## On this page
- [On this page](#on-this-page)
- [List of supported reference identifiers](#list-of-supported-reference-identifiers)
- [Code example of references in a module](#code-example-of-references-in-a-module)


A reference in a Metasploit module is a source of information related to the module. This can be a link to the vulnerability advisory, a news article, a blog post about a specific technique the module uses, a specific tweet, etc. The more you have the better. However, you should not use this as a form of advertisement.

## List of supported reference identifiers 

| ID                  | Source                                                             | Code Example                                                                       |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| CVE                 | cvedetails.com                                                     | ```['CVE', '2014-9999']```                                                         |
| CWE                 | cwe.mitre.org                                                      | ```['CWE', '90']```                                                                |
| BID                 | securityfocus.com                                                  | ```['BID', '1234']```                                                              |
| MSB                 | technet.microsoft.com                                              | ```['MSB', 'MS13-055']```                                                          |
| EDB                 | exploit-db.com                                                     | ```['EDB', '1337']```                                                              |
| US-CERT-VU          | kb.cert.org                                                        | ```['US-CERT-VU', '800113']```                                                     |
| ZDI                 | zerodayinitiative.com                                              | ```['ZDI', '10-123']```                                                            |
| WPVDB               | wpvulndb.com                                                       | ```['WPVDB', '7615']```                                                            |
| PACKETSTORM         | packetstormsecurity.com                                            | ```['PACKETSTORM', '132721']```                                                    |
| GHSA                | github.com/advisories or github.com/owner/repo/security/advisories | ```['GHSA', 'xxxx-xxxx-xxxx']``` or ```['GHSA', 'xxxx-xxxx-xxxx', 'owner/repo']``` |
| OSV                 | osv.dev                                                            | ```['OSV', 'GHSA-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx']```                                               |
| ATT&CK              | attack.mitre.org                                                   | ```['ATT&CK', 'T1190']```                                                          |
| URL                 | anything                                                           | ```['URL', 'http://example.com/blog.php?id=123']```                                |
| AKA (_deprecated_*) | anything                                                           | ~~`['AKA', 'shellshock']`~~                                                        |

> **Good to know**    
> AKA names for modules are no longer stored as a reference identifier, but rather in the `Notes` metadata field as shown in the example below.

## Code example of references in a module

```ruby
class MetasploitModule < Msf::Exploit::Remote
  Rank = NormalRanking

  def initialize(info = {})
    super(
      update_info(
        info,
        'Name' => 'Code Example',
        'Description' => %q{
          This is an example of a module using references
        },
        'License' => MSF_LICENSE,
        'Author' => [ 'Unknown' ],
        'References' => [
          ['CVE', '2014-9999'],
          ['BID', '1234'],
          ['GHSA', 'xxxx-xxxx-xxxx'],               # global advisory
          ['GHSA', 'xxxx-xxxx-xxxx', 'owner/repo'], # repository-scoped advisory
          ['URL', 'http://example.com/blog.php?id=123']
        ],
        'Platform' => 'win',
        'Targets' => [
          [ 'Example', { 'Ret' => 0x41414141 } ]
        ],
        'Payload' => {
          'BadChars' => "\x00"
        },
        'Privileged' => false,
        'DisclosureDate' => '2014-04-01',
        'DefaultTarget' => 0,
        'Notes' => {
          'AKA' => [ 'shellshock' ]
        }
      )
    )
  end

  def exploit
    print_debug('Hello, world')
  end

end
```
