Scope

Added in version 2.13.0

Scope Option

The --scope option allows you to specify additional domains that should be considered “in-scope” during feroxbuster scans. This can help you avoid accidentally attacking endpoints or hosts that you don’t have permission to test.

Basic Usage

feroxbuster -u https://example.com --scope other-example.com example-sibling.com

How Scope Works

Default Behavior

By default, feroxbuster automatically includes the target URL’s domain in the scope list. When you specify additional URLs via --scope, they are added to this internal scope list along with the original target.

A URL is considered in-scope if:

  1. It belongs to the same domain as any URL in the scope list, OR
  2. It belongs to a subdomain of any domain in the scope list

So, any domain added to the scope is effectively wildcarded for subdomains, e.g. example.com => example.com || *.example.com

Automatic Scope Population

The scope list is automatically populated with:

  • The target URL from --url (or URLs from --stdin)
  • Any domains/URLs you specify with --scope

Scope Application

The scope checking applies to:

  • Redirect following (when --redirects is enabled)
  • Link extraction (assuming --dont-extract-links is false, which is the default)
  • Recursive directory scanning

URLs that fall outside the defined scope are automatically filtered out to prevent accidental scanning of unauthorized targets.

Configuration File

You can also specify scope in your ferox-config.toml:

scope = ["example.com", "dev-example.com", "partner.otherdomain.com"]

Examples

Single Additional Domain

feroxbuster -u https://example.com --scope dev-example.com

In-scope URLs:

  • example.com and all its subdomains (from target URL)
  • dev-example.com and all its subdomains (from –scope)

Multiple Domains

feroxbuster -u https://example.com --scope dev-example.com partner.otherdomain.com

In-scope URLs:

  • example.com and all its subdomains
  • dev-example.com and all its subdomains
  • partner.otherdomain.com and all its subdomains

With Redirects

feroxbuster -u https://example.com --scope dev-example.com --redirects

Now if example.com/login redirects to dev-example.com/auth/login, feroxbuster will follow the redirect because dev-example.com is in scope.

  • --dont-scan: Use this to exclude specific URLs/domains (deny list)
  • --redirects: Enable redirect following (scope applies to redirect targets)