diff --git a/etc/checksum/md5sum.md5 b/etc/checksum/md5sum.md5
index f2d44c6..1ebaac5 100644
--- a/etc/checksum/md5sum.md5
+++ b/etc/checksum/md5sum.md5
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ bbd8b4c6100070d420d48dc7dfc297eb  ./lib/firewall/webknight.py
 81a29a14d72980a306fbaec0dc772048  ./lib/firewall/fortigate.py
 6ea65a0160c21e144e92334acc2e3667  ./lib/firewall/anquanbao.py
 22a0ad8f2fa1a16b651cb5ae37ca9b0d  ./lib/firewall/generic.py
-c3aa1db3ee34b841d91ad850c2cfd7b2  ./lib/attacks/gist_lookup/__init__.py
+b5ff3286060c0bbc0fe1f0f591131c9c  ./lib/attacks/gist_lookup/__init__.py
 86224bd899c2a2438042cbdc077dc4cc  ./lib/attacks/clickjacking_scan/__init__.py
 d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e  ./lib/attacks/__init__.py
 4c644b0e3a62b6c1528d34a04837aa35  ./lib/attacks/sqlmap_scan/__init__.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e  ./lib/attacks/__init__.py
 7bc7a6f3e85651aab3588f087563eded  ./lib/attacks/whois_lookup/__init__.py
 8ec72bb33df998e32b925e3060d9d17a  ./lib/attacks/whois_lookup/whois.py
 f65411ebaf58392e6e2b617dba99ff90  ./lib/attacks/admin_panel_finder/__init__.py
-0e3fbd55788c040bb96faa1ef0cf1394  ./lib/attacks/xss_scan/__init__.py
+9353f5d6188963dc5c2d5cee69439688  ./lib/attacks/xss_scan/__init__.py
 7642d078fe304a7ca8bfaaa070a0cb31  ./lib/attacks/nmap_scan/__init__.py
 216999fa0e84866d5c1d96d5676034e4  ./lib/attacks/nmap_scan/nmap_opts.py
 ac942d36f7d78c249e587417736e88e6  ./lib/header_check/__init__.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ cd8e35cfd995d0a93892cfc83f01dea7  ./lib/core/common.py
 4433353fb5c55578391d8b4006191ee8  ./lib/core/errors.py
 d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e  ./lib/core/__init__.py
 e5cba9d37cf54d14255a81da1fa83f90  ./lib/core/settings.py
-801a4f7ac892b74676c649bd4844ccdb  ./lib/core/decorators.py
+de4254c5e40f7aa4fb81e0608f758a2c  ./lib/core/decorators.py
 9a02e5b913d210350545ac26510a63c9  ./var/search/__init__.py
 1ed3c450e620ff1edd8b0864179fdea7  ./var/search/selenium_search.py
 cfcce04aac694eee7a6c73969861ce43  ./var/search/pgp_search.py
diff --git a/lib/attacks/gist_lookup/__init__.py b/lib/attacks/gist_lookup/__init__.py
index f7f1251..9b13276 100644
--- a/lib/attacks/gist_lookup/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/attacks/gist_lookup/__init__.py
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 import re
+import sys
 
 from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
 
-import lib.core.settings
 import lib.core.common
+import lib.core.settings
 
 
 def __create_url(redirect, template="https://gist.github.com{}"):
@@ -20,18 +21,22 @@ def get_raw_html(redirect, verbose=False):
     tag, descriptor = "a", "href"
     raw_gist_regex = re.compile(r".raw.[a-z0-9]{40}", re.I)
     _, status, html, _ = lib.core.common.get_page(redirect)
-    soup = BeautifulSoup(html, "html.parser")
-    for link in soup.findAll(tag):
-        raw_gist_redirect = link.get(descriptor)
-        if raw_gist_regex.search(str(raw_gist_redirect)) is not None:
-            url = __create_url(raw_gist_redirect)
-            if verbose:
-                lib.core.settings.logger.debug(lib.core.settings.set_color(
-                    "found raw Gist URL '{}'...".format(url), level=10
-                ))
-            _, _, html, _ = lib.core.common.get_page(url)
-            raw_soup = BeautifulSoup(html, "html.parser")
-            return raw_soup, url
+
+    if status == 200:
+        soup = BeautifulSoup(html, "html.parser")
+        for link in soup.findAll(tag):
+            raw_gist_redirect = link.get(descriptor)
+            if raw_gist_regex.search(str(raw_gist_redirect)) is not None:
+                url = __create_url(raw_gist_redirect)
+                if verbose:
+                    lib.core.settings.logger.debug(lib.core.settings.set_color(
+                        "found raw Gist URL '{}'...".format(url), level=10
+                    ))
+                _, _, html, _ = lib.core.common.get_page(url)
+                raw_soup = BeautifulSoup(html, "html.parser")
+                return raw_soup, url
+    else:
+        return None, None
 
 
 def get_links(page_set, proxy=None, agent=None):
@@ -43,6 +48,7 @@ def get_links(page_set, proxy=None, agent=None):
     tag, descriptor = "a", "href"
     gist_regex = re.compile(r"[a-f0-9]{32}", re.I)
     gist_skip_schema = ("stargazers", "forks", "#comments")
+
     for i in range(page_set):
         lib.core.settings.logger.info(lib.core.settings.set_color(
             "fetching all Gists on page #{}...".format(i+1)
@@ -50,19 +56,27 @@ def get_links(page_set, proxy=None, agent=None):
         _, status, html, _ = lib.core.common.get_page(
             gist_search_url.format(i+1), proxy=proxy, agent=agent
         )
-        soup = BeautifulSoup(html, "html.parser")
-        for link in soup.findAll(tag):
-            redirect = link.get(descriptor)
-            if not any(s in redirect for s in gist_skip_schema):
-                if gist_regex.search(redirect) is not None:
-                    if not any(protocol in redirect for protocol in ["https://", "http://"]):
-                        redirects.add(__create_url(redirect))
-                    else:
-                        redirects.add(redirect)
+        if status == 200:
+            soup = BeautifulSoup(html, "html.parser")
+            for link in soup.findAll(tag):
+                redirect = link.get(descriptor)
+                if not any(s in redirect for s in gist_skip_schema):
+                    if gist_regex.search(redirect) is not None:
+                        if not any(protocol in redirect for protocol in ["https://", "http://"]):
+                            redirects.add(__create_url(redirect))
+                        else:
+                            redirects.add(redirect)
+        else:
+            lib.core.settings.logger.warning(lib.core.settings.set_color(
+                "page #{} failed to load with status code {} (reason '{}')...".format(
+                    i+1, status, lib.core.common.STATUS_CODES[int(status)]
+                ), level=30
+            ))
+            continue
     return redirects
 
 
-def check_files_for_information(url, data_to_search, query):
+def check_files_for_information(data_to_search, query):
     """
     check the files to see if they contain any of the information that was specified
     """
@@ -99,6 +113,7 @@ def check_files_for_information(url, data_to_search, query):
             )
 
 
+# @lib.core.decorators.tail_call_optimized
 def github_gist_search_main(query, **kwargs):
     """
     main function for searching Gists
@@ -108,6 +123,11 @@ def github_gist_search_main(query, **kwargs):
     verbose = kwargs.get("verbose", False)
     page_set = kwargs.get("page_set", 10)
 
+    # there seems to be a recursion issue in this function,
+    # so until I get this figured out, we're going to change
+    # the maximum recursion of the system when we get here
+    sys.setrecursionlimit(1500)
+
     try:
         lib.core.settings.logger.info(lib.core.settings.set_color(
             "searching a total of {} pages of Gists for '{}'...".format(
@@ -126,8 +146,9 @@ def github_gist_search_main(query, **kwargs):
                 ), level=15
             ))
         for link in list(links):
-            gist, gist_link = get_raw_html(link, verbose=verbose)
-            check_files_for_information(gist_link, gist, query)
+            if link is not None:
+                gist, gist_link = get_raw_html(link, verbose=verbose)
+                check_files_for_information(gist, query)
     except KeyboardInterrupt:
         if not lib.core.common.pause():
             lib.core.common.shutdown()
diff --git a/lib/attacks/xss_scan/__init__.py b/lib/attacks/xss_scan/__init__.py
index 481d087..6247a80 100644
--- a/lib/attacks/xss_scan/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/attacks/xss_scan/__init__.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import requests
 
 import lib.core.common
 import lib.core.settings
+import lib.core.decorators
 from lib.core.errors import InvalidTamperProvided
 
 
@@ -109,22 +110,34 @@ def scan_xss(url, agent=None, proxy=None):
     be tampered or encoded if the site is not vulnerable
     """
 
-    try:
-        _, status, html_data, _ = lib.core.common.get_page(url, agent=agent, proxy=proxy)
-    except requests.exceptions.ChunkedEncodingError:
-        lib.core.settings.logger.warning(lib.core.settings.set_color(
-            "encoding seems to be messed up, trying the request again...", level=30
-        ))
-        _, status, html_data, _ = lib.core.common.get_page(url, agent=agent, proxy=proxy)
+    retry_flags = 3
+    auto_assign = "http://{}"
+    url_verification = re.compile(r"http(s)?", re.I)
+
+    if url_verification.search(url) is None:
+        lib.core.settings.logger.warning(lib.core.settings.set_color(
+            "protocol missing from URL, automatically assigning protocol...", level=30
+        ))
+        url = auto_assign.format(url)
+
+    while retry_flags > 0:
+        try:
+            _, status, html_data, _ = lib.core.common.get_page(url, agent=agent, proxy=proxy)
+            query = find_xss_script(url)
+            for db in lib.core.settings.DBMS_ERRORS.keys():
+                for item in lib.core.settings.DBMS_ERRORS[db]:
+                    if re.findall(item, html_data):
+                        return "sqli", db
+            if status != 404:
+                if query in html_data:
+                    return True, None
+            retry_flags -= 1
+        except requests.exceptions.ChunkedEncodingError:
+            lib.core.settings.logger.warning(lib.core.settings.set_color(
+                "encoding seems to be messed up, retrying request...", level=30
+            ))
+            retry_flags -= 1
 
-    query = find_xss_script(url)
-    for db in lib.core.settings.DBMS_ERRORS.keys():
-        for item in lib.core.settings.DBMS_ERRORS[db]:
-            if re.findall(item, html_data):
-                return "sqli", db
-    if status != 404:
-        if query in html_data:
-            return True, None
     return False, None
 
 
diff --git a/lib/core/decorators.py b/lib/core/decorators.py
index 49a6810..50c4c28 100644
--- a/lib/core/decorators.py
+++ b/lib/core/decorators.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import lib.core.settings
 
 
 class TimeOut:
+
     def __init__(self, seconds=1, error_message='Timeout'):
         self.seconds = seconds
         self.error_message = error_message