Bug Bounty Hunting

Bug Bounty Hunting Mastery Roadmap

This detailed roadmap will take you from beginner to expert in Bug Bounty Hunting, covering reconnaissance, vulnerability identification, exploitation, reporting, and real-world practice.

Phase 1: Fundamentals of Bug Bounty Hunting

✅ Introduction to Bug Bounty Hunting

  • What is Bug Bounty Hunting? Legal Aspects & Ethics

  • How Bug Bounty Platforms Work (HackerOne, BugCrowd, Intigriti, Open Bug Bounty)

  • Understanding Responsible Disclosure & Private Programs

✅ Essential Web & Networking Knowledge

  • HTTP Protocol (Requests, Responses, Headers, Status Codes)

  • Cookies, Sessions, and Authentication Mechanisms

  • DNS, Subdomains, and CDN Behavior

📌 Mini Projects:

  • Analyze HTTP requests and responses using Burp Suite

  • Map out a website’s structure and endpoints manually

Phase 2: Reconnaissance & Information Gathering

✅ Passive Reconnaissance

  • Google Dorking & OSINT Techniques

  • Finding Sensitive Information in Public Repositories (GitHub, Pastebin)

  • Discovering Subdomains (Subfinder, Amass, Assetfinder)

✅ Active Reconnaissance

  • Port Scanning & Service Enumeration (Nmap, Masscan)

  • Web Technology Fingerprinting (WhatWeb, Wappalyzer)

  • Directory & File Bruteforcing (dirb, dirsearch, ffuf)

📌 Mini Projects:

  • Automate subdomain enumeration using OSINT tools

  • Create a custom recon script using Python or Bash

Phase 3: Web Application Security & Exploitation

✅ Understanding OWASP Top 10 Vulnerabilities

  • SQL Injection (SQLMap, Manual SQLi)

  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (XSSer, BeEF)

  • Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

  • Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

  • Security Misconfigurations

✅ Advanced Web Exploitation

  • HTTP Request Smuggling

  • API Security & Token Manipulation

  • Server-Side Template Injection (SSTI)

  • Business Logic & Authorization Bypasses

📌 Mini Projects:

  • Exploit SQL Injection on a test website

  • Manually find and exploit an XSS vulnerability

Phase 4: Advanced Hunting & Bug Discovery Techniques

✅ Real-World Bug Hunting Strategies

  • Understanding How Companies Secure Their Applications

  • Hunting for IDOR (Insecure Direct Object References)

  • Chaining Multiple Vulnerabilities for Impact

✅ Automating Recon & Bug Hunting

  • Using Nuclei for Automated Vulnerability Scanning

  • Writing Custom Burp Suite Extensions

  • Automating Bug Hunting Workflows with Bash & Python

📌 Mini Projects:

  • Create a custom vulnerability scanner with Python

  • Write automation scripts for bug bounty recon

Phase 5: Reporting & Earning from Bug Bounties

✅ Writing Professional Bug Reports

  • How to Structure a Bug Report

  • Providing Proof of Concept (PoC) Videos & Screenshots

  • Avoiding Duplicate & Low-Quality Reports

✅ Scaling Up Bug Bounty Earnings

  • Targeting Private Bug Bounty Programs

  • Joining Security Research Communities

  • Balancing Automation & Manual Testing

📌 Mini Projects:

  • Submit a well-documented report to a bug bounty platform

  • Write a research blog on a discovered vulnerability

Final Step: Real-World Testing & Practice

🔥 Bug Bounty Platforms to Practice:

🚀 By mastering this roadmap, you’ll be able to: ✅ Find and Report Security Vulnerabilities in Web Applications ✅ Earn from Bug Bounties by Identifying High-Impact Issues ✅ Automate Reconnaissance & Vulnerability Discovery ✅ Build a Strong Reputation as a Security Researcher

🔥 Start hunting bugs now! 🐞💻

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