Thread by @Jhaddix

🧵Mistakes I make in hacking or bug bounty 🧵

#bugbountytips and hacking tips I wish I always adhered to 🙃

cc @sr_b1mal

Mistake One:

I don't templatize my submission text.

Every time you find a bug, invest time upfront to write up a REALLY great submission template. This includes impact assessment and remediation advice. Then re-use it for the rest of your career.

Mistake Two:

I'll stop hacking

Often, on a bug bounty, I'll submit something good and stop and wait around for a bit to see how the client responds.

You should always have a backup program to analyze while you hack on a new program.

Mistake Three:

Not enough sleep

I can't stress this enough. You NEED sleep to hack well. make sure you're getting at least 7 hours. Otherwise, you're wasting the precious hacking time you have.

Mistake Four:

I over-index on certain classes of bugs.

If you're comfortable with something you tend to go back to it. I have to keep a written list of the bugs I often FORGET to test for.

One of mine is CSRF. I always neglect CSRF for some reason. Same with 2FA Bypass.

Mistake Five:

Compare with Twitter disclosures

I have impostor syndrome, big time. I see others finding cool shit and if I'm not finding cool shit at the time I feel horrible.

"Comparison is the thief of joy"

Your day will come, just keep at it.

Mistake Six:

I don't track my testing.

Listen, I know a lot of hackers do the whole thing by intuition. That's really cool... BUT for my ADHD brain, I need a fucking checklist.

OWASP ASVS, WAHH, Mindmap, Notion, w/e...

Keep track of what you've tested & tested for somehow!

Mistake Seven:

I get caught up too much on automation.

Coding is fun. Building or modifying your recon or scripts is fun but...

GET ON A FUCKING WEBSITE AND HACK.

Unless you're automating something you're sure 99% of hunters are missing. Then it's an investment.

Mistake Eight:

Take breaks.

If you're not feeling it, take a break. You're not going to find much in a bad mindset. Go for a walk, watch a movie, talk with a friend. They will all benefit your hacking. If you are tracking your testing well, it's easy to come back to.

Mistake Nine:

Take notes and move on.

In BB, there are thousands of domains to hack. If you feel confident you've done your best assessing something, take extensive notes on where you were at with it and move on. Later you might find something related and you can come back.

More to come at a later date =)