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Ethical Hacking Methodology

Listed
zebbern·vlatest·security·MIT

This skill provides a structured ethical hacking methodology for assessing system vulnerabilities and improving security posture safely.

Repository

Install on your platform

Showing Claude Code. One command installs this skill into any of the agents below.

  1. 1

    Run this in your project

    terminal
    $ npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill ethical-hacking-methodology -a claude-code

  2. Uses the open-source skills CLI and needs Node.js. Add -g to install it for your user instead of this project.

What we know about this skill

Publisher

zebbern

Taken from the source listing. We haven't verified who controls this account.

Install target

Live repository

Not pinned. Installing fetches whatever the repository holds at the time you run the command.

No human has reviewed this code. The checks below are a static scan of the files at one commit — nobody has run this skill or judged whether it works. A skill runs with whatever access you give your agent, so read the source before you install it.

Automated safety checks

scanned

This skill failed 2 of 6 checks. A failure is not proof of bad intent; it means something in the code needs a human to look at it before you run it.

  • No undeclared network calls: failed

    Contacts 1 host that is neither well-known infrastructure nor declared in the skill's frontmatter: target.com.

    Every host the skill dials — from its scripts, its config endpoints or the commands it tells the agent to run — is either well-known package and API infrastructure or declared in its own frontmatter. Links in documentation are not counted.

    Hosts contacted

    target.comundeclared

    What it found (3 of 4)

    • skills/ethical-hacking-methodology/SKILL.md:189contacts target.com
      nikto -h http://target.com
    • skills/ethical-hacking-methodology/SKILL.md:213contacts target.com
      gobuster dir -u http://target.com -w /usr/share/wordlists/dirb/common.txt
    • skills/ethical-hacking-methodology/SKILL.md:261contacts target.com
      sqlmap -u "http://target.com/page.php?id=1" --dbs

  • No credential access: failed

    Touches credential material in 1 place.

    Neither the code nor the SKILL.md instructions read SSH keys, cloud credentials, keychains, token stores, browser cookie databases or dotfiles that hold secrets.

    What it found

    • skills/ethical-hacking-methodology/SKILL.md:282SSH private keys or config
      # Add attacker's public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

  • Declares what it does: passed

    SKILL.md parses and declares a name and a description.

    SKILL.md exists, its frontmatter parses, and it declares a name and a description.

  • No obfuscated payloads: passed

    No encoded or obfuscated payloads.

    No base64, hex or compressed blob is decoded and then executed, and no encoded shell commands.

  • No pipe-to-shell installers: passed

    No pipe-to-shell or download-and-run installers.

    No `curl … | sh` pattern, in the code or in the instructions, that runs code fetched at run time.

  • Pinned to a commit: passed

    Scanned zebbern/claude-code-guide at a2e6ee3bce.

    The exact upstream commit SHA that was scanned is recorded, so the result refers to specific bytes.

Commit
a2e6ee3bce
Manifest
skills/ethical-hacking-methodology/SKILL.md
Scanned
1 file, 441 lines
This is a static scan, not a review. It reads the skill's files; it does not run them, and it cannot tell you whether the skill is any good or whether the code does what its description says. A skill runs with whatever access you give your agent.
What each check looks for →

About this skill

What it does

This skill provides a structured framework for conducting ethical hacking assessments, guiding AI agents through systematic vulnerability identification and security testing. It ensures that penetration testing follows a disciplined approach to minimize risks while maximizing the discovery of critical flaws in target systems.

When to use it

  • You need to validate the security posture of an application before launching a public release.
  • You are preparing for a compliance audit requiring documented vulnerability remediation steps.
  • You want to simulate attacker behaviors to harden infrastructure against real-world threats.
  • You require a repeatable methodology for training junior security analysts on proper testing protocols.

Key capabilities

  • Systematic execution of reconnaissance, scanning, exploitation, and reporting phases.
  • Adherence to ethical boundaries to prevent unauthorized access or data breaches.
  • Generation of actionable findings with clear severity ratings and remediation advice.
  • Integration with standard security tools for automated vulnerability detection.

Example prompts

  • "Run a full ethical hacking assessment on this API endpoint following the zebbern methodology."
  • "Identify potential SQL injection vulnerabilities in this codebase and suggest fixes."
  • "Simulate a phishing attack scenario to test our email gateway's resilience."

Tips & gotchas

Ensure you have explicit written authorization from system owners before initiating any security tests. Always document every step taken during the assessment to maintain audit trails and legal compliance.