Penthera

Penthera Security Scanner

Lightweight security scanner for URLs, local repos, and (macOS) machine audits. Always run the authorization gate before any scan.

Critical: Authorization gate

Do not run Penthera until authorization is confirmed.

Before the first scan in a session, ask the user to confirm ONE of:

1. They own the target (app, server, project).
2. They have written authorization from the system owner.
3. The target is localhost or a private lab they control.

If the user requests scanning a third-party domain (e.g. google.com, example.com) without claiming ownership or authorization, stop and refuse. When in doubt, do not scan.

For full policy, see references/authorization.md.

Preflight

Run before the first scan:

bash skills/penthera/scripts/preflight.sh [URL]

From repo root. Pass the target URL to warn on non-localhost targets. Fix any errors before proceeding.

Resolve CLI command

Use whichever is available:

penthera --version          # after npm link
node bin/penthera.js --version   # from repo root

All examples below use penthera; substitute node bin/penthera.js when needed.

Decision tree

Default safe behavior

• Always use --profile standard unless the user explicitly requests deeper testing.
• Write reports to reports/ (gitignored), never inside skills/penthera/.
• After scan, read the companion .md report and summarize findings by severity with fix recommendations.

Destructive mode gate

These flags send attack payloads. Require explicit user confirmation before use:

• --deep, SQLi, SSTI, SSRF, XSS, CMDi probes
• --fuzz, property-based API fuzzing
• --all, enables recon + deep + fuzz
• --profile deep, maximum coverage

If user asks for "full pentest" or "deep scan", confirm they own the target and accept payload-based testing.

Workflow 1: Pre-release audit

Triggers: "scan my staging app", "security audit before deploy", "check my app for vulnerabilities"

1. Confirm authorization (see gate above).
2. Run preflight.
3. Execute:

mkdir -p reports
penthera https://staging.example.com --profile standard -o reports/scan.json

4. Read reports/scan.md, summarize critical/high/medium findings.
5. Recommend concrete fixes per finding.
6. Note exit code: 0 = no critical/high; 1 = critical/high found; 2 = scan failed.

Workflow 2: Repo + live combined

Triggers: "scan my Next.js app and staging", "black-box and white-box scan"

1. Confirm authorization for the URL.
2. Run preflight with URL.
3. Execute:

mkdir -p reports
penthera https://staging.example.com --repo . --profile standard \
  -o reports/scan.json --sarif reports/scan.sarif

4. Summarize URL findings (headers, TLS, CORS, auth) and repo findings (secrets, API routes, trust boundaries).
5. Offer to upload SARIF via GitHub Actions (see references/output-and-ci.md).

Workflow 3: CI / baseline regression

Triggers: "compare to last scan", "only new findings", "regression check"

1. Confirm authorization and that reports/previous.json exists (or ask user for baseline path).
2. Execute:

mkdir -p reports
penthera https://staging.example.com --profile standard \
  -o reports/scan.json --baseline reports/previous.json

3. Report: new findings count, resolved count, unchanged count (printed to stderr during scan).
4. Focus summary on new findings only.

Workflow 4: Scan and fix

Triggers: "scan and fix", "find and fix security issues", "harden my app", "fix the security headers", "apply security best practices"

The detect -> fix -> verify loop. Penthera detects; you (the agent) fix the user's code using the playbook; Penthera re-scans to prove it is resolved.

1. Confirm authorization (gate above). Read the Fix-mode gate below first.
2. Scan and read the findings:

mkdir -p reports
penthera <url> --repo . --profile standard -o reports/scan.json

3. Detect the framework: check package.json / imports (next, express, fastify, hono) or requirements.txt (fastapi, flask).
4. For each finding, highest severity first, look it up by category in references/remediation.md and propose the framework-specific fix as a diff.
5. Apply each fix only after the user approves it.
6. Re-scan to verify: penthera <url> --repo . -o reports/scan-after.json --baseline reports/scan.json. A fix is done only when its finding no longer appears.
7. Report what is resolved and what remains.

To build secure-by-default so issues never appear, use references/secure-defaults.md.

Fix-mode gate

Applying fixes modifies the user's code. Before editing:

• Show the diff for each fix and get explicit approval. Never blind-apply.
• Start with critical and high severity findings.
• Re-scan after each fix (or batch) to confirm it actually resolved the finding.
• Never apply fixes against a production system; work in the repo or a branch.
• Rotating an exposed secret and renewing a TLS certificate are user actions, not code edits, flag them clearly rather than attempting them.

Workflow 5: Owner reports & questionnaire responses

Triggers: "answer this security questionnaire", "turn the scan into a report", "draft a remediation plan", "NIS2 evidence", "prefill the vendor questionnaire"

Turn a scan into documents the owner can act on and send. Full method and templates: references/reporting.md.

1. Confirm authorization, then scan with JSON + framework mapping:

mkdir -p reports
penthera <url> --repo . --framework nis2 -o reports/scan.json

2. Read reports/scan.json, use actionPlan, compliance, emailAuth, findings, and executedProbes.
3. Generate the requested document(s): a remediation plan, a security-questionnaire response, or a NIS2 duty-of-care evidence summary.
4. Ground every answer in scan evidence. Mark anything the scan can't support as NEEDS HUMAN INPUT, all organisational controls (incident process, backups, training). Never invent a control or imply certification.
5. Write drafts to reports/ and end by listing every NEEDS HUMAN INPUT item so the owner knows what only they can answer.

Authenticated scans

Only after authorization gate passes:

# Bearer token
PENTHERA_BEARER=eyJ... penthera https://myapp.com --profile standard -o reports/scan.json

# Session cookie
penthera https://myapp.com --auth-cookie "session=abc123" -o reports/scan.json

# Explicit flags
penthera https://myapp.com --auth-bearer "eyJ..." -o reports/scan.json

Env vars: PENTHERA_BEARER, PENTHERA_COOKIE.

Repo-only secret scan

Triggers: "find hardcoded secrets", "scan this repo for keys"

No URL authorization needed for local repo analysis:

penthera --repo . -o reports/repo-scan.json

Summarize secret findings; remind user to rotate any exposed credentials.

Examples

Example 1: Localhost quick check

User: "Scan my localhost app on port 3000"

Actions:

1. Confirm localhost, authorization satisfied.
2. bash skills/penthera/scripts/preflight.sh http://localhost:3000
3. penthera http://localhost:3000 --profile quick -o reports/scan.json
4. Summarize reports/scan.md.

Example 2: Staging before deploy

User: "Audit staging.myapp.com before we ship"

Actions:

1. Ask: "Do you own or have written authorization for staging.myapp.com?"
2. On confirmation, run standard profile scan with JSON + markdown output.
3. List critical/high items first with remediation steps.

Example 3: Unauthorized target (must refuse)

User: "Scan google.com for vulnerabilities"

Actions:

1. Do not run Penthera.
2. Explain that scanning third-party systems without authorization is not permitted.
3. Offer to scan their own app or localhost instead.

Example 4: Scan and fix (localhost)

User: "Scan my localhost:3000 and fix what you find"

Actions:

1. Confirm localhost, authorization satisfied. Run a standard scan with --repo ..
2. Detect the framework (e.g. Next.js from package.json).
3. For each finding, highest severity first, propose the fix from references/remediation.md as a diff; apply on approval.
4. Re-scan with --baseline to confirm each finding is resolved; report what is fixed and what remains.

Do not use this skill for

• General coding help, weather, or unrelated tasks
• Scanning systems the user does not own or lacks permission to test
• Malicious exploitation or data exfiltration

Additional resources

• Profiles and flags: references/profiles-and-flags.md
• Output formats and CI: references/output-and-ci.md
• Troubleshooting: references/troubleshooting.md
• Authorization policy: references/authorization.md
• Remediation playbook (apply fixes): references/remediation.md
• Owner reports & questionnaire responses: references/reporting.md
• Secure defaults (build it right): references/secure-defaults.md