📰 Originally published on SecurityElites — the canonical, fully-updated version of this article.
DAY 11 OF 60
BUG BOUNTY MASTERY COURSE
FREE — ALL 60 DAYS
🔴 Day 11 — Open Redirect Bug Bounty Hunting
Day 60 — Pro Hunter $$$$
Day 12: File Upload Vulnerabilities →
🔐 AUTHORISED TARGETS ONLY
All open redirect testing in this guide is performed on authorised targets only — DVWA, PortSwigger Academy free labs, TryHackMe, HackTheBox, or in-scope bug bounty programmes with explicit written permission. Never test redirect vulnerabilities on applications without authorisation. Never use open redirects for phishing attacks against real users — this course teaches responsible discovery and reporting only.
Here is a real scenario from HackerOne’s public disclosure feed. A researcher found a single URL parameter called ?redirect= on a major company’s login page. On its own, it paid $200. But that same researcher noticed the parameter appeared inside an OAuth flow. They chained the two vulnerabilities together. The open redirect became a full account takeover. Final payout: $7,500. Same vulnerability. Completely different impact. The difference was knowing how to chain. Today — Day 11 — you learn open redirect bug bounty hunting from zero to the advanced chaining techniques that multiply your payouts.
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After reading Day 11, you will be able to:
Explain open redirect using a simple real-world analogy · Find every redirect parameter on a target in under 5 minutes · Confirm open redirect with Burp Suite Repeater · Apply 6 filter bypass techniques when basic payloads are blocked · Chain open redirect with OAuth for account takeover impact · Write a report that earns maximum payout for this vulnerability class
~22
min read
📊 QUICK POLL — Day 11
How familiar are you with open redirect vulnerabilities going into today?
🟡 Complete Beginner — Never heard of this vulnerability type
🟠 Getting It — I know what redirects are but not how to find or exploit them
🟢 Confident — Found them before but want the chaining techniques
🔵 Expert — Here for OAuth chain and advanced bypass methodology
✅ Vote recorded — open redirect is one of those vulnerabilities where beginners massively underestimate the payout potential. By the end of today you will understand exactly why.
📋 What You Will Master in Day 11
- 🟢 What Is Open Redirect?
- 🟢 Why Open Redirect Pays — Standalone vs Chained Payout Difference
- 🟡 Finding Every Redirect Parameter — The Complete Recon Method
- 🟡 Manual Testing with Burp Suite — Step by Step Confirmation
- 🟡 6 Filter Bypass Techniques When Basic Payloads Are Blocked
- 🔴 Automating Open Redirect Discovery at Scale
- 🔴 Chaining Open Redirect with OAuth — The $7,500 Account Takeover
- 🔴 Writing Reports That Pay Maximum — With Full Template
- 📋 Commands Used Today — Complete Reference Card
What Is Open Redirect?
Imagine you are visiting a city you have never been to before. You need to get to the central library. Someone on the street who looks official points you to a sign that says “Central Library — this way →”. You trust the sign because it is in the right city, on an official-looking post, right outside the town hall. You follow it. But the sign was placed by someone else. It leads you to a completely different building — a fake library that steals your wallet when you walk in.
An open redirect vulnerability works exactly like that fake sign. It exists in web applications that accept a user-controlled URL in a redirect parameter and send users to that URL without checking whether it is a trusted destination. A link that appears to belong to a trusted website — bank.com/login?redirect=… — can actually send the user anywhere on the internet. Because the link starts with bank.com, most people trust it completely.
This is why open redirect bug bounty hunting matters so much. Companies that have this vulnerability on their login pages and payment flows are unknowingly providing attackers with legitimate-looking infrastructure for phishing. Every email with a real company domain in the URL bypasses spam filters and user suspicion. Understanding this impact is what separates a $150 report from a $7,500 one.
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OPEN REDIRECT — HOW IT LOOKS IN THE WILD
✅ NORMAL BEHAVIOUR — redirects to internal page
GET /login?redirect=/dashboard HTTP/1.1
Host: bank.com
Response: 302 Location: https://bank.com/dashboard ✅
❌ OPEN REDIRECT — attacker controls destination
GET /login?redirect=https://evil.com/fake-bank HTTP/1.1
Host: bank.com
Response: 302 Location: https://evil.com/fake-bank ❌
User lands on phishing page — link showed bank.com in email
📧 WHY THIS BYPASSES EVERY SPAM FILTER
Link in phishing email: https://bank.com/login?redirect=https://evil.com/fake-bank
Spam filter sees: bank.com domain → trusted → delivered to inbox
User sees: bank.com in the link → clicks without suspicion
Reality: redirected to attacker site after login attempt ❌
Open Redirect in the Wild — the difference between intended redirect behaviour and an exploitable open redirect. The key is that the URL in any phishing email starts with the legitimate domain, bypassing both technical spam filters and human suspicion. This is the core impact that drives bug bounty payouts for this vulnerability class.
📖 Read the complete guide on SecurityElites
This article continues with deeper technical detail, screenshots, code samples, and an interactive lab walk-through. Read the full article on SecurityElites →
This article was originally written and published by the SecurityElites team. For more cybersecurity tutorials, ethical hacking guides, and CTF walk-throughs, visit SecurityElites.
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