Axiom Integration

Note: Axiom was rebranded to "Ax Framework" but the tool and commands still use axiom-* naming. This documentation uses "Axiom" for consistency with the actual commands.

Axiom enables distributed scanning across cloud infrastructure, speeding up reconnaissance by parallelizing workloads across multiple instances.

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What is Axiom?

Axiom is an infrastructure automation framework that allows you to:

• Spin up cloud instances on-demand across multiple providers

• Distribute scanning tasks across a fleet of machines

• Scale horizontally for large-scale reconnaissance

• Reduce scan time from hours to minutes

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Prerequisites

1. Axiom Installation

# Install axiom
bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pry0cc/axiom/master/interact/axiom-configure)

# Or clone and install
git clone https://github.com/pry0cc/axiom ~/.axiom
cd ~/.axiom && ./interact/axiom-configure

2. Cloud Provider Setup

Supported providers:

• DigitalOcean (recommended)

• AWS

• Azure

• Linode

• Google Cloud

• Hetzner

• IBM Cloud

3. API Keys

Configure cloud provider credentials:

# Run axiom configuration
axiom-configure

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Configuration in reconFTW

Enable Axiom Mode

# In reconftw.cfg

# Enable Axiom/VPS mode
AXIOM=true

# Fleet configuration
AXIOM_FLEET_NAME="reconftw"        # Fleet identifier
AXIOM_FLEET_COUNT=10               # Number of instances
AXIOM_FLEET_LAUNCH=true            # Auto-launch fleet
AXIOM_FLEET_SHUTDOWN=true          # Auto-shutdown after scan

# Distributed tool settings
AXIOM_THREADS=20                   # Threads per instance

Instance Configuration

# Fleet instance settings
AXIOM_INSTANCE_TYPE="s-1vcpu-1gb"  # DigitalOcean size
AXIOM_REGION="nyc1"                # Deployment region
AXIOM_IMAGE="axiom-default"        # Base image name

Resolver Configuration

# Resolvers for distributed scanning
AXIOM_RESOLVERS_PATH="/home/op/lists/resolvers.txt"

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Running with Axiom

Basic Usage

# Run with Axiom flag
./reconftw.sh -d example.com -a --vps

# Or use -v shorthand
./reconftw.sh -d example.com -a -v

What Happens

1. Fleet Launch: Axiom spins up configured number of instances

2. Tool Distribution: Tools run across fleet in parallel

3. Result Collection: Results merged from all instances

4. Fleet Shutdown: Instances terminated (if configured)

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Distributed Scanning Flow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Axiom Distributed Scanning                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                      │
│  ┌──────────────┐                                                    │
│  │ Local Machine│                                                    │
│  │  (reconFTW)  │                                                    │
│  └──────┬───────┘                                                    │
│         │                                                            │
│         │ axiom-fleet launch                                         │
│         ▼                                                            │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐           │
│  │              Axiom Fleet (10 instances)              │           │
│  ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤           │
│  │  ┌────┐  ┌────┐  ┌────┐  ┌────┐  ┌────┐            │           │
│  │  │ 01 │  │ 02 │  │ 03 │  │ 04 │  │ 05 │            │           │
│  │  └────┘  └────┘  └────┘  └────┘  └────┘            │           │
│  │  ┌────┐  ┌────┐  ┌────┐  ┌────┐  ┌────┐            │           │
│  │  │ 06 │  │ 07 │  │ 08 │  │ 09 │  │ 10 │            │           │
│  │  └────┘  └────┘  └────┘  └────┘  └────┘            │           │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘           │
│         │                                                            │
│         │ axiom-scan (distribute tasks)                              │
│         ▼                                                            │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐           │
│  │ Each instance processes portion of targets:          │           │
│  │ - Instance 01: subdomains 1-1000                     │           │
│  │ - Instance 02: subdomains 1001-2000                  │           │
│  │ - ...                                                 │           │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘           │
│         │                                                            │
│         │ Results merged                                             │
│         ▼                                                            │
│  ┌──────────────┐                                                    │
│  │ Local Machine│                                                    │
│  │ (combined    │                                                    │
│  │  results)    │                                                    │
│  └──────────────┘                                                    │
│                                                                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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Tools with Axiom Support

reconFTW distributes these tools across the fleet:

Tool	Distribution Type	Notes
subfinder	Target split	Each instance handles subset
httpx	Target split	URL probing distributed
nuclei	Target split	Vulnerability scanning
ffuf	Target split	Directory fuzzing
dnsx	Target split	DNS resolution
nmap	Target split	Port scanning
katana	Target split	Web crawling
dalfox	Target split	XSS testing

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Fleet Management

Manual Fleet Control

# Launch fleet
axiom-fleet reconftw -i 10

# Check fleet status
axiom-ls

# SSH to specific instance
axiom-ssh reconftw01

# Execute command on all instances
axiom-exec "nuclei -update-templates"

# Shutdown fleet
axiom-rm "reconftw*" -f

Fleet Lifecycle

# In reconftw.cfg

# Auto-launch fleet if not running
AXIOM_FLEET_LAUNCH=true

# Shutdown after scan completion
AXIOM_FLEET_SHUTDOWN=true

# Keep fleet running for subsequent scans
AXIOM_FLEET_SHUTDOWN=false

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Cost Optimization

Instance Sizing

Provider	Instance	vCPU	RAM	Cost/hr
DigitalOcean	s-1vcpu-1gb	1	1GB	$0.007
DigitalOcean	s-2vcpu-2gb	2	2GB	$0.018
AWS	t3.micro	2	1GB	$0.012
Linode	g6-nanode-1	1	1GB	$0.0075

Cost Estimation

Fleet: 10 instances × $0.007/hr = $0.07/hr
Scan duration: 2 hours
Total cost: ~$0.14 per scan

Best Practices

1. Use smallest viable instance: 1GB RAM sufficient for most tools

2. Auto-shutdown: Enable AXIOM_FLEET_SHUTDOWN=true

3. Spot instances: Use when available for 60-90% savings

4. Regional pricing: Some regions cheaper than others

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Resolver Management

Upload Custom Resolvers

# Upload resolvers to fleet
axiom-scp resolvers.txt "reconftw*":/home/op/lists/

# Or use built-in resolver update
axiom-exec "dnsvalidator -tL public-resolvers.txt -threads 100 -o resolvers.txt"

Configuration

# In reconftw.cfg
RESOLVERS_TRUSTED="/home/op/lists/resolvers_trusted.txt"
RESOLVERS="/home/op/lists/resolvers.txt"

# On fleet
AXIOM_RESOLVERS_PATH="/home/op/lists/resolvers.txt"

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Troubleshooting

Fleet Won't Start

# Check cloud provider credentials
axiom-configure

# Verify API key
doctl auth init  # DigitalOcean
aws configure    # AWS

# Check available images
axiom-images ls

SSH Connection Issues

# Regenerate SSH keys
axiom-init --regenerate

# Manual SSH test
ssh -i ~/.axiom/.sshkey root@<instance-ip>

Tools Not Running

# Update tools on fleet
axiom-exec "axiom-build tools"

# Verify tool installation
axiom-exec "which nuclei"

Result Merge Failures

# Check disk space
axiom-exec "df -h"

# Manual result collection
axiom-scp "reconftw*":/home/op/recon/results.txt ./results/

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Advanced Configuration

Custom Axiom Image

# Build custom image with all tools
axiom-build reconftw --install-tools

# Use custom image
AXIOM_IMAGE="reconftw-image"

Per-Tool Distribution

# Override distribution for specific tools
AXIOM_SUBFINDER_DISTRIBUTE=true
AXIOM_NUCLEI_DISTRIBUTE=true
AXIOM_HTTPX_DISTRIBUTE=true

Scan Modules

# reconFTW Axiom modules in modules/axiom.sh
# Functions prefixed with axiom_*

axiom_launch          # Launch fleet
axiom_shutdown        # Terminate fleet  
axiom_selected       # Run tool on fleet
axiom_exec           # Execute command

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Example Workflows

Large Target List

# Scan 10,000 subdomains with 20-instance fleet
AXIOM_FLEET_COUNT=20
./reconftw.sh -l targets_10k.txt -a -v

Bug Bounty Program

# Weekly automated scan
./reconftw.sh -d target.com -a -v --incremental

Red Team Assessment

# Quick initial recon
AXIOM_FLEET_COUNT=5
./reconftw.sh -d target.com -r -v

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Security Considerations

1. Instance isolation: Each scan uses fresh instances

2. Credential management: Cloud keys never touch targets

3. Data cleanup: Results removed from instances

4. Network isolation: Use private networking when possible

5. Audit logging: Enable cloud provider audit logs

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Next Steps

• Faraday Integration - Vulnerability management

• Deployment Guide - VPS setup