Nidal Khan

Professional Summary

Independent security researcher with 3+ years of experience assessing web applications, APIs, authentication systems, and multi-tenant platforms. Credited on three published CVEs and an upstream Google Protocol Buffers security contribution. Translate technical findings into clear risk assessments, practical remediation, and verified fixes.

Professional Experience

Self-employed | Remote

• Research and responsibly disclose vulnerabilities across web applications, APIs, SaaS platforms, and open-source projects; produce actionable reports and verify remediation.
• Published three CVEs covering access control, stale authorization state, and CSRF, including two high-severity Daytona findings.
• Reported identity and authorization weaknesses in Descope projects, including project isolation, email verification, and sensitive logging; collaborated with maintainers on re-testing.

Contract engagements | Remote

• Perform scoped web, API, and infrastructure assessments covering authentication, access control, session handling, input validation, and exposed services.
• Deliver prioritized findings and practical remediation guidance for developers and stakeholders.

Selected Research & Engineering

• CVE-2026-54322 | Daytona | High, CVSS 7.7
  Cross-organization access-control weakness in role management. Fixed in v0.185.0.
• CVE-2026-54321 | Daytona | High, CVSS 7.0
  Stale authorization state affecting previously public sandbox previews. Fixed in v0.184.0.
• CVE-2026-46620 | e107 CMS | Moderate, CVSS 6.5
  CSRF protection weakness in comment moderation. Fixed in v2.3.5.
• Google Protocol Buffers | Upstream security contribution
  Reported inconsistent archive path validation and authored a hardening patch integrated upstream.

Technical Skills

Security: Web & API testing, OWASP Top 10, secure code review, business logic, IDOR/BOLA, OAuth/OIDC, JWT, session management, responsible disclosure, remediation verification.
Tools & languages: Burp Suite, Nmap, Nuclei, Git, Docker, Linux, Python, Bash, Go.

Certifications

CWSE - Hackviser, 2026 | CAPT - Hackviser, 2025
Junior Penetration Tester - TryHackMe, 2025 | CEH - EC-Council

Recognition & Education

Microsoft MSRC Special Mention; Hackrate Elite Hacker; Hackrate #10 globally and #1 in Pakistan (all-time leaderboards, September 2026). Hall of Fame recognition includes Smackdab AI, Check Point, Mercedes-Benz, SURF, Achmea, and BASF.

Education: Completed Grade 12. Continuous practical study through Hack The Box, TryHackMe, independent labs, and disclosure programs.