nuclei-scan

What this skill does

Uses ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei to perform template-based vulnerability scanning against a target URL or list of hosts. Updates templates to the latest version, applies severity filters, runs the scan, and parses the JSON output to summarize findings.

When to use

• When automatically detecting known vulnerability patterns (CVEs, default credentials, misconfigurations)
• When scanning multiple hosts quickly and in parallel
• When chaining subdomain-enum or port-scan results into vulnerability analysis
• When running automated security checks in a CI/CD pipeline

Prerequisites

• Nuclei installed:

  go install -v github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei/v3/cmd/nuclei@latest
  

• Go 1.21 or higher installed
• Environment variable SECSKILL_TARGET or SECSKILL_TARGET_LIST set to the scan target

Inputs

Variable	Required	Description
SECSKILL_TARGET	One of the two	Single target URL or host
SECSKILL_TARGET_LIST	One of the two	Path to file containing list of targets
SECSKILL_OUTPUT_DIR	Optional	Directory to save results (default: ./output)
SECSKILL_SEVERITY	Optional	Severity levels to filter (default: medium,high,critical)
SECSKILL_TEMPLATES	Optional	Template path or tag to use (default: all)
SECSKILL_RATE_LIMIT	Optional	Max requests per second (default: 150)

Workflow

Step 1: Environment setup and input validation

export OUTDIR="${SECSKILL_OUTPUT_DIR:-./output}"
export SEVERITY="${SECSKILL_SEVERITY:-medium,high,critical}"
export RATE="${SECSKILL_RATE_LIMIT:-150}"
export TEMPLATES="${SECSKILL_TEMPLATES:-}"
mkdir -p "$OUTDIR"

# Configure target
if [ -n "${SECSKILL_TARGET:-}" ]; then
  TARGET_OPT="-u $SECSKILL_TARGET"
  SAFE_NAME=$(echo "$SECSKILL_TARGET" | tr '/:.' '___')
elif [ -n "${SECSKILL_TARGET_LIST:-}" ]; then
  if [ ! -f "$SECSKILL_TARGET_LIST" ]; then
    echo "[-] Target list file not found: $SECSKILL_TARGET_LIST"
    exit 1
  fi
  TARGET_OPT="-l $SECSKILL_TARGET_LIST"
  SAFE_NAME="list_$(basename "$SECSKILL_TARGET_LIST" .txt)"
else
  echo "[-] Set either SECSKILL_TARGET or SECSKILL_TARGET_LIST"
  exit 1
fi

echo "[*] Nuclei scan ready"
echo "[*] Severity filter : $SEVERITY"
echo "[*] Request rate    : $RATE req/s"