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The Nuclei Templates library is a community-driven collection of vulnerability detection templates that power Nuclei’s scanning capabilities. With thousands of templates covering CVEs, misconfigurations, and security issues, it’s the largest open-source vulnerability database.

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Official template repository

The official Nuclei templates are hosted on GitHub and maintained by ProjectDiscovery and the community.

nuclei-templates

Official templates repository with 9,000+ templates

Cloud template editor

Free AI-powered template editor to create and test templates

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Template categories

Templates are organized into the following main categories:
Templates for detecting known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). These templates are updated regularly as new CVEs are disclosed.Examples:
  • CVE-2021-44228 (Log4Shell)
  • CVE-2024-22120 (Blind SQL Injection)
  • CVE-2023-4173 (Reflected XSS)
Templates for detecting sensitive file disclosures, data leaks, and exposed endpoints.Examples:
  • .git/config exposure
  • bower.json file disclosure
  • Configuration file leaks
  • Backup file exposure
Templates for identifying security misconfigurations in web applications, servers, and cloud services.Examples:
  • Unprotected Jenkins console
  • Open S3 buckets
  • Default credentials
  • Misconfigured CORS policies
Templates organized by technology stack (WordPress, Joomla, Jenkins, etc.).
General vulnerability templates including SQL injection, XSS, RCE, and more.

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Using templates

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Install and update templates

Nuclei automatically downloads templates on first run. To update to the latest templates: 
nuclei -update-templates

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Run specific template categories

# Run all CVE templates
nuclei -u https://example.com -t cves/

# Run specific CVE template
nuclei -u https://example.com -t cves/2021/CVE-2021-44228.yaml

# Run multiple categories
nuclei -u https://example.com -t http/cves/ -t ssl

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Filter by severity

# Run only critical and high severity templates
nuclei -u https://example.com -s critical,high

# Exclude info severity
nuclei -u https://example.com -es info

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Filter by tags

# Run templates with specific tags
nuclei -u https://example.com -tags cve,rce

# Exclude templates with specific tags
nuclei -u https://example.com -etags dos

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Template structure

All Nuclei templates follow a standard YAML structure: 
id: CVE-2021-44228

info:
  name: Apache Log4j2 Remote Code Execution
  author: pdteam
  severity: critical
  description: Apache Log4j2 is vulnerable to RCE via JNDI injection
  reference:
    - https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/security.html
  classification:
    cve-id: CVE-2021-44228
    cwe-id: CWE-502
  tags: cve,cve2021,rce,log4j

http:
  - method: GET
    path:
      - "{{BaseURL}}"
    headers:
      X-Api-Version: "${jndi:ldap://{{interactsh-url}}}"
    
    matchers:
      - type: word
        part: interactsh_protocol
        words:
          - "dns"

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Contributing templates

ProjectDiscovery runs two programs for template contributors: Pioneers (recognition program) and Bounties (monetary rewards).
See the Contributing guide for details on how to contribute templates to the official library.

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Template validation

Before submitting templates, validate them using the built-in validator: 
# Validate a specific template
nuclei -validate -t path/to/template.yaml

# Validate all templates in a directory
nuclei -validate -t templates/

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Community resources

Template editor

AI-powered online editor for creating templates

Discord community

Join the community for help and discussions

Template syntax

Learn the template syntax and structure

Submit bounty templates

Earn rewards for high-quality templates

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