Subdomain Enumeration / DNS Reconnaissance

Authorization Warning

IMPORTANT: Subdomain enumeration without proper authorization may violate terms of service. Always ensure you have:

• Written permission from the target domain owner
• Defined scope of authorized testing
• Legal compliance with local regulations

Prerequisites

Required tools that must be installed on your system:

• subfinder - go install -v github.com/projectdiscovery/subfinder/v2/cmd/subfinder@latest
• dnsx - go install -v github.com/projectdiscovery/dnsx/cmd/dnsx@latest

Optional tools:

• amass - go install -v github.com/owasp-amass/amass/v4/cmd/amass@latest
• assetfinder - go install github.com/tomnomnom/assetfinder@latest
• puredns - go install github.com/d3mondev/puredns/v2@latest

Quick Start

Most commonly used commands for subdomain enumeration:

Fast Subdomain Discovery (Subfinder)

subfinder -d example.com -o subs.txt

Subdomain Discovery + DNS Resolution

subfinder -d example.com -silent | dnsx -silent -resp > resolved_subs.txt

Comprehensive Subdomain Enumeration (Amass)

amass enum -passive -d example.com -o amass_subs.txt

Multiple Tools Combined

subfinder -d example.com -silent | tee subs1.txt && \
assetfinder --subs-only example.com | tee subs2.txt && \
cat subs1.txt subs2.txt | sort -u > all_subs.txt

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Quick Passive Subdomain Discovery

When you need fast subdomain discovery without direct interaction:

subfinder -d example.com -o subs.txt

Parameters:

• -d example.com - Target domain
• -o subs.txt - Output file
• -silent - Suppress stderr output (optional)

Example:

subfinder -d target.com -o target_subs.txt
subfinder -d target.com -silent | head -20

Scenario 2: Active Subdomain Enumeration

When you need comprehensive active enumeration:

amass enum -active -d example.com -o amass_active.txt

Parameters:

• -active - Active enumeration (direct DNS queries)
• -d example.com - Target domain
• -o amass_active.txt - Output file

Example:

amass enum -active -d target.com -o target_amass.txt

Passive mode (no direct queries):

amass enum -passive -d example.com -o amass_passive.txt

Scenario 3: DNS Resolution of Discovered Subdomains

When you have a list of subdomains and need to verify which resolve:

dnsx -l subs.txt -o resolved.txt

Parameters:

• -l subs.txt - Input file with subdomains
• -o resolved.txt - Output file
• -resp - Include DNS responses in output
• -json - Output in JSON format

Example:

dnsx -l target_subs.txt -o resolved.txt -resp

With response details:

dnsx -l subs.txt -resp -json -o resolved.json

Scenario 4: DNS Record Enumeration

When you need to gather specific DNS records:

# A records
dnsx -l subs.txt -a -only-a

# AAAA records (IPv6)
dnsx -l subs.txt -aaaa -only-aaaa

# CNAME records
dnsx -l subs.txt -cname -only-cname

# TXT records
dnsx -l subs.txt -txt -only-txt

# MX records
dnsx -l subs.txt -mx -only-mx

# All records
dnsx -l subs.txt -a -aaaa -cname -mx -txt -ns -soa

Scenario 5: Wildcard Detection

When the target has wildcard DNS records:

# Detect wildcard subdomains
puredns discard wildcards.txt < subs.txt > valid_subs.txt

Alternative with dnsx:

# Test for wildcard
echo "randomtest12345.example.com" | dnsx -silent
# If resolves, wildcard exists

# Remove wildcard responses
dnsx -l subs.txt -silent -rcode,noerror | grep -v "randomtest"

Scenario 6: Subdomain Brute Forcing

When you need to discover subdomains via wordlist:

# Using puredns
puredns bruteforce wordlist.txt example.com | tee brute_subs.txt

Common wordlists:

# SecLists
puredns bruteforce /usr/share/seclists/Discovery/DNS/subdomains-top1million-5000.txt example.com

Scenario 7: Multi-Tool Enumeration

Combine multiple tools for maximum coverage:

# Create output file
> all_subs.txt

# Run subfinder
subfinder -d example.com -silent >> all_subs.txt

# Run assetfinder
assetfinder --subs-only example.com >> all_subs.txt

# Run amass (passive)
amass enum -passive -d example.com >> all_subs.txt

# Sort and deduplicate
sort -u all_subs.txt -o all_subs.txt

Scenario 8: Certificate Transparency Log Search

Find subdomains from SSL/TLS certificates:

# Using crt.sh (web)
curl -s "https://crt.sh/?q=%.example.com&output=json" | \
  jq -r '.[].name_value' | sort -u > ct_subs.txt

# Using subfinder (CT integration)
subfinder -d example.com -sources crtsh -o ct_subs.txt

Scenario 9: DNS Zone Transfer

Attempt zone transfer (rarely successful but worth trying):

# Try zone transfer
dig axfr @ns1.example.com example.com

# With specific nameserver
host -t axfr example.com ns1.example.com

Scenario 10: Subdomain Takeover Detection

Check for dangling DNS records:

# Using subjack
subjack -w subs.txt -t 100 -timeout 10 -o takeovers.txt

# Using nuclei (requires templates)
nuclei -l subs.txt -t /path/to/takeover-templates/

Tool Selection Guide

Tool Comparison:

Common Wordlists

Subdomain brute forcing wordlists:

Example usage:

puredns bruteforce /path/to/subdomains-top1million-5000.txt example.com

Workflow Example

Complete subdomain enumeration workflow:

# 1. Passive enumeration
subfinder -d target.com -silent > passive.txt
amass enum -passive -d target.com >> passive.txt
assetfinder --subs-only target.com >> passive.txt
sort -u passive.txt -o passive.txt

# 2. Resolve subdomains
dnsx -l passive.txt -silent -o resolved.txt

# 3. Check for alive HTTP services
cat resolved.txt | httpx -silent -status-code -title > alive.txt

# 4. Brute force (optional)
puredns bruteforce wordlist.txt target.com > brute.txt
dnsx -l brute.txt -silent >> resolved.txt

# 5. Final sorted list
sort -u resolved.txt -o final_subs.txt

Output Formats

Subfinder JSON Output

subfinder -d example.com -json -o subs.json

JSON structure:

{
  "host": "sub.example.com",
  "source": "crtsh"
}

Dnsx JSON Output

dnsx -l subs.txt -json -o resolved.json

JSON structure:

{
  "host": "sub.example.com",
  "a": ["1.2.3.4"],
  "aaaa": [],
  "cname": [],
  "status": "resolved"
}

Tips and Best Practices

1. Start passive - Use passive methods first to avoid detection
2. Combine tools - No single tool finds everything
3. Check wildcards - Wildcard DNS can skew results
4. Verify resolution - Not all discovered subdomains resolve
5. Rate limiting - Be careful with active queries to avoid blocking
6. Save results - Keep intermediate results for analysis

Scenario: Persistent Storage of Subdomain Enumeration

When you need to persist subdomain discovery results to the database:

# Store from file (flat hierarchy)
subfinder -d example.com | python .claude/skills/recon-subdomain/scripts/subdomain_storage.py

# Store from file with subsystem
subfinder -d example.com | python .claude/skills/recon-subdomain/scripts/subdomain_storage.py \
  --subsystem "External Infrastructure"

# Store from file (alternative)
python .claude/skills/recon-subdomain/scripts/subdomain_storage.py \
  --input-file subdomains.txt \
  --subsystem "Customer A"

Parameters:

• --subsystem - Subsystem name (optional, omit for flat hierarchy)
• --input-file - File containing subdomains (one per line, optional, reads from stdin if not provided)

Database location: ./data/results.db

Related skills: results-storage - Query data, generate reports

Resources

Scripts

• scripts/merge_subdomains.py - Merge and deduplicate multiple subdomain lists
• scripts/filter_resolved.py - Filter resolved subdomains with custom resolution logic
• scripts/subdomain_stats.py - Generate statistics on discovered subdomains

References

• references/subfinder_guide.md - Comprehensive subfinder reference
• references/amass_guide.md - Detailed amass usage documentation
• references/dnsx_guide.md - DNS resolution tool reference
• references/dns_techniques.md - Advanced DNS enumeration techniques

Assets

• assets/subdomains-top1m-5k.txt - Top 5,000 common subdomain words
• assets/resolvers.txt - Trusted DNS resolver list
• assets/wildcard-test.txt - Subdomain wildcard testing patterns