Zero-Day: Vulnerability Research & Discovery

Systematic methodology for finding novel, undisclosed vulnerabilities in source code, compiled binaries, and live systems. This skill guides the research process from intelligence gathering through proof-of-concept development to responsible disclosure.

This is the discovery skill - it finds vulnerabilities nobody has catalogued yet. For exploiting known weaknesses on live systems, use lockpick. For scanning code against known vulnerability patterns, use security-audit.

Target versions: May 2026 snapshot. Read references/target-versions.md before pinning static analysis, reversing, fuzzing, or debugger tooling.

When to use

• Hunting for undisclosed vulnerabilities in a codebase, binary, or running service
• Variant analysis after a CVE is published (finding similar bugs in related code)
• Patch diffing - analyzing what a security update fixed to find nearby issues
• Developing proof-of-concept exploits for discovered vulnerabilities