CEH Footprinting, Reconnaissance and Scanning Practice Question
Which Google dork would a penetration tester use to find login pages of websites that have 'admin' in the URL?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently choose `intitle:"login" inurl:admin` (Option C) thinking it's more comprehensive, but they overlook that many admin login pages do not have 'login' in the HTML title tag, making the `intitle:` operator too restrictive for this specific goal.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
inurl:"admin" inurl:"login"
The Google dork `inurl:"admin" inurl:"login"` specifically searches for pages where both 'admin' and 'login' appear in the URL. This is a precise way to find login pages on administrative interfaces, as it targets URLs containing both terms, which is a common pattern for admin login portals.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
site:admin login
Why it's wrong here
The `site:` operator is designed to restrict search results to a specific domain or top-level domain (TLD), such as `site:example.com` or `site:.gov`. Using `site:admin` is syntactically incorrect for its intended purpose, as "admin" is not a valid domain. Consequently, this dork would not effectively filter for URLs containing "admin" or locate login pages, instead treating "admin" as a general keyword.
- ✗
filetype:pdf admin login
Why it's wrong here
The `filetype:` operator specifically targets documents of a particular format, such as PDF, DOCX, or XLSX. While `filetype:pdf admin login` would indeed locate PDF documents containing both "admin" and "login" keywords, it is entirely unsuitable for finding active web login pages or interfaces. This dork would retrieve static files, not dynamic web forms where a penetration tester would attempt authentication.
- ✗
intitle:"login" inurl:admin
Why it's wrong here
This dork correctly uses `inurl:admin` to find "admin" within the URL path. However, `intitle:"login"` restricts results to pages where the HTML `<title>` tag contains "login." While many login pages have "login" in their title, this combination does not specifically ensure that "login" also appears within the URL itself, which is a more direct indicator of a login *page* rather than just a page *about* logging in.
- ✓
inurl:"admin" inurl:"login"
Why this is correct
This dork effectively leverages the `inurl:` operator, which specifically restricts search results to pages where the specified keyword appears within the URL string. By combining `inurl:"admin"` and `inurl:"login"`, the search precisely targets web pages that contain both "admin" and "login" within their URL paths. This combination is highly effective for identifying administrative login interfaces, as these keywords frequently appear together in the URLs of such sensitive portals.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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