owasp-amass/amass · error

bruteforce wordlist_file is not an array

Error message

bruteforce wordlist_file is not an array

What it means

In loadBruteForceSettings, the optional "wordlists" key of the bruteforce map is asserted to be []interface{} so each entry can be read as a path string. The assertion failed, meaning "wordlists" is a scalar or map rather than a list. The library throws this because it expects an array of wordlist file paths.

Source

Thrown at config/brute.go:37

	bruteforce, ok := bruteforceRaw.(map[string]interface{})
	if !ok {
		return fmt.Errorf("bruteforce is not a map[string]interface{}")
	}

	enabled, ok := bruteforce["enabled"].(bool)
	if !ok {
		return fmt.Errorf("bruteforce enabled is not a bool")
	}

	c.BruteForcing = enabled
	if !c.BruteForcing {
		return nil
	}

	if wordlistPathRaw, ok := bruteforce["wordlists"]; ok {
		wordlistPaths, ok := wordlistPathRaw.([]interface{})
		if !ok {
			return fmt.Errorf("bruteforce wordlist_file is not an array")
		}

		for _, wordlistPathRaw := range wordlistPaths {
			wordlistPath, ok := wordlistPathRaw.(string)
			if !ok {
				return fmt.Errorf("bruteforce wordlist_file item is not a string")
			}

			absPath, err := c.AbsPathFromConfigDir(wordlistPath)
			if err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("failed to get absolute path for wordlist file: %w", err)
			}

			wordlist, err := GetListFromFile(absPath)
			if err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("unable to load the file in the bruteforce wordlist_file setting: %s: %v", absPath, err)
			}

View on GitHub (pinned to 79299dce87)

Solutions

1. Wrap the path in a YAML list: bruteforce:\n wordlists:\n - words.txt
2. If multiple paths, ensure every entry uses a leading dash
3. In Go code, convert []string to []interface{} before assigning to Options
4. Remove the wordlists key entirely to skip loading (it is optional)

Example fix

# before
bruteforce:
  wordlists: /usr/share/words.txt

# after
bruteforce:
  wordlists:
    - /usr/share/words.txt

func validateBruteWordlists(bruteforce map[string]interface{}) error {
	v, ok := bruteforce["wordlists"]
	if !ok {
		return nil
	}
	if _, ok := v.([]interface{}); !ok {
		return fmt.Errorf("bruteforce.wordlists must be a YAML list of paths, got %T", v)
	}
	return nil
}

func isStringSlice(v interface{}) bool {
	s, ok := v.([]interface{})
	if !ok { return false }
	for _, e := range s { if _, ok := e.(string); !ok { return false } }
	return true
}

if err := cfg.LoadSettings(); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "wordlist_file is not an array") {
		// wrap the single path in a list in the config and reload
	}
	log.Fatal(err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Config where bruteforce.wordlists is set to a single string instead of a list, e.g. wordlists: words.txt (missing the dash/list syntax), or a map of wordlists.

Common situations: YAML mistake writing wordlists: /path/to/list.txt instead of wordlists:\n - /path/to/list.txt; users migrating from tools that accept a single path string; programmatic config passing []string without conversion to []interface{}.

Related errors

• alterations wordlist_file is not an array
• failed to parse active setting, value is not a boolean
• bruteforce is not a map[string]interface{}
• bruteforce enabled is not a bool
• bruteforce wordlist_file item is not a string

AI-assisted analysis of owasp-amass/amass@79299dce87 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1ca2718717826923. Report an issue: GitHub.