Packages and Binaries:
nuclei
This package contains a fast tool for configurable targeted scanning based on templates offering massive extensibility and ease of use.
Nuclei is used to send requests across targets based on a template leading to zero false positives and providing fast scanning on large number of hosts. Nuclei offers scanning for a variety of protocols including TCP, DNS, HTTP, File, etc. With powerful and flexible templating, all kinds of security checks can be modelled with Nuclei.
Installed size: 86.40 MB
How to install: sudo apt install nuclei
nuclei
root@kali:~# nuclei -h
Nuclei is a fast, template based vulnerability scanner focusing
on extensive configurability, massive extensibility and ease of use.
Usage:
nuclei [flags]
Flags:
TARGET:
-u, -target string[] target URLs/hosts to scan
-l, -list string path to file containing a list of target URLs/hosts to scan (one per line)
-eh, -exclude-hosts string[] hosts to exclude to scan from the input list (ip, cidr, hostname)
-resume string resume scan using resume.cfg (clustering will be disabled)
-sa, -scan-all-ips scan all the IP's associated with dns record
-iv, -ip-version string[] IP version to scan of hostname (4,6) - (default 4)
TARGET-FORMAT:
-im, -input-mode string mode of input file (list, burp, jsonl, yaml, openapi, swagger) (default "list")
-ro, -required-only use only required fields in input format when generating requests
-sfv, -skip-format-validation skip format validation (like missing vars) when parsing input file
TEMPLATES:
-nt, -new-templates run only new templates added in latest nuclei-templates release
-ntv, -new-templates-version string[] run new templates added in specific version
-as, -automatic-scan automatic web scan using wappalyzer technology detection to tags mapping
-t, -templates string[] list of template or template directory to run (comma-separated, file)
-turl, -template-url string[] template url or list containing template urls to run (comma-separated, file)
-ai, -prompt string generate and run template using ai prompt
-w, -workflows string[] list of workflow or workflow directory to run (comma-separated, file)
-wurl, -workflow-url string[] workflow url or list containing workflow urls to run (comma-separated, file)
-validate validate the passed templates to nuclei
-nss, -no-strict-syntax disable strict syntax check on templates
-td, -template-display displays the templates content
-tl list all available templates
-tgl list all available tags
-sign signs the templates with the private key defined in NUCLEI_SIGNATURE_PRIVATE_KEY env variable
-code enable loading code protocol-based templates
-dut, -disable-unsigned-templates disable running unsigned templates or templates with mismatched signature
-esc, -enable-self-contained enable loading self-contained templates
-egm, -enable-global-matchers enable loading global matchers templates
-file enable loading file templates
FILTERING:
-a, -author string[] templates to run based on authors (comma-separated, file)
-tags string[] templates to run based on tags (comma-separated, file)
-etags, -exclude-tags string[] templates to exclude based on tags (comma-separated, file)
-itags, -include-tags string[] tags to be executed even if they are excluded either by default or configuration
-id, -template-id string[] templates to run based on template ids (comma-separated, file, allow-wildcard)
-eid, -exclude-id string[] templates to exclude based on template ids (comma-separated, file)
-it, -include-templates string[] path to template file or directory to be executed even if they are excluded either by default or configuration
-et, -exclude-templates string[] path to template file or directory to exclude (comma-separated, file)
-em, -exclude-matchers string[] template matchers to exclude in result
-s, -severity value[] templates to run based on severity. Possible values: info, low, medium, high, critical, unknown
-es, -exclude-severity value[] templates to exclude based on severity. Possible values: info, low, medium, high, critical, unknown
-pt, -type value[] templates to run based on protocol type. Possible values: dns, file, http, headless, tcp, workflow, ssl, websocket, whois, code, javascript
-ept, -exclude-type value[] templates to exclude based on protocol type. Possible values: dns, file, http, headless, tcp, workflow, ssl, websocket, whois, code, javascript
-tc, -template-condition string[] templates to run based on expression condition
OUTPUT:
-o, -output string output file to write found issues/vulnerabilities
-sresp, -store-resp store all request/response passed through nuclei to output directory
-srd, -store-resp-dir string store all request/response passed through nuclei to custom directory (default "output")
-silent display findings only
-nc, -no-color disable output content coloring (ANSI escape codes)
-j, -jsonl write output in JSONL(ines) format
-irr, -include-rr -omit-raw include request/response pairs in the JSON, JSONL, and Markdown outputs (for findings only) [DEPRECATED use -omit-raw] (default true)
-or, -omit-raw omit request/response pairs in the JSON, JSONL, and Markdown outputs (for findings only)
-ot, -omit-template omit encoded template in the JSON, JSONL output
-nm, -no-meta disable printing result metadata in cli output
-ts, -timestamp enables printing timestamp in cli output
-rdb, -report-db string nuclei reporting database (always use this to persist report data)
-ms, -matcher-status display match failure status
-me, -markdown-export string directory to export results in markdown format
-se, -sarif-export string file to export results in SARIF format
-je, -json-export string file to export results in JSON format
-jle, -jsonl-export string file to export results in JSONL(ine) format
-rd, -redact string[] redact given list of keys from query parameter, request header and body
CONFIGURATIONS:
-config string path to the nuclei configuration file
-tp, -profile string template profile config file to run
-tpl, -profile-list list community template profiles
-fr, -follow-redirects enable following redirects for http templates
-fhr, -follow-host-redirects follow redirects on the same host
-mr, -max-redirects int max number of redirects to follow for http templates (default 10)
-dr, -disable-redirects disable redirects for http templates
-rc, -report-config string nuclei reporting module configuration file
-H, -header string[] custom header/cookie to include in all http request in header:value format (cli, file)
-V, -var value custom vars in key=value format
-r, -resolvers string file containing resolver list for nuclei
-sr, -system-resolvers use system DNS resolving as error fallback
-dc, -disable-clustering disable clustering of requests
-passive enable passive HTTP response processing mode
-fh2, -force-http2 force http2 connection on requests
-ev, -env-vars enable environment variables to be used in template
-cc, -client-cert string client certificate file (PEM-encoded) used for authenticating against scanned hosts
-ck, -client-key string client key file (PEM-encoded) used for authenticating against scanned hosts
-ca, -client-ca string client certificate authority file (PEM-encoded) used for authenticating against scanned hosts
-sml, -show-match-line show match lines for file templates, works with extractors only
-ztls use ztls library with autofallback to standard one for tls13 [Deprecated] autofallback to ztls is enabled by default
-sni string tls sni hostname to use (default: input domain name)
-dka, -dialer-keep-alive value keep-alive duration for network requests.
-lfa, -allow-local-file-access allows file (payload) access anywhere on the system
-lna, -restrict-local-network-access blocks connections to the local / private network
-i, -interface string network interface to use for network scan
-at, -attack-type string type of payload combinations to perform (batteringram,pitchfork,clusterbomb)
-sip, -source-ip string source ip address to use for network scan
-rsr, -response-size-read int max response size to read in bytes
-rss, -response-size-save int max response size to read in bytes (default 1048576)
-reset reset removes all nuclei configuration and data files (including nuclei-templates)
-tlsi, -tls-impersonate enable experimental client hello (ja3) tls randomization
-hae, -http-api-endpoint string experimental http api endpoint
INTERACTSH:
-iserver, -interactsh-server string interactsh server url for self-hosted instance (default: oast.pro,oast.live,oast.site,oast.online,oast.fun,oast.me)
-itoken, -interactsh-token string authentication token for self-hosted interactsh server
-interactions-cache-size int number of requests to keep in the interactions cache (default 5000)
-interactions-eviction int number of seconds to wait before evicting requests from cache (default 60)
-interactions-poll-duration int number of seconds to wait before each interaction poll request (default 5)
-interactions-cooldown-period int extra time for interaction polling before exiting (default 5)
-ni, -no-interactsh disable interactsh server for OAST testing, exclude OAST based templates
FUZZING:
-ft, -fuzzing-type string overrides fuzzing type set in template (replace, prefix, postfix, infix)
-fm, -fuzzing-mode string overrides fuzzing mode set in template (multiple, single)
-fuzz enable loading fuzzing templates (Deprecated: use -dast instead)
-dast enable / run dast (fuzz) nuclei templates
-dts, -dast-server enable dast server mode (live fuzzing)
-dtr, -dast-report write dast scan report to file
-dtst, -dast-server-token string dast server token (optional)
-dtsa, -dast-server-address string dast server address (default "localhost:9055")
-dfp, -display-fuzz-points display fuzz points in the output for debugging
-fuzz-param-frequency int frequency of uninteresting parameters for fuzzing before skipping (default 10)
-fa, -fuzz-aggression string fuzzing aggression level controls payload count for fuzz (low, medium, high) (default "low")
-cs, -fuzz-scope string[] in scope url regex to be followed by fuzzer
-cos, -fuzz-out-scope string[] out of scope url regex to be excluded by fuzzer
UNCOVER:
-uc, -uncover enable uncover engine
-uq, -uncover-query string[] uncover search query
-ue, -uncover-engine string[] uncover search engine (shodan,censys,fofa,shodan-idb,quake,hunter,zoomeye,netlas,criminalip,publicwww,hunterhow,google,odin,binaryedge) (default shodan)
-uf, -uncover-field string uncover fields to return (ip,port,host) (default "ip:port")
-ul, -uncover-limit int uncover results to return (default 100)
-ur, -uncover-ratelimit int override ratelimit of engines with unknown ratelimit (default 60 req/min) (default 60)
RATE-LIMIT:
-rl, -rate-limit int maximum number of requests to send per second (default 150)
-rld, -rate-limit-duration value maximum number of requests to send per second (default 1s)
-rlm, -rate-limit-minute int maximum number of requests to send per minute (DEPRECATED)
-bs, -bulk-size int maximum number of hosts to be analyzed in parallel per template (default 25)
-c, -concurrency int maximum number of templates to be executed in parallel (default 25)
-hbs, -headless-bulk-size int maximum number of headless hosts to be analyzed in parallel per template (default 10)
-headc, -headless-concurrency int maximum number of headless templates to be executed in parallel (default 10)
-jsc, -js-concurrency int maximum number of javascript runtimes to be executed in parallel (default 120)
-pc, -payload-concurrency int max payload concurrency for each template (default 25)
-prc, -probe-concurrency int http probe concurrency with httpx (default 50)
OPTIMIZATIONS:
-timeout int time to wait in seconds before timeout (default 10)
-retries int number of times to retry a failed request (default 1)
-ldp, -leave-default-ports leave default HTTP/HTTPS ports (eg. host:80,host:443)
-mhe, -max-host-error int max errors for a host before skipping from scan (default 30)
-te, -track-error string[] adds given error to max-host-error watchlist (standard, file)
-nmhe, -no-mhe disable skipping host from scan based on errors
-project use a project folder to avoid sending same request multiple times
-project-path string set a specific project path (default "/tmp")
-spm, -stop-at-first-match stop processing HTTP requests after the first match (may break template/workflow logic)
-stream stream mode - start elaborating without sorting the input
-ss, -scan-strategy value strategy to use while scanning(auto/host-spray/template-spray) (default auto)
-irt, -input-read-timeout value timeout on input read (default 3m0s)
-nh, -no-httpx disable httpx probing for non-url input
-no-stdin disable stdin processing
HEADLESS:
-headless enable templates that require headless browser support (root user on Linux will disable sandbox)
-page-timeout int seconds to wait for each page in headless mode (default 20)
-sb, -show-browser show the browser on the screen when running templates with headless mode
-ho, -headless-options string[] start headless chrome with additional options
-sc, -system-chrome use local installed Chrome browser instead of nuclei installed
-lha, -list-headless-action list available headless actions
DEBUG:
-debug show all requests and responses
-dreq, -debug-req show all sent requests
-dresp, -debug-resp show all received responses
-p, -proxy string[] list of http/socks5 proxy to use (comma separated or file input)
-pi, -proxy-internal proxy all internal requests
-ldf, -list-dsl-function list all supported DSL function signatures
-tlog, -trace-log string file to write sent requests trace log
-elog, -error-log string file to write sent requests error log
-version show nuclei version
-hm, -hang-monitor enable nuclei hang monitoring
-v, -verbose show verbose output
-profile-mem string generate memory (heap) profile & trace files
-vv display templates loaded for scan
-svd, -show-var-dump show variables dump for debugging
-vdl, -var-dump-limit int limit the number of characters displayed in var dump (default 255)
-ep, -enable-pprof enable pprof debugging server
-tv, -templates-version shows the version of the installed nuclei-templates
-hc, -health-check run diagnostic check up
UPDATE:
-ut, -update-templates update nuclei-templates to latest released version
-ud, -update-template-dir string custom directory to install / update nuclei-templates
-duc, -disable-update-check disable automatic nuclei/templates update check
STATISTICS:
-stats display statistics about the running scan
-sj, -stats-json display statistics in JSONL(ines) format
-si, -stats-interval int number of seconds to wait between showing a statistics update (default 5)
-mp, -metrics-port int port to expose nuclei metrics on (default 9092)
-hps, -http-stats enable http status capturing (experimental)
CLOUD:
-auth configure projectdiscovery cloud (pdcp) api key (default true)
-tid, -team-id string upload scan results to given team id (optional) (default "none")
-cup, -cloud-upload upload scan results to pdcp dashboard [DEPRECATED use -dashboard]
-sid, -scan-id string upload scan results to existing scan id (optional)
-sname, -scan-name string scan name to set (optional)
-pd, -dashboard upload / view nuclei results in projectdiscovery cloud (pdcp) UI dashboard
-pdu, -dashboard-upload string upload / view nuclei results file (jsonl) in projectdiscovery cloud (pdcp) UI dashboard
AUTHENTICATION:
-sf, -secret-file string[] path to config file containing secrets for nuclei authenticated scan
-ps, -prefetch-secrets prefetch secrets from the secrets file
EXAMPLES:
Run nuclei on single host:
$ nuclei -target example.com
Run nuclei with specific template directories:
$ nuclei -target example.com -t http/cves/ -t ssl
Run nuclei against a list of hosts:
$ nuclei -list hosts.txt
Run nuclei with a JSON output:
$ nuclei -target example.com -json-export output.json
Run nuclei with sorted Markdown outputs (with environment variables):
$ MARKDOWN_EXPORT_SORT_MODE=template nuclei -target example.com -markdown-export nuclei_report/
Additional documentation is available at: https://docs.nuclei.sh/getting-started/running
Updated on: 2025-Jun-13