Google’s Advance Search Query Syntaxes
[ intitle: ]
The “intitle:” syntax helps Google restrict the search results to pages containing that word in the title. For example, “intitle: login
password” (without quotes) will return links to those pages that has the word "login" in their title, and the word "password"
anywhere in the page.
Similarly, if one has to query for more than one word in the page title then in that case “allintitle:” can be used instead of
“intitle” to get the list of pages containing all those words in its title. For example using “intitle: login intitle: password” is same
as querying “allintitle: login password”.
[ inurl: ]
The “inurl:” syntax restricts the search results to those URLs containing the search keyword. For example: “inurl:
passwd” (without quotes) will return only links to those pages that have "passwd" in the URL.
Similarly, if one has to query for more than one word in an URL then in that case “allinurl:” can be used instead of “inurl” to get
the list of URLs containing all those search keywords in it. For example: “allinurl: etc/passwd“ will look for the URLs containing
“etc” and “passwd”. The slash (“/”) between the words will be ignored by Google.
[ site: ]
The “site:” syntax restricts Google to query for certain keywords in a particular site or domain. For example: “exploits
site: “learnown.blogspot.com" (without quotes) will look for the keyword “exploits” in those pages present in all the links of the
domain “learnown.blogspot.com". There should not be any space between “site:” and the “domain name”.
[ filetype: ]
This “filetype:” syntax restricts Google search for files on internet with particular extensions (i.e. doc, pdf or ppt etc). For
example: “filetype:doc site:gov confidential” (without quotes) will look for files with “.doc” extension in all government domains
with “.gov” extension and containing the word “confidential” either in the pages or in the “.doc” file. i.e. the result will contain the
links to all confidential word document files on the government sites.
[ link: ]
“link:” syntax will list down webpages that have links to the specified webpage. For Example: “link:www.learnown.blogspot.com” will
list webpages that have links pointing to the SecurityFocus homepage. Note there can be no space between the "link:" and the
web page url.
[ related: ]
The “related:” will list web pages that are "similar" to a specified web page. For Example: “related:www.learnown.blogspot.com” will
list web pages that are similar to the Securityfocus homepage. Note there can be no space between the "related:" and the web
page url.
[ cache: ]
The query “cache:” will show the version of the web page that Google has in its cache.
Note there can be no space between the
"cache:" and the web page url.
If you include other words in the query, Google will highlight those words within the cached document.
[ intext: ]
The “intext:” syntax searches for words in a particular website. It ignores links or URLs and page titles. For example:
“intext:exploits” (without quotes) will return only links to those web pages that has the search keyword "exploits" in its
webpage.
[ phonebook: ]
“phonebook” searches for U.S. street address and phone number information. For Example: “phonebook:Lisa+CA” will list
down all names of person having “Lisa” in their names and located in “California (CA)”. This can be used as a great tool for
hackers incase someone want to do dig personal information for social engineering.
Using “Index of ” syntax to find sites enabled with Index browsing
A webserver with Index browsing enabled means anyone can browse the webserver directories like ordinary local directories.
Here I shall discuss how one can use “index of” syntax to get a list links to webserver which has got directory browsing
enabled. This becomes an easy source for information gathering for a hacker. Imagine if the get hold of password files or
others sensitive files which are not normally visible to the internet. Below given are few examples using which one can get
access to many sensitive information much easily.
Index of /admin
Index of /passwd
Index of /password
Index of /mail
"Index of /" +passwd
"Index of /" +password.txt
"Index of /" +.htaccess
"Index of /secret"
"Index of /confidential"
"Index of /root"
"Index of /cgi-bin"
"Index of /credit-card"
"Index of /logs"
"Index of /config"
Looking for vulnerable sites or servers using “inurl:” or “allinurl:”
a. Using “allinurl:winnt/system32/” (without quotes) will list down all the links to the server which gives access to restricted
directories like “system32” through web. If you are lucky enough then you might get access to the cmd.exe in the
“system32” directory. Once you have the access to “cmd.exe” and is able to execute it then Bingo!! You owns the
server. ?
b. Using “allinurl:wwwboard/passwd.txt”(without quotes) in the Google search will list down all the links to the server
which are vulnerable to “WWWBoard Password vulnerability”.
c. Using “inurl:.bash_history” (without quotes) will list down all the links to the server which gives access to
“.bash_history” file through web. This is a command history file. This file includes the list of command executed by the
administrator, and sometimes includes sensitive information such as password typed in by the administrator. If this file
is compromised and if contains the encrypted unix (or *nix) password then it can be easily cracked using “John The
Ripper”.
d. Using “inurl:config.txt” (without quotes) will list down all the links to the servers which gives access to “config.txt” file
through web. This file contains sensitive information, including the hash value of the administrative password and
database authentication credentials. For Example: Ingenium Learning Management System is a Web-based
application for Windows based systems developed by Click2learn, Inc. Ingenium Learning Management System
versions 5.1 and 6.1 stores sensitive information insecurely in the config.txt file.
Other similar search using “inurl:” or “allinurl:” combined with other syntaxs
inurl:admin filetype:txt
inurl:admin filetype:db
inurl:admin filetype:cfg
inurl:mysql filetype:cfg
inurl:passwd filetype:txt
inurl:iisadmin
inurl:auth_user_file.txt
inurl:orders.txt
inurl:"wwwroot/*."
inurl:adpassword.txt
inurl:webeditor.php
inurl:file_upload.php
inurl:gov filetype:xls "restricted"
index of ftp +.mdb allinurl:/cgi-bin/ +mailto
Looking for vulnerable sites or servers using “intitle:” or “allintitle:”
a. Using [allintitle: "index of /root”] (without brackets) will list down the links to the web server which gives access to
restricted directories like “root” through web. This directory sometimes contains sensitive information which can be
easily retrieved through simple web requests.
b. Using [allintitle: "index of /admin”] (without brackets) will list down the links to the websites which has got index
browsing enabled for restricted directories like “admin” through web. Most of the web application sometimes uses
names like “admin” to store admin credentials in it. This directory sometimes contains sensitive information which can
be easily retrieved through simple web requests.
Other similar search using “intitle:” or “allintitle:” combined with other syntaxs
intitle:"Index of" .sh_history
intitle:"Index of" .bash_history
intitle:"index of" passwd
intitle:"index of" people.lst
intitle:"index of" pwd.db
intitle:"index of" etc/shadow
intitle:"index of" spwd
intitle:"index of" master.passwd
intitle:"index of" htpasswd
intitle:"index of" members OR accounts
intitle:"index of" user_carts OR user_cart
allintitle: sensitive filetype:doc
allintitle: restricted filetype :mail
allintitle: restricted filetype:doc site:gov
Other interesting Search Queries
_ To search for sites vulnerable to Cross-Sites Scripting (XSS) attacks:
allinurl:/scripts/cart32.exe
allinurl:/CuteNews/show_archives.php
allinurl:/phpinfo.php
_ To search for sites vulnerable to SQL Injection attacks:
allinurl:/privmsg.php
allinurl:/privmsg.php