Google.com is undoubtedly the most popular search engine in the world. It offers multiple search features like the ability to search images and news groups.However it's true power lies in it's powerful commands that can be used and misused.I am writing this article on the basis of my experience using google and trying out ideas when i am bored.Now enough of lecturing...let's get
down to business.)
--- Searching URLs :
The "allinurl" command is used to search for a particular string present in
the URL.Goto google.com and type this in the search box:
allinurl:wwwboard/passwd.txt
Wow! 139 results and allmost every result displays a file containing a string
in the form of ---> username:password (password is encrypted using DES crypto and can be cracked using john the ripper) "WWWBOARD" is a CGI message board which saves it's password by default in a filename called "passwd.txt".This is a very outdated message board script but many new types of CGI/PHP/ASP messages boards and scripts save their passwords
in a text file (some are not encrypted i.e. in plain text !! and the rest can most of the time be cracked with john the ripper)
allinurl:passwd.txt site:virtualave.net
This time too you will get some results which leads to the file containing the
passwords.
This command searched for a file called passwd.txt present in the URL.However
using the "site:virtualave.net" part has limited the search to virutalave.net only! (virtualave.net is a web hosting provider)
Similarly you can also search partcular top level domains like
.net,.org,.np,.jp,.in,.gr etc :
allinurl:config.txt site:.jp
allinurl:admin.txt site:.edu
These and many other ideas can return interesting results in google.
--- Searching for Index browsing enabled directories :
Index browsing is a very simple but powerful way of gaining information and interesting things.First of all we need to understand that "index browsing" enabled directories are those directories on the internet that can be browsed just like ordinary directories. We will be using google to find such type of "interesting" directories.
Try these out this in google:
"Index of /admin"
"Index of /secret"
"Index of /cgi-bin" site:.edu
Be more creative and think of more interesting ways to exploit index browsing,
-- Searching for partcular file types:
You can specify the extension of the filename you want to search using "filetype" command. Examples to try in google:
filetype:.doc site:.mil classified
-Yeah searching for classified millitary documents ;)
-- Examples of some real life hacks using google:
1) My personal hack
One day i was reading about an exploit for phpBB 2.0.0 I decided to check
if any sites were vulnerable, so i fired up google and searched for:
"Powered by phpBB 2.0.2"
I found out that there were a lot of site.But i got curious to see if any
Nepali sites were vulnerable too because I am a Nepali myself ;)
"Powered by phpBB 2.0.2" site:.np
I came up with a vulnerable Nepali site that used phpBB 2.0.2
2) Big brother hack
Phrack 60 has an article on Big Brother...(a program that will monitor
various computer equipment; things it can monitor are connectivity, cpu
utilization, disk usage, ftp status, http status, pop3 status, etc.)
You can search for sites using big brother by typing this search string in
google:
"green:Big Brother" (with the quotes)
For more info check out article titled "Watchin Big Brother" @ phrack.org
--Conclusion:
This document is only meant to give some basic ideas about exploiting
google.com. I was very much inspired by +Fravia and his site : http://searchlores.org which has lots of innovative ideas and tricks.
- d00m (Himanshu)
Great tricks ;)
Hey himanshu. Yep, these are really great! :D "allinurl:" can be easily exploited, I see :D lol Atlantis leads "melodic powermetal" search term in Google and I swear I didn't play any tricks! :P lol. But wow, must be fun. That "Google Hacks" books I read a review of looks interesting as well!
Great article, enjoyed this one (others I didn't understand lol :P)
Yes, Google hacks has come to
Yes, Google hacks has come to the forefront now and anyone can discover exploits without touching the target box itself, which makes it all the more easier. However, there are also honeypots created to attract people in through Google... so be very careful on what you do.
Recently there was a very interesting pdf article called "The Google Hacker's Guide", published at http://johnny.ihackstuff.com/ . It is an ultimate site for information on Google hacks!!
100 industrial google hacks i
100 industrial google hacks is a good book from Oreilly and i highly reccomend it to ppl interested in exploring the advanced feature of google itself.Johnny's "google dorks" site is indeed the ultimate guide to google hacks.
Google Hacks
I searched for that book in the market. Not found. I was tempeted to download the PDF from ED2K. Nice book indeed
Search eBay...
I normally get my books at bargain prices on eBay ;-)