Hunt Forgot Password

Autonomous Testing Priority

Start with username enumeration — it's the fastest win and gates the rest.

Pattern 1 — Username enumeration (response difference for valid vs invalid email):

1. POST to the forgot-password endpoint with a clearly invalid email (e.g. [email protected]) — record the response body, status code, and length
2. POST with an email you know exists (or try common patterns like [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])
3. Compare responses: different message ("Email sent" vs "Email not found"), different HTTP status, or meaningfully different body length = username enumeration confirmed
4. Proof: enumeration is confirmed when the two responses differ measurably (baseline vs probe) in message text, status code, or body length

Pattern 2 — Reset token exposed in the API response: Some APIs return the reset token directly in the response body (instead of only emailing it). POST to the forgot-password endpoint and look for a token, link, or code in the JSON/HTML response. If a token appears that lets you reset the password, that's an immediate account-takeover vector.

Pattern 3 — Reset token replay (reuse after use):

1. Complete a full password reset cycle: request token → use it to reset password
2. Immediately try submitting the same token again to the reset-password endpoint
3. If the second submission returns 200 or "success" → token not invalidated after use

Pattern 4 — No rate limit on reset requests: Submit the forgot-password endpoint 10-20 times rapidly with the same email. If all succeed without a 429, lockout, or CAPTCHA → no rate limit (enumeration + token flooding is possible).

Content-type: Forgot-password endpoints are often JSON-based REST APIs. Use application/x-www-form-urlencoded only if the endpoint is a traditional HTML form (check the login page's HTML to determine form encoding).

Proof: Username enumeration = measurably different response (body/status/length). Token exposure = token in response body. Token replay = second successful use of a consumed token.

Vulnerability Classes in This Skill

1. Username Enumeration via Password Reset

Different error messages for valid vs invalid accounts leaks the user list without authentication. Even timing differences (fast "no user found" vs slow "email queued") count.

High-value targets: admin accounts, employee email patterns, API keys derived from usernames.

2. Weak / Predictable Reset Tokens

A reset token derived from timestamp, username, or sequential IDs can be brute-forced:

• base64(email + timestamp) — decodable
• 4-6 digit numeric code — 10K guesses, easily feasible with no rate limit
• Sequential token=1234, token=1235 — trivially enumerable