A list of useful payloads and bypass for Web Application Security and Pentest/CTF
79.1k
Stars
17.2k
Forks
31
Open issues
100+
Contributors
AI Analysis
PayloadsAllTheThings is a comprehensive, community-maintained reference collection of payloads, bypasses, and exploitation techniques for web application security testing, penetration testing, and CTF challenges. It serves as a structured cheatsheet repository covering attack categories such as SQLi, XSS, SSRF, privilege escalation, and dozens more, organized with descriptions, examples, and Burp Intruder wordlists. It is specifically for security professionals, penetration testers, bug bount...
Inferred from signals mentioned in the README (tests, CI, type safety) — not a review of the actual code.
AI's overall editorial judgment — not an average of the bars above, can weigh other factors too.
The web security community's most-starred payload reference, continuously updated since 2016
PayloadsAllTheThings is a curated, community-maintained reference repository of attack payloads, bypass techniques, and exploitation cheatsheets covering virtually every major web vulnerability class (SQLi, XSS, SSRF, SSTI, XXE, command injection, etc.). Its primary audience is penetration testers, bug bounty hunters, CTF participants, and security engineers. With 78K+ stars, ~17K forks, and daily-level push activity, it has become a de facto bookmark for offensive security practitioners. It solves the problem of scattered, hard-to-find payload knowledge by centralizing it in a structured, searchable, Markdown-based format.
Started in October 2016 by swisskyrepo as a personal reference, it grew through community contributions into one of the largest offensive security knowledge bases on GitHub, spawning sibling projects for internal/AD and hardware pentesting.
Growth was driven by organic word-of-mouth within the bug bounty and CTF communities, early GitHub trending exposure, and the practical utility of having ready-to-use payloads. The structured folder layout and Burp Intruder wordlists gave it immediate operational value. Star accumulation has been sustained rather than viral, indicating long-term utility over hype cycles.
Widely cited in bug bounty writeups, CTF walkthroughs, and penetration testing blogs. Referenced in security courses and professional training materials. The 17K+ forks strongly suggest active operational use rather than passive bookmarking. Commercial sponsors (ProjectDiscovery, VAADATA) indicate recognized value in the professional security industry.
Appears to be a documentation-first repository: each vulnerability class occupies its own directory containing a README.md with descriptions and payloads, an Intruder folder with wordlist files, and supporting images/files. Python is listed as the primary language, likely for tooling scripts or payload generators rather than a framework. No application runtime or server component is evident from README.
Not documented in README. As a reference/knowledge repository rather than executable software, traditional unit test coverage is not applicable.
Extremely active: last push was 2026-06-19, one day before the analysis date. Consistent multi-year maintenance by the original author plus community contributors. The companion web UI and sibling projects indicate sustained investment. 173 stars in the last 7 days suggests continued discovery and relevance.
ADOPT IF: you are a penetration tester, bug bounty hunter, or security student who needs a fast, structured payload reference during engagements or CTF challenges. AVOID IF: you need formally verified, legally cleared payload databases for compliance-sensitive environments, or if you require executable tooling rather than reference material. MONITOR IF: you maintain security training curricula or build tooling that could integrate payload wordlists, as the project continues to expand in scope.
Independent dimensions
Mainstream potential
7/10
Technical importance
7/10
Adoption evidence
9/10
- Payloads may become stale for specific targets as web frameworks and WAFs evolve; no automated freshness validation mechanism is documented.
- As a reference repository rather than executable software, quality control depends heavily on community PR review, which may vary in rigor across vulnerability categories.
- Content could be misused for unauthorized testing; this is a legal and reputational risk for anyone redistributing or integrating it into products.
- The repository's breadth means depth in any single vulnerability class may be uneven compared to dedicated single-topic resources.
- Dependence on a single primary maintainer (swisskyrepo) for editorial direction; community contributions are broad but core curation appears centralized.
Likely to remain a top-tier reference resource for the foreseeable future. Slow but steady expansion into new vulnerability classes and companion projects suggests continued relevance without needing to change its fundamental format.
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Languages
Information
- Language
- Python
- License
- MIT
- Last updated
- 3w ago
- Created
- 118mo ago
- Analyzed with
- anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6
Stars over time
Contributors over time
Top 100 contributors only — repos with more will plateau at 100.
Open issues
No open issues — clean slate.
Top contributors
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PortSwigger provides guided learning with labs; PayloadsAllTheThings provides raw payload references for practitioners who already understand the concepts. They are complementary rather than competing.
SecLists focuses on wordlists for fuzzing and enumeration; PayloadsAllTheThings focuses on documented exploit payloads with context and bypass techniques. Many practitioners use both simultaneously.
HackTricks is a broader pentesting wiki with narrative explanations; PayloadsAllTheThings is more payload-dense and structured for quick operational lookup. Significant audience overlap.
Narrowly focused on XSS only; PayloadsAllTheThings covers XSS as one of dozens of vulnerability classes, making it more comprehensive at the cost of depth in any single area.
Similar format but significantly smaller (6.7K stars) and less comprehensive. PayloadsAllTheThings has a much larger contributor base and longer maintenance history.
