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Nuclei provides seamless integration with cloud platforms for template storage, credential management, and cloud-native security testing. This enables organizations to maintain centralized template repositories and perform security assessments across cloud infrastructure.

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Overview

Nuclei supports integration with major cloud platforms for:
  • Template storage in cloud buckets (AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage)
  • AWS request signing for authenticated API testing
  • Cloud-based template distribution
  • Custom template repositories
Cloud integrations enable teams to maintain private template collections and perform authenticated security testing against cloud services.

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AWS integration

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S3 template storage

Store and load templates from AWS S3 buckets: 
# Using default AWS credentials
nuclei -u https://example.com -s3-bucket my-nuclei-templates

# Using specific AWS profile
nuclei -u https://example.com -s3-bucket my-templates -aws-profile production

# Specify custom region
nuclei -u https://example.com -s3-bucket my-templates -aws-region us-west-2

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AWS credentials configuration

Nuclei supports multiple methods for AWS authentication:
1
Environment variables
2
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-access-key"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your-secret-key"
export AWS_REGION="us-east-1"
3
AWS credentials file
4
Use ~/.aws/credentials file:
5
[default]
aws_access_key_id = YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
aws_secret_access_key = YOUR_SECRET_KEY

[production]
aws_access_key_id = PROD_ACCESS_KEY
aws_secret_access_key = PROD_SECRET_KEY
6
IAM roles
7
When running on EC2 instances or containers, use IAM roles for automatic credential management.

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AWS SigV4 signing

Sign HTTP requests using AWS Signature Version 4 for testing AWS services: 
id: aws-api-test

info:
  name: AWS API authenticated request
  author: pdteam
  severity: info

variables:
  aws-id: "{{aws_access_key}}"
  aws-secret: "{{aws_secret_key}}"
  aws-service: "s3"
  aws-region: "us-east-1"

http:
  - raw:
      - |
        GET /bucket-name HTTP/1.1
        Host: s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
        
    signature:
      aws-id: "{{aws-id}}"
      aws-secret: "{{aws-secret}}"
      aws-service: "{{aws-service}}"
      aws-region: "{{aws-region}}"
    
    matchers:
      - type: status
        status:
          - 200

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Testing AWS services

Example template for testing S3 bucket configurations: 
id: s3-bucket-public-access

info:
  name: S3 bucket public access detection
  author: pdteam
  severity: high
  description: Detects publicly accessible S3 buckets
  reference:
    - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/access-control-overview.html
  tags: aws,s3,misconfig

variables:
  bucket: "{{bucket_name}}"

http:
  - method: GET
    path:
      - "https://{{bucket}}.s3.amazonaws.com/"
      - "https://s3.amazonaws.com/{{bucket}}/"
    
    stop-at-first-match: true
    
    matchers-condition: and
    matchers:
      - type: status
        status:
          - 200
      
      - type: word
        words:
          - "<ListBucketResult"
      
      - type: word
        words:
          - "<Contents>"

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Azure integration

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Azure Blob Storage templates

Load templates from Azure Blob Storage: 
# Using default Azure authentication
nuclei -u https://example.com -azure-container nuclei-templates

# Specify storage account
nuclei -u https://example.com -azure-container templates -azure-account myaccount

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Azure authentication

Nuclei supports Azure authentication through:
  • Environment variables: AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT and AZURE_STORAGE_KEY
  • Azure CLI: Automatic authentication if Azure CLI is configured
  • Managed Identity: When running on Azure VMs or containers

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Azure Blob Storage configuration

# Set environment variables
export AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT="mystorageaccount"
export AZURE_STORAGE_KEY="your-storage-key"

# Or use connection string
export AZURE_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING="DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=..."

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Testing Azure services

id: azure-blob-public-access

info:
  name: Azure Blob Storage public access
  author: pdteam
  severity: high
  tags: azure,blob,misconfig

http:
  - method: GET
    path:
      - "https://{{account}}.blob.core.windows.net/{{container}}?restype=container&comp=list"
    
    matchers-condition: and
    matchers:
      - type: status
        status:
          - 200
      
      - type: word
        words:
          - "<Blobs>"
          - "<Name>"

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Cloud template repositories

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ProjectDiscovery Cloud

Access templates from ProjectDiscovery’s cloud platform: 
# Authenticate with API key
export PDCP_API_KEY="your-api-key"

# Use cloud templates
nuclei -u https://example.com -cloud-templates

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Private template repositories

Organizations can host private template repositories: 
# Configure custom template URL
nuclei -u target.com -templates-url https://internal.company.com/templates/

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Custom S3 template repository

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Repository structure

Organize templates in S3 with the following structure: 
s3://my-nuclei-templates/
├── cves/
│   ├── 2024/
│   │   └── CVE-2024-1234.yaml
│   └── 2023/
│       └── CVE-2023-5678.yaml
├── exposures/
│   ├── configs/
│   └── files/
├── vulnerabilities/
│   ├── sql-injection/
│   └── xss/
└── custom/
    └── company-specific/

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Setup script example

#!/bin/bash

# Create S3 bucket
aws s3 mb s3://my-nuclei-templates --region us-east-1

# Set bucket policy for team access
aws s3api put-bucket-policy --bucket my-nuclei-templates --policy file://policy.json

# Sync templates to S3
aws s3 sync ./templates/ s3://my-nuclei-templates/ --exclude "*.md"

# Run Nuclei with S3 templates
nuclei -u https://target.com -s3-bucket my-nuclei-templates

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Bucket policy example

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "AllowTeamRead",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": {
        "AWS": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/NucleiScannerRole"
      },
      "Action": [
        "s3:GetObject",
        "s3:ListBucket"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:s3:::my-nuclei-templates",
        "arn:aws:s3:::my-nuclei-templates/*"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

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CI/CD integration

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GitHub Actions with S3

name: Security Scan with Cloud Templates

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 * * *'

jobs:
  scan:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      id-token: write
      contents: read
    
    steps:
      - name: Configure AWS credentials
        uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v2
        with:
          role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/GitHubActionsRole
          aws-region: us-east-1
      
      - name: Run Nuclei with S3 templates
        uses: projectdiscovery/nuclei-action@main
        with:
          target: https://example.com
          flags: "-s3-bucket my-nuclei-templates"

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GitLab CI with Azure

security_scan:
  image: projectdiscovery/nuclei:latest
  script:
    - export AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT=$AZURE_ACCOUNT
    - export AZURE_STORAGE_KEY=$AZURE_KEY
    - nuclei -u $TARGET_URL -azure-container nuclei-templates
  only:
    - schedules

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Template synchronization

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Automated sync script

#!/bin/bash

# Sync templates from Git to S3
git clone https://github.com/your-org/nuclei-templates.git
cd nuclei-templates

# Upload to S3
aws s3 sync . s3://my-nuclei-templates/ \
  --exclude ".git/*" \
  --exclude "*.md" \
  --delete

# Upload to Azure
az storage blob upload-batch \
  --account-name mystorageaccount \
  --destination nuclei-templates \
  --source . \
  --pattern "*.yaml"

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Best practices

1
Use IAM roles
2
Always prefer IAM roles over access keys for better security:
3
{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:GetObject",
        "s3:ListBucket"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "arn:aws:s3:::my-nuclei-templates",
        "arn:aws:s3:::my-nuclei-templates/*"
      ]
    }
  ]
}
4
Enable versioning
5
Enable versioning on S3 buckets to track template changes:
6
aws s3api put-bucket-versioning \
  --bucket my-nuclei-templates \
  --versioning-configuration Status=Enabled
7
Implement access logging
8
Enable access logging for audit trails:
9
aws s3api put-bucket-logging \
  --bucket my-nuclei-templates \
  --bucket-logging-status file://logging.json
10
Use encryption
11
Enable server-side encryption:
12
aws s3api put-bucket-encryption \
  --bucket my-nuclei-templates \
  --server-side-encryption-configuration file://encryption.json
Always follow the principle of least privilege when configuring cloud access. Grant only the minimum permissions required for Nuclei to function.

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Troubleshooting

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AWS authentication issues

# Verify AWS credentials
aws sts get-caller-identity

# Test S3 access
aws s3 ls s3://my-nuclei-templates/

# Enable debug mode
nuclei -u target.com -s3-bucket my-templates -debug

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Azure authentication issues

# Verify Azure login
az account show

# Test blob access
az storage blob list --account-name myaccount --container-name templates

# Check environment variables
echo $AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT
echo $AZURE_STORAGE_KEY

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