server-side-template-injection

server-side-template-injection is a skill for Claude Code from akashrpatil/awesome-offensive-security-skills. It costs 84 tokens per session (2,038 once invoked), scanned A, original, Apache-2.0.

A web security testing method for server-side template injection, where user input is interpreted as instructions by the template engine that builds a page. It covers engines used by Python, PHP, Java, and Node.js applications.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to test dynamic fields and URL parameters, identify the template engine, confirm unsafe evaluation, and assess possible server code execution.
Why use it?
It helps distinguish ordinary displayed input from input that can execute template expressions and potentially reach server-side code.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: shipped in a Claude Code plugin.

Needs its repository: it reads a path above its own folder, which exists only inside the repository. The line is - [`_shared/references/elite-chaining-strategy.md`](../_shared/references/elite-chaining-strategy.md) — Exploit chaining methodology and high-payout chain patte.

Part of the cyberskills-elite plugin — 191 skills shipped together

Good fit Use it to test dynamic fields and URL parameters, identify the template engine, confirm unsafe evaluation, and assess possible server code execution.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install

Getting it into your agent

It runs from inside its repository, so the clone comes first — what it calls does not travel with the file alone.

Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/akashrpatil/awesome-offensive-security-skills
agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/akashrpatil/awesome-offensive-security-skills/server-side-template-injection

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install cyberskills-elite, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 191 skills.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for server-side-template-injection

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/akashrpatil/awesome-offensive-security-skills/server-side-template-injection/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/akashrpatil/awesome-offensive-security-skills/server-side-template-injection)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/akashrpatil/awesome-offensive-security-skills/server-side-template-injection"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/akashrpatil/awesome-offensive-security-skills/server-side-template-injection/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for server-side-template-injection

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/akashrpatil/awesome-offensive-security-skills/server-side-template-injection"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/akashrpatil/awesome-offensive-security-skills/server-side-template-injection.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 84 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,038 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 1 finding. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00084 $0.02038
Opus 5 $0.00042 $0.01019
Sonnet 5 $0.00017 $0.00408
Haiku 4.5 $0.00008 $0.00204

Measured 7d ago against content hash ae6985abe306, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-11, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

server-side-template-injection scanned grade A with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 7d ago.

The scan reads SKILL.md. This mod also ships 1 executable file (scripts/process.py), listed below but not scanned — reading those needs a real analyzer, not pattern matching.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Runs shell commandslowCapability

Expected in a hook, worth knowing in a rule or an instructions file.

# Search the output for classes capable of executing commands, such as `subprocess.Popen`, `os._wrap_close`, or `importlib`.
skills/bug-hunting/web-vulnerabilities/server-side-template-injection/SKILL.md · 182 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 182 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Server-Side Template Injection (SSTI)

When to Use

  • When discovering input fields (e.g., Usernames, Email Templates, URL parameters) that are directly rendered or reflected on the corresponding web page without sanitization.
  • When XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) payloads are blocked or escaped, but the server appears to be interpreting special bracket characters ({{ }}, ${ }, <% %>).
  • When attempting to escalate a simple input reflection bug into full Remote Code Execution (RCE) on the server.

Prerequisites

  • Authorized scope and target URLs from bug bounty program
  • Burp Suite Professional (or Community) configured with browser proxy
  • Familiarity with OWASP Top 10 and common web vulnerability classes
  • SecLists wordlists for fuzzing and enumeration

Workflow

Phase 1: Detection and Identification

# Concept: If an application unsafely passes user input into a template rendering engine, 
# it will evaluate mathematical expressions wrapped in template syntax.

# 1. Probe the application with standard template tags
{{7*7}}
${7*7}
<%= 7*7 %>
${{7*7}}
#{7*7}
*{7*7}

# 2. Analyze the response
# If the application reflects verbatim: "{{7*7}}" -> Not vulnerable, or wrong tag.
# If the application reflects: "49" -> CRITICAL! SSTI exists. The server evaluated the math.
# If the application throws an Error: The stack trace often reveals the exact engine (e.g., "Jinja2 Exception", "Twig Error").

Phase 2: Engine Mapping

# Once mathematical evaluation is proven, you must determine WHICH template engine is running,
# as specific payloads vary drastically between Python, Java, Ruby, and PHP engines.

# PortSwigger SSTI Decision Tree:
# Input: {{7*'7'}}
# - If output is 49     -> Looks like Twig (PHP)
# - If output is 7777777 -> Looks like Jinja2 (Python) or Nunjucks (Node)
# - If output is error   -> Try Java/Ruby syntaxes.

# Input: ${7/0}
# Java engines (Freemarker, Velocity) will throw specific arithmetic exceptions.

Phase 3: Context Escaping and Sandbox Evasion

Read the full file on GitHub · 182 lines

Files

What ships with it

2 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 7d ago First seen · 182 lines · 84 tokens per session scan A ae6985abe306

Subscribe to this mod's changes

server-side-template-injection is a skill published in the GitHub repository akashrpatil/awesome-offensive-security-skills (4 stars, last pushed 4mo ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 84 tokens to every session and 2,038 once invoked, about $0.0004 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 1 finding (runs shell commands). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-03.

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