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📚 A comprehensive collection of penetration testing cheatsheets for security professionals
Cheatsheets • Quick Start • Contributing • License
Hacking Cheatsheets is a curated collection of quick reference guides for penetration testing and ethical hacking tools. Each cheatsheet provides:
- ✅ Clear explanations of tool functionality
- ✅ Command syntax with practical examples
- ✅ Real-world scenarios and use cases
- ✅ Quick reference tables for rapid lookup
- ✅ Tips & best practices from experienced pentesters
NEW! Complete step-by-step guide for penetration testing based on MITRE ATT&CK framework.
| Phase | Description | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Initial Access | Exploits, phishing, credentials | 📄 View |
| 2. Enumeration | System & network discovery | 📄 View |
| 3. Privilege Escalation | Get root/SYSTEM access | 📄 View |
| 4. Lateral Movement | Move across the network | 📄 View |
| 5. Persistence | Maintain access | 📄 View |
| 6. Defense Evasion | Bypass AV/EDR/AMSI | 📄 View |
| 7. Actions on Objectives | Data exfiltration & impact | 📄 View |
NEW! Complete defensive security guides for SOC analysts and incident responders.
| Topic | Description | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Incident Response | IR lifecycle, containment, procedures | 📄 View |
| Log Analysis | Windows/Linux log analysis & Event IDs | 📄 View |
| SIEM Detection | Splunk/ELK queries & dashboards | 📄 View |
| Threat Hunting | Proactive hunting techniques | 📄 View |
| Hardening | Windows/Linux hardening checklists | 📄 View |
| Sigma Rules | Platform-agnostic detection rules | 📄 View |
| YARA Rules | Malware & IOC detection patterns | 📄 View |
NEW! Cloud pentesting guides for AWS, Azure, and GCP.
| Provider | Description | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| AWS | S3, IAM, Lambda, EC2, IMDS | 📄 View |
| Azure | Azure AD, Blob Storage, VMs, Key Vault | 📄 View |
| GCP | GCS, IAM, Compute, Cloud Functions | 📄 View |
👉 Full Cloud Security Overview
NEW! Mobile app pentesting guides for Android and iOS.
| Platform | Description | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Android | APK analysis, Frida, root detection bypass | 📄 View |
| iOS | IPA analysis, jailbreak, Objection, keychain | 📄 View |
👉 Full Mobile Security Overview
NEW! Docker & Kubernetes pentesting guides.
| Platform | Description | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Docker | Container escape, image analysis, daemon exploitation | 📄 View |
| Kubernetes | RBAC bypass, pod escape, secrets extraction | 📄 View |
👉 Full Container Security Overview
NEW! Social engineering techniques, phishing campaigns, and pretexting guides.
| Topic | Description | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Phishing | Email phishing, GoPhish, Evilginx2, vishing, smishing | 📄 View |
| Pretexting | Personas, scenarios, psychological manipulation | 📄 View |
👉 Full Social Engineering Overview
NEW! Professional report templates for pentesters and bug bounty hunters.
| Template | Description | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Pentest Report | Full penetration test report structure | 📄 View |
| Bug Bounty Report | HackerOne/Bugcrowd submission template | 📄 View |
| Executive Summary | Non-technical summary for C-level | 📄 View |
NEW! Complete OSINT methodology and tool guides.
| Topic | Description | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| People Search | Find individuals online, phone/address lookup | 📄 View |
| Email OSINT | Email discovery, breach checking, verification | 📄 View |
| Social Media | Username search, platform-specific OSINT | 📄 View |
| Domain & IP | WHOIS, DNS, subdomain, IP reconnaissance | 📄 View |
| Image OSINT | Reverse image search, EXIF metadata | 📄 View |
NEW! Complete network penetration testing guides.
| Topic | Description | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Port Scanning | Nmap, Masscan, RustScan | 📄 View |
| Network Enumeration | SMB, SNMP, NFS, LDAP, DNS | 📄 View |
| MITM Attacks | ARP spoofing, DNS spoofing, SSL strip | 📄 View |
| Service Exploitation | FTP, SSH, SMB, RDP, databases | 📄 View |
👉 Full Network Pentesting Overview
NEW! Complete CTF competition guides for HackTheBox, TryHackMe, PicoCTF.
| Category | Description | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Web | SQLi, XSS, SSTI, LFI, Auth bypass | 📄 View |
| Crypto | RSA, AES, hashes, encoding, XOR | 📄 View |
| Reverse Engineering | Ghidra, IDA, GDB, patching | 📄 View |
| Forensics | Steganography, memory, disk, PCAP | 📄 View |
| Pwn/Binary | Buffer overflow, ROP, shellcode | 📄 View |
NEW! IoT device hacking, firmware analysis, and hardware hacking guides.
| Topic | Description | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Firmware Analysis | Binwalk, extraction, RE, secrets | 📄 View |
| Hardware Hacking | UART, JTAG, SPI, I2C, debug ports | 📄 View |
| Tool | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Metasploit Framework | The world's most used penetration testing framework | 📄 View |
| Meterpreter | Advanced post-exploitation payload | 📄 View |
| Mimikatz | Windows credential extraction tool | 📄 View |
| PowerShell | Windows scripting for pentesting | 📄 View |
| Linux Commands | Linux & Bash for pentesting | 📄 View |
| Tool | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Nmap | Network discovery and security auditing | 📄 View |
| Gobuster | Directory/DNS/VHost brute-forcing | 📄 View |
| Nikto | Web server scanner | 📄 View |
| Tool | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| SQLMap | SQL injection automation tool | 📄 View |
| Burp Suite | Web application security testing platform | 📄 View |
| OWASP ZAP | Free web app security scanner | 📄 View |
| Tool | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Hydra | Fast network login cracker | 📄 View |
| John the Ripper | Legendary password cracker | 📄 View |
| Hashcat | World's fastest GPU password cracker | 📄 View |
| Tool | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Wireshark | Network protocol analyzer | 📄 View |
| tcpdump | Command-line packet analyzer | 📄 View |
| Tool | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| ⭐ BB Methodology | Complete bug bounty hunting guide | 📄 View |
| Nuclei | Template-based vulnerability scanner | 📄 View |
| ffuf | Fast web fuzzer | 📄 View |
| Subfinder | Subdomain discovery | 📄 View |
| httpx | HTTP probe & toolkit | 📄 View |
| Amass | In-depth attack surface mapping | 📄 View |
| GAU | Get All URLs from archives | 📄 View |
| Katana | Next-gen web crawler | 📄 View |
| Arjun | Hidden parameter discovery | 📄 View |
| Dalfox | XSS vulnerability scanner | 📄 View |
| Vulnerability | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| XSS | Cross-Site Scripting payloads | 📄 View |
| SQLi | SQL Injection payloads | 📄 View |
| LFI | Local File Inclusion payloads | 📄 View |
| SSTI | Server-Side Template Injection | 📄 View |
| Command Injection | OS command injection payloads | 📄 View |
| NoSQL Injection | MongoDB, CouchDB, Redis payloads | 📄 View |
| Deserialization | Java, PHP, Python, .NET payloads | 📄 View |
| WebSocket Attacks | CSWSH, injection, hijacking | 📄 View |
| GraphQL Injection | Introspection, IDOR, injection | 📄 View |
| Vulnerability | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| API Security | REST/GraphQL/JWT testing guide | 📄 View |
| IDOR | Insecure Direct Object Reference | 📄 View |
| SSRF | Server-Side Request Forgery | 📄 View |
| XXE | XML External Entity Injection | 📄 View |
| Race Conditions | Timing & concurrency attacks | 📄 View |
| Auth Bypass | Authentication bypass techniques | 📄 View |
| CORS | Cross-Origin misconfigurations | 📄 View |
| Open Redirect | URL redirect vulnerabilities | 📄 View |
| Topic | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| WAF Bypass | Origin IP discovery & WAF evasion | 📄 View |
| Cloudflare Bypass | Find origin IP behind Cloudflare | 📄 View |
| Subdomain Takeover | Dangling CNAME exploitation | 📄 View |
| Cache Poisoning | Web cache poisoning & deception | 📄 View |
| HTTP Smuggling | Request smuggling (CL.TE/TE.CL) | 📄 View |
| Prototype Pollution | JavaScript prototype attacks | 📄 View |
| Tool | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Google Dorking | Advanced Google search techniques | 📄 View |
| Shodan | IoT & device search engine | 📄 View |
| GitHub Dorking | Secret hunting in repositories | 📄 View |
| Topic | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Linux PrivEsc | Linux privilege escalation techniques | 📄 View |
| Windows PrivEsc | Windows privilege escalation techniques | 📄 View |
| Tool | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Volatility | Memory forensics framework | 📄 View |
| Autopsy | Digital forensics platform (GUI) | 📄 View |
| ExifTool | Metadata extraction & analysis | 📄 View |
| Binwalk | Firmware analysis & extraction | 📄 View |
| Tool | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Ghidra | NSA reverse engineering suite | 📄 View |
| GDB | GNU Debugger (Linux debugging) | 📄 View |
| x64dbg | Windows x64/x32 debugger | 📄 View |
| Tool | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Aircrack-ng | WiFi hacking suite (WPA/WPA2) | 📄 View |
| Wifite | Automated WiFi auditor | 📄 View |
| Bettercap | Network attack framework (MITM/WiFi) | 📄 View |
| Tool | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| ⭐ AD Methodology | Step-by-step attack guide | 📄 View |
| BloodHound | AD attack path visualization | 📄 View |
| Impacket | Python AD attack toolkit | 📄 View |
| CrackMapExec | AD Swiss Army knife | 📄 View |
| Rubeus | Kerberos abuse toolkit | 📄 View |
| PowerView | PowerShell AD enumeration | 📄 View |
| Responder | LLMNR/NBT-NS poisoning | 📄 View |
| Evil-WinRM | WinRM shell for pentesters | 📄 View |
| Kerbrute | Kerberos user enum & spray | 📄 View |
| Resource | Description | Cheatsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Wordlists | Complete wordlist reference guide | 📄 View |
| Kali Linux Tools | 600+ tools by category | 📄 View |
git clone https://github.com/Ilias1988/Hacking-Cheatsheets.git
cd Hacking-CheatsheetsNavigate to any tool folder and open the README.md file:
# View Metasploit cheatsheet
cat Metasploit/README.md
# Or open in your favorite editor
code Metasploit/All cheatsheets are in Markdown format, making them:
- 📱 Mobile-friendly - Read on any device
- 🔌 Offline accessible - No internet required
- 🖨️ Printable - Create physical copies
- 🔍 Searchable - Use grep or your editor's search
Hacking-Cheatsheets/
│
├── README.md # This file - Main index
├── README.it.md # Italian translation - Main index
├── LICENSE # MIT License
├── CONTRIBUTING.md # Contribution guidelines
├── CONTRIBUTING.it.md # Italian contribution guidelines
├── .gitignore # Git ignore rules
│
├── Metasploit/ # Metasploit Framework
│ ├── README.md # Complete msfconsole guide
│ └── Meterpreter.md # Meterpreter cheatsheet
│
├── Nmap/ # Network Scanner
│ └── README.md # Complete Nmap guide
│
├── Gobuster/ # Directory/DNS Enumeration
│ └── README.md # Complete Gobuster guide
│
├── Nikto/ # Web Server Scanner
│ └── README.md # Complete Nikto guide
│
├── SQLMap/ # SQL Injection Tool
│ └── README.md # Complete SQLMap guide
│
├── Burp-Suite/ # Web Application Testing
│ └── README.md # Complete Burp Suite guide
│
├── OWASP-ZAP/ # OWASP Zed Attack Proxy
│ └── README.md # Complete ZAP guide
│
├── Hydra/ # Network Login Cracker
│ └── README.md # Complete Hydra guide
│
├── John-The-Ripper/ # Password Cracker
│ └── README.md # Complete John guide
│
├── Hashcat/ # GPU Password Cracker
│ └── README.md # Complete Hashcat guide
│
├── Wireshark/ # Network Protocol Analyzer
│ └── README.md # Complete Wireshark guide
│
├── tcpdump/ # Command-Line Packet Analyzer
│ └── README.md # Complete tcpdump guide
│
├── Nuclei/ # Bug Bounty Scanner
│ └── README.md # Complete Nuclei guide
│
├── ffuf/ # Web Fuzzer
│ └── README.md # Complete ffuf guide
│
├── Subfinder/ # Subdomain Discovery
│ └── README.md # Complete Subfinder guide
│
├── httpx/ # HTTP Probe & Toolkit
│ └── README.md # Complete httpx guide
│
├── Google-Dorking/ # Google Search Hacking
│ └── README.md # Complete Google Dorking guide
│
├── Shodan/ # IoT Search Engine
│ └── README.md # Complete Shodan guide
│
├── GitHub-Dorking/ # Secret Hunting
│ └── README.md # Complete GitHub Dorking guide
│
└── ...
Contributions are welcome! Please read our Contributing Guidelines before submitting a pull request.
- 📝 Add new cheatsheets for tools not yet covered
- 🔧 Improve existing cheatsheets with better examples
- 🐛 Report issues or suggest improvements
- 🌐 Translate cheatsheets to other languages
- ⭐ Star this repo to show your support!
IMPORTANT: These cheatsheets are intended for educational purposes and authorized security testing only.
- ✅ Use on systems you own
- ✅ Use with explicit written permission
- ✅ Use in legal penetration testing engagements
- ❌ Never use for unauthorized access
- ❌ Never use for malicious purposes
Unauthorized access to computer systems is illegal. The authors are not responsible for any misuse of this information.
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
If you find these cheatsheets useful, please consider:
- ⭐ Starring this repository
- 🍴 Forking to contribute
- 📢 Sharing with fellow security professionals
- 💬 Providing feedback for improvements
- GitHub Issues - For bug reports and feature requests
- Pull Requests - For contributions
Happy Hacking! 🔴
Remember: Hack responsibly, hack ethically!
Made with ❤️ for the cybersecurity community