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hacktricks-wiki/hacktricks

11,290CSSAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · moderate

TLDR

HackTricks is a large cybersecurity knowledge base documenting hacking techniques, penetration testing methods, and CTF tricks gathered from real security work and competitions.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((HackTricks))
    What it is
      Security knowledge base
      CTF techniques
      Pentest reference
    Topics covered
      Web app attacks
      Network pentesting
      Privilege escalation
      Mobile security
    Local setup
      Docker container
      mdBook builder
      Multi-language branches
    Audience
      Security researchers
      Pentesters
      CTF participants
    Community
      Corporate sponsors
      Bug bounty platforms
      Open contributions
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Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Look up a specific hacking technique or vulnerability class before a penetration testing engagement.

USE CASE 2

Run a local offline copy of HackTricks using Docker for use during CTF competitions.

USE CASE 3

Learn about privilege escalation or web application attacks from curated, real-world security examples.

USE CASE 4

Browse HackTricks in Spanish, Japanese, or Chinese by switching to the corresponding language branch.

Tech stack

DockermdBookCSS

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Running locally requires Docker, the container takes a few minutes to build the book before the site is available.

In plain English

HackTricks is a large, community-maintained cybersecurity knowledge base that documents hacking techniques, penetration testing methods, and security research findings. It is written in a wiki-style format and covers topics gathered from real-world security assessments, research, and CTF competitions. The README is primarily a list of corporate sponsors who fund the project, alongside brief descriptions of their services, including penetration testing firms, bug bounty platforms, AI security training providers, and security tooling companies. The sponsors include STM Cyber, Intigriti, HackenProof, and others, all of which offer security-related services. This sponsor section takes up most of the README. To run a local copy of HackTricks, you clone the repository and start a Docker container that builds the content using mdBook, a tool for creating websites from Markdown files. The site supports multiple languages, including English, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese, and others. Each language is available on a separate branch. Once the Docker container finishes building, the site is available at http://localhost:3337, typically within a few minutes. The content itself, which is the main value of the project, is not described in detail in the README beyond the project description: it contains techniques and tricks the author learned from CTF competitions and real security engagements. The full book covers topics such as network pentesting, web application attacks, privilege escalation, mobile security, reverse engineering, and cloud security, though these are documented in the wiki pages rather than the README. The project accepts community contributions and is available in over a dozen languages maintained as separate git branches.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I run HackTricks locally using Docker so I can browse it offline during a CTF?
Prompt 2
I am doing a penetration test on a Linux system. What privilege escalation techniques does HackTricks cover?
Prompt 3
I am preparing for a CTF with web application challenges. What sections of HackTricks should I read first?
Prompt 4
How do I switch HackTricks to the Spanish language version using the branch-based local setup?
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