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Recon-ng: The Web Reconnaissance Framework for Automated OSINT

Notion
•9 min read
Kali-ToolTutorialCybersecuritySecurityLinuxDeveloper-Tools

What is Recon-ng?

Recon-ng is a full-featured, modular web reconnaissance framework written in Python. Created by Tim Tomes (LaNMaSteR53), it provides a powerful environment for conducting open-source web-based reconnaissance quickly and thoroughly. If you've used Metasploit, Recon-ng will feel immediately familiar — it uses the same module-based architecture, but instead of exploits, it provides reconnaissance modules.

Recon-ng automates the tedious OSINT collection process. Rather than manually querying crt.sh, then Shodan, then WHOIS, then HackerTarget — you load modules, set targets, and let Recon-ng populate a structured database of hosts, contacts, credentials, and more.

In OSINT and penetration testing, Recon-ng is the framework that ties individual tools together. It stores everything in a local database, tracks data relationships, and generates professional reports.

Legal Notice: Recon-ng queries publicly available data sources. Always ensure your reconnaissance activities are authorized.

Installation

On Kali Linux (Pre-installed)

recon-ng

Install on Other Systems

git clone https://github.com/lanmaster53/recon-ng.git
cd recon-ng
pip install -r REQUIREMENTS
python3 recon-ng

First Launch

recon-ng

Expected Output:

 
    _/_/_/    _/_/_/_/    _/_/_/    _/_/_/    _/      _/            _/      _/    _/_/_/
   _/    _/  _/        _/        _/      _/  _/_/    _/            _/_/    _/  _/       
  _/_/_/    _/_/_/    _/        _/      _/  _/  _/  _/  _/_/_/_/  _/  _/  _/  _/  _/_/_/
 _/    _/  _/        _/        _/      _/  _/    _/_/            _/    _/_/  _/      _/ 
_/    _/  _/_/_/_/    _/_/_/    _/_/_/    _/      _/            _/      _/    _/_/_/   
 
                                          /\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\                              
                                         /\\\\            /\\\\
                                        /\\\\             /\\\\
                                        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
                                                        /\\\\
                                                       /\\\\
                                         /\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\    
 
                                    www.lanmaster53.com
 
                      [recon-ng v5.1.2, Tim Tomes (@lanmaster53)]
 
[76 modules available]
 
[recon-ng][default] >

Workspaces

Workspaces keep investigations separate. Each workspace has its own database.

Create a New Workspace

workspaces create tesla_investigation

Output:

[recon-ng][tesla_investigation] >

List Workspaces

workspaces list

Output:

+---------------------------+
| Workspaces                |
+---------------------------+
| default                   |
| tesla_investigation       |
+---------------------------+

Switch Workspace

workspaces select default

Delete a Workspace

workspaces remove old_project

The Database

Recon-ng stores all collected data in a structured SQLite database with these tables:

  • domains — Target domains
  • companies — Company names
  • hosts — Discovered hostnames and IPs
  • contacts — People (names, emails, titles)
  • credentials — Leaked credentials
  • netblocks — IP ranges
  • ports — Open ports on hosts
  • vulnerabilities — Known vulns
  • profiles — Social media profiles
  • repositories — Code repositories
  • pushpins — Geolocations

Add a Target Domain

db insert domains

Interactive prompt:

domain (TEXT): tesla.com
notes (TEXT): 
[*] 1 rows affected.

View Stored Data

show domains

Output:

  +---------------------------------------------+
  |                   domains                    |
  +---------------------------------------------+
  | rowid | domain    | notes |     module       |
  +---------------------------------------------+
  | 1     | tesla.com |       | user_defined     |
  +---------------------------------------------+
 
[*] 1 rows returned

Show All Tables

show hosts
show contacts
show credentials
show netblocks

Query the Database Directly

db query SELECT * FROM hosts WHERE ip_address IS NOT NULL

Module System

Modules are the core of Recon-ng. They're organized into categories.

Search for Modules

marketplace search

Output (abbreviated):

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                            Marketplace                                                     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   Path                                          | Version | Status    | D | K | Description               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| discovery/info_disclosure/cache_snoop            | 1.1     | not installed |   |   | DNS Cache Snooping      |
| exploitation/injection/command_injector           | 1.0     | not installed |   |   | Remote Command Injection|
| import/csv_file                                   | 1.1     | not installed |   |   | CSV File Importer       |
| import/nmap                                       | 1.1     | not installed |   |   | Nmap XML Output Import  |
| recon/companies-contacts/bing_linkedin_cache      | 1.0     | not installed |   | * | Bing LinkedIn Cache     |
| recon/companies-multi/github_miner                | 1.1     | not installed |   | * | Github Resource Miner   |
| recon/contacts-contacts/mailtester                | 1.0     | not installed |   |   | MailTester Email Verify  |
| recon/domains-contacts/whois_pocs                 | 1.1     | not installed |   |   | WHOIS POC Lookup        |
| recon/domains-hosts/bing_domain_web               | 1.1     | not installed |   | * | Bing Domain Web         |
| recon/domains-hosts/brute_hosts                   | 1.0     | not installed |   |   | DNS Hostname Brute Force|
| recon/domains-hosts/certificate_transparency      | 1.2     | not installed |   |   | Certificate Transparency|
| recon/domains-hosts/hackertarget                  | 1.1     | not installed |   |   | HackerTarget Lookup     |
| recon/domains-hosts/shodan_hostname               | 1.1     | not installed |   | * | Shodan Hostname Lookup  |
| recon/domains-hosts/threatminer                   | 1.0     | not installed |   |   | ThreatMiner DNS         |
| recon/hosts-hosts/resolve                         | 1.0     | not installed |   |   | Hostname Resolver       |
| recon/hosts-hosts/reverse_resolve                 | 1.0     | not installed |   |   | Reverse Resolver        |
| recon/hosts-ports/shodan_ip                       | 1.0     | not installed |   | * | Shodan IP Lookup        |
| reporting/html                                    | 1.0     | not installed |   |   | HTML Report Generator   |
| reporting/json                                    | 1.0     | not installed |   |   | JSON Report Generator   |
| reporting/xlsx                                    | 1.0     | not installed |   |   | XLSX Report Generator   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 
D = Has Dependencies, K = Requires API Key

Install a Module

marketplace install recon/domains-hosts/certificate_transparency

Output:

[*] Module installed: recon/domains-hosts/certificate_transparency
[*] Reloading modules...

Install All Modules

marketplace install all

Load a Module

modules load recon/domains-hosts/certificate_transparency

Output:

[recon-ng][tesla_investigation][certificate_transparency] >

View Module Info

info

Output:

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Name: Certificate Transparency                             |
| Author: Tim Tomes (@lanmaster53)                           |
| Version: 1.2                                               |
| Description:                                               |
|   Queries the crt.sh certificate transparency database     |
|   for subdomains of a given domain.                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Options:                                                    |
|   Name     | Current Value | Required | Description        |
|   SOURCE   | default       | yes      | source of input    |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Source Options:                                             |
|   default  = query the "domains" table                     |
|   <string> = a single domain                               |
|   <path>   = path to file with one domain per line         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+

Run a Module

run

Expected Output:

-----------
TESLA.COM
-----------
[*] Querying crt.sh for certificate transparency data...
[*] [host] aca.tesla.com (<blank>)
[*] [host] accounts.tesla.com (<blank>)
[*] [host] api.tesla.com (<blank>)
[*] [host] api-internal.tesla.com (<blank>)
[*] [host] auth.tesla.com (<blank>)
[*] [host] blog.tesla.com (<blank>)
[*] [host] ca.tesla.com (<blank>)
[*] [host] charging.tesla.com (<blank>)
[*] [host] cloud.tesla.com (<blank>)
[*] [host] cn.tesla.com (<blank>)
[*] [host] dev.tesla.com (<blank>)
...
 
-------
SUMMARY
-------
[*] 47 total (47 new) hosts found.

Notice the data is automatically added to the hosts table.

Key Modules by Category

Subdomain Discovery

# Certificate Transparency
modules load recon/domains-hosts/certificate_transparency
run
 
# HackerTarget
modules load recon/domains-hosts/hackertarget
run
 
# DNS Brute Force
modules load recon/domains-hosts/brute_hosts
run
 
# ThreatMiner
modules load recon/domains-hosts/threatminer
run
 
# Bing (requires API key)
modules load recon/domains-hosts/bing_domain_web
run

Contact / Email Discovery

# WHOIS Points of Contact
modules load recon/domains-contacts/whois_pocs
run
 
# Bing LinkedIn Cache (requires API key)
modules load recon/companies-contacts/bing_linkedin_cache
run

Host Reconnaissance

# Resolve hostnames to IPs
modules load recon/hosts-hosts/resolve
run
 
# Reverse DNS lookup
modules load recon/hosts-hosts/reverse_resolve
run
 
# Shodan port lookup (requires API key)
modules load recon/hosts-ports/shodan_ip
run

Credential Discovery

# Check for breached credentials
modules load recon/contacts-credentials/hibp_breach
run
 
# Check paste sites
modules load recon/contacts-credentials/hibp_paste
run

API Key Management

Many modules require API keys from third-party services.

List Required Keys

keys list

Output:

+----------------------------------------------+
|                    Keys                       |
+----------------------------------------------+
| Name              | Value        | Status    |
+----------------------------------------------+
| bing_api          |              | not set   |
| builtwith_api     |              | not set   |
| censys_api        |              | not set   |
| censys_secret     |              | not set   |
| github_api        |              | not set   |
| google_api        |              | not set   |
| google_cse        |              | not set   |
| hashes_api        |              | not set   |
| hunter_api        |              | not set   |
| ipinfodb_api      |              | not set   |
| shodan_api        |              | not set   |
| virustotal_api    |              | not set   |
+----------------------------------------------+

Add an API Key

keys add shodan_api YOUR_SHODAN_API_KEY
keys add github_api YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN
keys add virustotal_api YOUR_VT_KEY

Output:

[*] Key 'shodan_api' added.

Reporting

Generate HTML Report

modules load reporting/html
options set FILENAME /root/reports/tesla_report.html
options set CREATOR "Security Team"
options set CUSTOMER "Tesla Investigation"
run

Generate JSON Report

modules load reporting/json
options set FILENAME /root/reports/tesla_report.json
run

Generate Excel Report

modules load reporting/xlsx
options set FILENAME /root/reports/tesla_report.xlsx
run

Real-World OSINT Workflow

Complete Automated Recon Pipeline

# Step 1: Create workspace
workspaces create target_recon
 
# Step 2: Add target domain
db insert domains
# Enter: target.com
 
# Step 3: Subdomain enumeration (run multiple modules)
modules load recon/domains-hosts/certificate_transparency
run
back
 
modules load recon/domains-hosts/hackertarget
run
back
 
modules load recon/domains-hosts/threatminer
run
back
 
# Step 4: Resolve all discovered hosts
modules load recon/hosts-hosts/resolve
run
back
 
# Step 5: Contact discovery
modules load recon/domains-contacts/whois_pocs
run
back
 
# Step 6: Port enumeration via Shodan
modules load recon/hosts-ports/shodan_ip
run
back
 
# Step 7: Check for breached credentials
modules load recon/contacts-credentials/hibp_breach
run
back
 
# Step 8: Review collected data
show hosts
show contacts
show credentials
show ports
 
# Step 9: Generate report
modules load reporting/html
options set FILENAME /root/reports/target_full_recon.html
run

Recon-ng Resource File (Automation)

Create a file auto_recon.rc:

workspaces create auto_target
db insert domains
target.com
modules load recon/domains-hosts/certificate_transparency
run
back
modules load recon/domains-hosts/hackertarget
run
back
modules load recon/hosts-hosts/resolve
run
back
show hosts

Run it:

recon-ng -r auto_recon.rc

Useful Commands Reference

Summary

Recon-ng is the OSINT framework that brings structure and automation to reconnaissance. Instead of running a dozen individual tools and manually correlating results, Recon-ng provides a unified database, modular architecture, and professional reporting — making it the backbone of any serious OSINT investigation.

Key Takeaways:

  • Use workspaces to keep investigations separate and organized
  • Install all modules with marketplace install all to have everything available
  • Start with certificate_transparency and hackertarget modules (no API keys needed)
  • Use resolve to convert hostnames to IPs after subdomain discovery
  • Configure API keys for Shodan, VirusTotal, and GitHub to unlock powerful modules
  • Use resource files (.rc) to automate repetitive recon pipelines
  • Generate HTML/JSON/XLSX reports for professional deliverables
  • Think of Recon-ng as the central hub that feeds into Nmap (scanning), Sherlock (social), and Metasploit (exploitation)

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Recon-ng: The Web Reconnaissance Framework for Automated OSINT | Abishek Lakandri