Pentest MCP

Professional penetration-testing MCP server with modern transport/auth support and expanded recon tooling.

What Changed in 0.9.0

• Upgraded MCP SDK to @modelcontextprotocol/sdk@^1.26.0

• Kept MCP Inspector at the latest release (@modelcontextprotocol/inspector@^0.20.0) with bundled launcher

• Streamable HTTP is now the primary network transport (MCP_TRANSPORT=http)

• SSE is still available only as a deprecated compatibility mode

• Added bearer-token auth with OIDC JWKS and introspection support

• Added first-class tools: subfinderEnum, httpxProbe, ffufScan, nucleiScan, trafficCapture, hydraBruteforce, privEscAudit, extractionSweep

• Added report-admin tools: listEngagementRecords, getEngagementRecord

• Added SoW capture flow for reports using MCP elicitation (scopeMode=ask) with safe template fallback

• Hardened command resolution so web probing uses httpx-toolkit (preferred) or validated ProjectDiscovery httpx, avoiding Python httpx CLI collisions

• Integrated bundled MCP Inspector launcher (pentest-mcp inspector)

• Runtime baseline is now Node.js 22.7.5+

• Added invocation metadata in new tool outputs when auth/session context is available

Related MCP server: NPM Sentinel MCP

Included Tools

• nmapScan

• runJohnTheRipper

• runHashcat

• gobuster

• nikto

• subfinderEnum

• httpxProbe

• ffufScan

• nucleiScan

• trafficCapture

• hydraBruteforce

• privEscAudit

• extractionSweep

• generateWordlist

• listEngagementRecords

• getEngagementRecord

• createClientReport

• cancelScan

Quick Start

Install

npm install -g pentest-mcp

Run locally (stdio)

pentest-mcp

Launch bundled MCP Inspector (no separate install)

pentest-mcp inspector

You can forward Inspector flags directly:

pentest-mcp inspector --help

Run over network (Streamable HTTP)

MCP_TRANSPORT=http MCP_SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0 MCP_SERVER_PORT=8000 pentest-mcp

Run legacy SSE mode (deprecated)

MCP_TRANSPORT=sse MCP_SERVER_PORT=8001 pentest-mcp

Transport Notes

• stdio: default for local MCP clients.

• http: modern network transport. Recommended.

• sse: compatibility only. Deprecated and will be removed in a future major release.

Inspector Integration

• pentest-mcp inspector launches the bundled @modelcontextprotocol/inspector CLI.

• It auto-targets this MCP server over stdio by spawning:

  • node <this-package-entrypoint> stdio

• You do not need to install Inspector separately.

Auth Configuration (Bearer + OIDC)

Set these env vars when using MCP_TRANSPORT=http (or sse if needed):

MCP_AUTH_ENABLED=true
MCP_AUTH_MODE=bearer
MCP_AUTH_SCOPES=read,write
MCP_AUTH_AUDIENCE=
MCP_OIDC_ISSUER=https://issuer.example.com
MCP_OIDC_JWKS_URL=https://issuer.example.com/.well-known/jwks.json
# optional alternative/backup validation mode:
MCP_OIDC_INTROSPECTION_URL=https://issuer.example.com/oauth/introspect
MCP_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID=...
MCP_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET=...

Legacy aliases are still accepted temporarily:

• MCP_OAUTH_ENABLED

• MCP_OAUTH_PROVIDER_URL

• MCP_OAUTH_SCOPES

Workflow + Reporting

createClientReport now supports SoW handling modes:

• scopeMode=ask: prompt user via MCP elicitation (recommended)

• scopeMode=provided: use scopeOfWork value directly

• scopeMode=template: use built-in generic authorized-testing template

If elicitation is declined/unavailable, the report automatically falls back to the template.

How users provide SoW (right now)

There is no separate file-upload API yet. Current options are:

1. Ask interactively via MCP user invocation (elicitation)

{
  "tool": "createClientReport",
  "arguments": {
    "title": "Q1 External Pentest",
    "assessmentType": "external-network",
    "scopeMode": "ask"
  }
}

2. Paste SoW text directly into scopeOfWork

{
  "tool": "createClientReport",
  "arguments": {
    "title": "Q1 External Pentest",
    "assessmentType": "external-network",
    "scopeMode": "provided",
    "scopeOfWork": "Authorized targets: ...\nOut-of-scope: ...\nTesting window: ...\nRules of engagement: ..."
  }
}

3. Use template mode when client details should not be shared

{
  "tool": "createClientReport",
  "arguments": {
    "title": "Q1 External Pentest",
    "assessmentType": "external-network",
    "scopeMode": "template"
  }
}

How this cuts admin time

• Every tool run stores a structured engagement record (recordId=...) with invocation context.

• Use listEngagementRecords to pull all work artifacts quickly.

• Generate the report from selected recordIds (or latest records by default) instead of manual copy/paste.

• Scope notes are attached automatically from one of:

  • user elicitation form (ask)

  • pasted SoW text (provided)

  • safe default template (template)

Roadmap

These are planned specifically to reduce pentest admin overhead.

• scopeFilePath ingestion (load SoW from a local file path on the MCP host)

• scopeDocument chunked upload flow (send SoW content directly through MCP for remote clients)

• SoW parser that auto-extracts targets, exclusions, test windows, and rules of engagement

• Evidence auto-linking from tool outputs (recordId) to findings and report sections

• Finding dedup/merge across overlapping tools (nuclei, nikto, etc.)

• Auto severity + impact draft text for faster writeups

• One-click report pack generation (executive summary + technical appendix + remediation table)

• Retest diff mode (fixed/reopened/new findings between engagements)

• Ticket export sync (Jira/Linear/GitHub) with status backfill

• Deliverable QA checks (missing evidence, missing scope fields, weak remediation notes)

Adoption note:

• Expect strong usage for scopeFilePath and scopeDocument because most teams already maintain SoW in docs/PDF and want to avoid repeated paste-and-reformat steps.

Recon + Exploitation Examples

Subdomain enumeration

{
  "tool": "subfinderEnum",
  "arguments": {
    "domain": "example.com",
    "recursive": true,
    "allSources": true
  }
}

Probe live hosts

{
  "tool": "httpxProbe",
  "arguments": {
    "targets": ["example.com", "api.example.com"],
    "includeTitle": true,
    "includeStatusCode": true
  }
}

Fuzz content paths

{
  "tool": "ffufScan",
  "arguments": {
    "targetUrl": "https://example.com/FUZZ",
    "wordlist": "/usr/share/seclists/Discovery/Web-Content/common.txt",
    "threads": 40
  }
}

Template scanning

{
  "tool": "nucleiScan",
  "arguments": {
    "targets": ["https://example.com"],
    "severities": ["medium", "high", "critical"]
  }
}

Traffic capture (sniffing)

{
  "tool": "trafficCapture",
  "arguments": {
    "networkInterface": "eth0",
    "packetCount": 200,
    "bpfFilter": "tcp port 80"
  }
}

Brute-force checks

{
  "tool": "hydraBruteforce",
  "arguments": {
    "target": "10.10.10.20",
    "service": "ssh",
    "usernameList": "/usr/share/seclists/Usernames/top-usernames-shortlist.txt",
    "passwordList": "/usr/share/seclists/Passwords/Common-Credentials/10k-most-common.txt"
  }
}

SQLi extraction sweep

{
  "tool": "extractionSweep",
  "arguments": {
    "targetUrl": "https://target.local/item.php?id=1",
    "risk": 2,
    "level": 3
  }
}

Docker

docker-compose --profile http up
docker-compose --profile stdio up
docker-compose --profile sse up

The Docker image installs:

• nmap, john, hashcat, gobuster, nikto, ffuf, hydra, sqlmap, tcpdump

• subfinder, httpx + httpx-toolkit alias, nuclei

Required Host Tools (non-Docker runs)

Ensure the binaries are in PATH:

which nmap john hashcat gobuster nikto subfinder httpx-toolkit ffuf nuclei hydra sqlmap tcpdump

If httpx-toolkit is not installed, a validated ProjectDiscovery httpx binary is accepted as fallback.

Security Notice

Authorized use only. Run against systems/networks where you have explicit written permission.