Automate

The repository's ready-to-run scan and monitoring scripts — what they do, how to configure them, and how to schedule them.

ASM Automation Scripts

This directory contains practical automation scripts for Attack Surface Management tasks. These scripts are designed to work with the workflows and methodologies described in our comprehensive ASM guides.

🔗 Related Resources

Getting Started Guide - Learn the basics before using these scripts
Practical Workflows - See these scripts in action
Security Considerations - Important legal and ethical guidelines
Learning Guide - Structured learning path for ASM automation

Available Scripts

🔍 basic_asm_scan.sh

Purpose: Complete ASM workflow automation
Usage: ./basic_asm_scan.sh domain.com

What it does:

Discovers subdomains using Amass (passive)
Finds live web services with httpx
Performs basic port scanning with nmap
Takes screenshots with gowitness
Organizes results in timestamped directory

Requirements:

amass
httpx
nmap
gowitness

Example:

chmod +x basic_asm_scan.sh
./basic_asm_scan.sh example.com

📊 monitor_changes.py

Purpose: Website change detection and monitoring
Usage: python3 monitor_changes.py urls.txt

What it does:

Monitors websites for content changes
Maintains baseline hashes
Detects and reports differences
Tracks content length changes

Requirements:

Python 3.x
requests library (pip install requests)

Setup:

# Create URLs file
echo "https://example.com" > urls.txt
echo "https://api.example.com/status" >> urls.txt

# Run monitoring
python3 monitor_changes.py urls.txt

# Schedule with cron for continuous monitoring
# Add to crontab: 0 */6 * * * /path/to/monitor_changes.py /path/to/urls.txt

Installation Guide

Quick Setup (Ubuntu/Debian)

# Install Go tools
go install github.com/owasp-amass/amass/v4/...@master
go install github.com/projectdiscovery/httpx/cmd/httpx@latest
go install github.com/sensepost/gowitness@latest

# Install system tools
sudo apt update
sudo apt install nmap python3 python3-pip

# Install Python dependencies
pip3 install requests

Quick Setup (macOS)

# Install Go tools (same as above)
go install github.com/owasp-amass/amass/v4/...@master
go install github.com/projectdiscovery/httpx/cmd/httpx@latest
go install github.com/sensepost/gowitness@latest

# Install system tools
brew install nmap python3

# Install Python dependencies
pip3 install requests

Usage Examples

Basic Domain Assessment

# Run complete scan
./basic_asm_scan.sh target.com

# Results will be in: asm_results_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS/

Continuous Monitoring Setup

# Create monitoring list
cat > monitor_urls.txt << EOF
https://company.com
https://app.company.com
https://api.company.com
https://admin.company.com
EOF

# Initial baseline
python3 monitor_changes.py monitor_urls.txt

# Set up daily monitoring (add to crontab)
0 9 * * * cd /path/to/asm-cheatsheet/scripts && python3 monitor_changes.py monitor_urls.txt

Integration with Existing Workflows

# Use with existing subdomain lists
httpx -l existing_subdomains.txt -o live_hosts.txt
gowitness file -f live_hosts.txt

# Monitor specific endpoints
echo "https://target.com/admin" > critical_urls.txt
python3 monitor_changes.py critical_urls.txt critical_baseline.json critical_changes.json

Output Formats

basic_asm_scan.sh Output

asm_results_20250601_223000/
├── subdomains.txt          # Discovered subdomains
├── live_hosts.txt          # Live web services
├── hosts_for_nmap.txt      # Cleaned hostnames for nmap
├── nmap_scan.nmap          # Port scan results
├── nmap_scan.xml           # XML format results
└── screenshots/            # Website screenshots
    ├── gowitness.db
    └── *.png

monitor_changes.py Output

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "change_detected": true,
  "old_hash": "abc123...",
  "new_hash": "def456...",
  "old_timestamp": "2025-01-01T12:00:00",
  "new_timestamp": "2025-01-01T18:00:00",
  "content_length_change": 150
}

Security Considerations

Rate Limiting: Scripts include delays to avoid overwhelming targets
User Agents: Identify your scans appropriately
Scope: Only scan domains you own or have permission to test
Logging: Monitor script execution and results for anomalies

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"Command not found" errors:

Ensure Go tools are in your PATH: export PATH=$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin
Verify installations: which amass httpx gowitness nmap

Permission denied:

Make scripts executable: chmod +x *.sh *.py
Run nmap with sudo if needed for SYN scans

Python import errors:

Install requests: pip3 install requests
Use virtual environment if needed

No results found:

Check domain spelling and DNS resolution
Verify network connectivity
Try with known working domains first

Advanced Usage

Integration with Workflows

These scripts are designed to work with the workflows described in Practical Workflows:

New Domain Assessment - Use basic_asm_scan.sh for initial discovery
Continuous Monitoring - Use monitor_changes.py for ongoing surveillance
Incident Response - Rapid asset discovery during security incidents
Bug Bounty Reconnaissance - Efficient target enumeration

Enterprise Deployment

For enterprise use, consider:

Containerization - Deploy scripts in Docker containers
Orchestration - Use Kubernetes for scale
CI/CD Integration - Automate with GitHub Actions or Jenkins
Monitoring - Integrate with SIEM and alerting systems

See our Case Studies for real-world enterprise implementations.

Security Best Practices

⚠️ Important: Always follow our Security Considerations:

Only scan assets you own or have explicit permission to test
Implement proper rate limiting to avoid overwhelming targets
Use secure credential management for API keys
Follow responsible disclosure practices for any findings

Contributing

We welcome script contributions! See our Contributing Guide for detailed information.

Script Contribution Guidelines

Follow naming convention: purpose_description.ext
Include comprehensive documentation with usage examples
Implement proper error handling and logging
Add security considerations and rate limiting
Test with safe targets before submitting
Update this README with your script documentation

High-Priority Script Needs

Cloud asset enumeration automation
Threat intelligence integration scripts
Report generation and visualization tools
Multi-tool orchestration frameworks
Compliance checking automation

Testing Requirements

All scripts must be tested with:

Valid inputs and expected scenarios
Invalid inputs and error conditions
Rate limiting and timeout scenarios
Different operating systems (Linux, macOS, Windows)
Various network conditions

For detailed testing guidelines, see our Contributing Guide.