Use when hunting for exploitable, remotely reachable vulnerabilities in a PHP/Laravel codebase for responsible disclosure or a bounty submission, not a general best-practices review. Biases toward user-controlled attack paths that pay and discards low-signal noise.
php artisan boost:add-skill pekral/arch-app-services
Save this content to: .claude/skills/security-bounty-hunter/SKILL.md
# Security Bounty Hunter
## Constraints
- Apply `@rules/security/backend.md` and `@rules/security/frontend.md`
- If the project uses Laravel, also apply `@rules/laravel/laravel.mdc`
- Stack assumed: Laravel 11 / PHP 8.3, Filament, Livewire, Alpine.js, Blade, MySQL, Redis
- Read-only investigation — never modify, stage, commit, or push code; output is the finding report only
- Never run an exploit against infrastructure you are not authorized to test; keep PoCs minimal and safe
- Hard limits: this file stays <= 500 lines and <= 5000 tokens
## Purpose
Find unknown, exploitable bugs reachable from a real network or user boundary, and write them up to a standard a bounty program will accept. Bias toward "does this actually pay?" over "is this theoretically unsafe?".
How this differs from neighbors:
- `@skills/security-review/SKILL.md` reviews a diff against best practices; this skill **hunts unknown exploitable bugs** across the whole reachable surface.
- `@skills/security-threat-analysis/SKILL.md` remediates a **known** advisory/CVE; this skill discovers the unknown one.
## Use when
- Sweeping a repository for exploitable vulnerabilities
- Preparing a Huntr / HackerOne / program submission
- Triage where the question is "is this reportable?" not "is this tidy?"
## In-Scope Patterns (mapped to PHP/Laravel sinks)
| Pattern | CWE | PHP/Laravel sink to chase | Impact |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SSRF via user-controlled URL | CWE-918 | `Http::get($userUrl)`, Guzzle, `file_get_contents($userUrl)` | internal network / cloud metadata |
| SQL injection | CWE-89 | `whereRaw`/`orderByRaw`/`havingRaw`/`DB::statement`/`DB::raw` with interpolation | data exfiltration, auth bypass |
| Auth / access bypass | CWE-287/639 | gaps in middleware, policy/gate, Livewire actions, IDOR on route-model binding | unauthorized data access |
| Unsafe deserialization | CWE-502 | `unserialize($userInput)`, unsigned cookie/cache payloads, `ShouldQueue` from untrusted source | RCE / object injection |
| Path traversal | CWE-22 | `Storage::get`/`disk()->get`, `file_get_contents`, download routes with `../` in path | arbitrary file read/write |
| Command injection | CWE-78 | `exec`/`shell_exec`/`system`/`proc_open`, `Process::run("... {$input}")` | code execution |
| XSS (auto-triggered) | CWE-79 | `{!! $userInput !!}`, Alpine `x-html`, raw JSON in `<script>` | session/admin theft |
| Mass-assignment to privileged column | CWE-915 | `$guarded = []` or `fillable` exposing `role`/`is_admin` + `create($request->all())` | privilege escalation |
## Skip These
Usually low-signal or out of scope unless the program says otherwise:
- Local-only `unserialize`/`eval`/`exec` with no remote path (CLI tooling, artisan-only)
- Fully hardcoded shell commands with no user input
- Missing security headers on their own
- Generic rate-limiting complaints with no exploit impact
- Self-XSS requiring the victim to paste content manually
- CSRF where Laravel's default protection is intact and the route is in the `web` group
- Findings only in demo, example, seeder, test, or vendored code
## Workflow
1. **Scope first** — read program rules, `SECURITY.md`, disclosure channel, and exclusions. Confirm the target and version are in scope.
2. **Map entrypoints** — routes (`routes/*.php`, `php artisan route:list`), controllers, FormRequests, Livewire/Filament actions, queued jobs, webhooks, console commands reachable via HTTP, and API resources.
3. **Static triage (optional)** — run static triage with semgrep, larastan/phpstan, or psalm where available; treat every hit as a lead, not a finding.
4. **Trace the path end to end** — from the boundary input to the sink. Prove the input is genuinely user-controlled.
5. **Confirm the sink is meaningful** — interpolation reaches the query/command/URL/file path with no escaping or authorization between.
6. **Prove exploitability** — build the smallest safe PoC (a single request or short script) that demonstrates impact.
7. **Check duplicates** — search existing advisories, CVEs, open issues, and prior reports before drafting.
### Triage loop example
```bash
# optional — any one of these, treat output as leads only
larastan analyse --no-progress
# or: vendor/bin/phpstan analyse
# or: semgrep --config=auto --severity=ERROR --json
```
Then manually filter: drop tests/demos/fixtures/vendored code and any non-reachable path; keep only findings with a clear network or user-controlled route to a meaningful sink.
### Quick grep starters
```bash
grep -rnE "whereRaw|orderByRaw|havingRaw|DB::(raw|statement|select)\(" app/
grep -rnE "Http::(get|post)\(|file_get_contents\(|exec\(|shell_exec\(|proc_open\(" app/
grep -rnE "\{!!|unserialize\(|x-html" app/ resources/
grep -rnE "guarded\s*=\s*\[\s*\]|->all\(\)" app/
```
## Report Structure
```markdown
## Description
[What the vulnerability is and why it matters]
## Vulnerable Code
[File path, line range, and a small snippet]
## Proof of Concept
[Minimal working request or script]
## Impact
[What the attacker can achieve]
## Affected Version
[Version, commit, or deployment target tested]
```
## Quality Gate — before submitting
- The code path is reachable from a real user or network boundary
- The input is genuinely user-controlled, all the way to the sink
- The sink is meaningful and exploitable (not theoretical)
- The PoC works and is the smallest safe demonstration possible
- The issue is not already covered by an advisory, CVE, or open ticket
- The target and version are actually in scope for the program
## Done when
- Each finding follows the Report Structure and passes every Quality Gate item
- Out-of-scope and low-signal patterns were filtered out, not reported
- No code was modified and no unauthorized exploit was run
## Related Skills
- `@skills/security-review/SKILL.md` — best-practices review of a known change set
- `@skills/security-threat-analysis/SKILL.md` — remediate a referenced advisory/CVE
## Output Humanization
- Use [blader/humanizer](https://github.com/blader/humanizer) for all skill outputs to keep the text natural and human-friendly.
@rules/security/backend.md and @rules/security/frontend.md@rules/laravel/laravel.mdcFind unknown, exploitable bugs reachable from a real network or user boundary, and write them up to a standard a bounty program will accept. Bias toward "does this actually pay?" over "is this theoretically unsafe?".
How this differs from neighbors:
@skills/security-review/SKILL.md reviews a diff against best practices; this skill hunts unknown exploitable bugs across the whole reachable surface.@skills/security-threat-analysis/SKILL.md remediates a known advisory/CVE; this skill discovers the unknown one.| Pattern | CWE | PHP/Laravel sink to chase | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSRF via user-controlled URL | CWE-918 | Http::get($userUrl), Guzzle, file_get_contents($userUrl) |
internal network / cloud metadata |
| SQL injection | CWE-89 | whereRaw/orderByRaw/havingRaw/DB::statement/DB::raw with interpolation |
data exfiltration, auth bypass |
| Auth / access bypass | CWE-287/639 | gaps in middleware, policy/gate, Livewire actions, IDOR on route-model binding | unauthorized data access |
| Unsafe deserialization | CWE-502 | unserialize($userInput), unsigned cookie/cache payloads, ShouldQueue from untrusted source |
RCE / object injection |
| Path traversal | CWE-22 | Storage::get/disk()->get, file_get_contents, download routes with ../ in path |
arbitrary file read/write |
| Command injection | CWE-78 | exec/shell_exec/system/proc_open, Process::run("... {$input}") |
code execution |
| XSS (auto-triggered) | CWE-79 | {!! $userInput !!}, Alpine x-html, raw JSON in <script> |
session/admin theft |
| Mass-assignment to privileged column | CWE-915 | $guarded = [] or fillable exposing role/is_admin + create($request->all()) |
privilege escalation |
Usually low-signal or out of scope unless the program says otherwise:
unserialize/eval/exec with no remote path (CLI tooling, artisan-only)web groupSECURITY.md, disclosure channel, and exclusions. Confirm the target and version are in scope.routes/*.php, php artisan route:list), controllers, FormRequests, Livewire/Filament actions, queued jobs, webhooks, console commands reachable via HTTP, and API resources.# optional — any one of these, treat output as leads only
larastan analyse --no-progress
# or: vendor/bin/phpstan analyse
# or: semgrep --config=auto --severity=ERROR --json
Then manually filter: drop tests/demos/fixtures/vendored code and any non-reachable path; keep only findings with a clear network or user-controlled route to a meaningful sink.
grep -rnE "whereRaw|orderByRaw|havingRaw|DB::(raw|statement|select)\(" app/
grep -rnE "Http::(get|post)\(|file_get_contents\(|exec\(|shell_exec\(|proc_open\(" app/
grep -rnE "\{!!|unserialize\(|x-html" app/ resources/
grep -rnE "guarded\s*=\s*\[\s*\]|->all\(\)" app/
## Description
[What the vulnerability is and why it matters]
## Vulnerable Code
[File path, line range, and a small snippet]
## Proof of Concept
[Minimal working request or script]
## Impact
[What the attacker can achieve]
## Affected Version
[Version, commit, or deployment target tested]
@skills/security-review/SKILL.md — best-practices review of a known change set@skills/security-threat-analysis/SKILL.md — remediate a referenced advisory/CVEHow can I help you explore Laravel packages today?