Bug Bounty Recon Guide for High Impact Bugs

🔍 The Real Power of Recon in Bug Bounty Hunting​

Reconnaissance (Recon) is the backbone of bug bounty hunting 🧠.
Most critical and high-impact vulnerabilities are discovered before any payload is sent.
Professional hunters know one golden rule:
Great recon finds bugs early - no brute force needed 💡

Strong recon helps you:

• Discover hidden assets 🔎
• Uncover forgotten endpoints
• Identify weak technologies
• Spot logic and access control issues early

That’s why deep reconnaissance is responsible for most high-paying bug bounty reports 💰

🧠 Why Recon Beats Payload Spamming​

Most beginners focus on:

• Only the main domain
• Random payload spraying

Elite hunters do the opposite:

• Map the entire attack surface
• Expand scope intelligently
• Understand how systems really work

👉 More assets = More attack paths = More bugs
Recon is not about speed… it’s about visibility 👀

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🧪 Real-World Example: Recon Finding Critical Bugs​

🎯 Target: example.com
After proper recon, we discover:

• api.example.com
• dev.example.com
• old-admin.example.com

📌 Results without heavy exploitation:

• dev.example.com → exposed .env file
• api.example.com → IDOR vulnerability
• old-admin.example.com → default credentials

💥 All real bugs - found through recon, not payload abuse.

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🛠️ Professional Recon Workflow (Bug Bounty Style)​

Subdomain Enumeration​

Start by collecting every possible subdomain.

subfinder -d example.com -silent
assetfinder --subs-only example.com
amass enum -passive -d example.com

✔️ Always merge results
✔️ More sources = better coverage

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Live Host Detection​

Now filter only live and reachable hosts.

httpx -l subs.txt -silent -status-code -title

This step:

• Removes dead assets ❌
• Saves tons of testing time ⏱️

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Technology Fingerprinting​

Knowing the stack helps you attack smarter 🎯

whatweb https://example.com
httpx -l live.txt -tech-detect

This helps you identify:

• Framework-specific issues
• Version-based vulnerabilities
• Misconfigurations

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URL & Endpoint Discovery​

Extract hidden and historical endpoints.

gau example.com
waybackurls example.com

Filter interesting files:

gau example.com | grep -E "\.php|\.json|\.api|\.jsp"

Endpoints are where logic bugs love to hide 🐞

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JavaScript Recon (A Gold Mine 💎)​

JavaScript files often expose:

• Internal APIs
• Tokens and keys
• Business logic

katana -u https://example.com -jc

Extract API endpoints:

grep -oE "/api/[a-zA-Z0-9/_-]+" js.txt

Never skip JS recon - it pays 💰

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Parameter Discovery​

Parameters are entry points for exploitation.

paramspider -d example.com
arjun -u https://example.com/api

Perfect for finding:

• XSS
• SQL Injection
• IDOR vulnerabilities

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Sensitive File Hunting​

Misconfigured files = easy wins ⚠️

ffuf -u https://example.com/FUZZ -w common.txt

Common targets:

• .env
• .git
• backup.zip
• config.json

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🚨 Recon Is the Key to Business Logic Bugs​

Recon helps you understand:

• User flows
• API interactions
• Missing validations

👉 This is where business logic vulnerabilities are born - and those pay the most 💸

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🏆 Pro Recon Tips from Real Hunters​

• Always recon before scanning
• Automate smart, analyze manually
• Re-run recon weekly (assets change)
• Go deeper than everyone else

Consistency in recon = consistency in payouts 🔥

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🧠 Final Thought​

Payloads don’t make you rich.
Recon does.
The best hackers don’t hack harder - they recon better 🚀