (e.g., txt, py).
- - or hyphen all / match all patterns to search across all extensions.
- max-size: limit (bytes) to skip very large files (e.g., 1024) and save resources.
- no-recursive: disable recursive directory traversal when needed.
- Matchers for file content:
- Word matchers: find exact whole-word occurrences.
- Regex matchers: use regexes for flexible/patterned matching (e.g., API key formats).
- Combine part/context and status-like conditions to reduce false positives.
- Extractors — pulling secrets:
- Define extractors (word or regex) to capture the actual secret/token when a matcher hits.
- Use extractors to output matched values (e.g., the API key string) for triage.
- Practical workflow:
- Build the file template with id/info/file/matchers/extractors.
- Validate YAML (YAML Lint) and test locally on a safe directory.
- Run Nuclei pointed at a path or file list and review extracted results.
- Use cases: auditing repos for hard‑coded credentials, scanning downloaded code archives, searching config folders for secrets, or reviewing build artifacts before release.
- Safety & operational tips:
- Only scan files and code you’re authorized to analyze.
- Set reasonable max-size and avoid scanning entire OS trees unnecessarily.
- Use precise regexes to reduce false positives and noisy output.
- Securely handle and store any extracted secrets (treat as sensitive data).
- Core takeaway: Nuclei file templates are a powerful, scriptable way to automate discovery and extraction of sensitive content in local files — combine careful matcher design, extractors, and safety practices for effective, responsible audits.
You can listen and download our episodes for free on more than 10 different platforms:
https://linktr.ee/cybercode_academy