crowdsentinel-mcp-server 0.3.1

AI-powered threat hunting and incident response MCP server for Elasticsearch/OpenSearch with 79 tools, 5,049 detection rules, and baseline behaviour analysis

CrowdSentinel MCP Server

AI-Powered Threat Hunting & Incident Response Framework

Open-source threat hunting orchestrator connecting LLMs to enterprise security data via Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Quick Start · Installation · CLI Usage · Features · Architecture · Documentation · Examples

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What is CrowdSentinel?

CrowdSentinel transforms traditional SIEM querying into intelligent, framework-driven investigations using natural language. It serves as a unified security intelligence layer that connects large language models to enterprise security data sources, enabling:

• Natural Language Threat Hunting — Query Elasticsearch using plain English
• AI-Guided Investigation Workflows — Built-in prompts guide agents through proper IR methodology
• Persistent Investigation State — Memory-managed IoC tracking, forensic timelines, and cross-query correlation that survives across sessions (8GB FIFO storage)
• Cross-Tool IoC Correlation — IoCs discovered in one tool are automatically available to all others
• Multi-Source Analysis — Elasticsearch, EVTX logs (Chainsaw), PCAP files (Wireshark)
• Standalone CLI — Full threat hunting from the terminal without an MCP client

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Installation

Install from PyPI (recommended)

# Install with pip
pip install crowdsentinel-mcp-server

# Or install with uv
uv pip install crowdsentinel-mcp-server

# Download detection rules, Chainsaw, and Sigma rules (one-time)
crowdsentinel setup

The setup command downloads everything needed for offline threat hunting into ~/.crowdsentinel/:

• 5,049 detection rules (EQL + Lucene)
• Chainsaw binary for EVTX analysis
• 3,000+ Sigma rules for Chainsaw

Run directly with uvx (no install needed)

# Elasticsearch 8.x (default)
uvx crowdsentinel-mcp-server

# Other backends
uvx crowdsentinel-mcp-server-es7   # Elasticsearch 7.x
uvx crowdsentinel-mcp-server-es9   # Elasticsearch 9.x
uvx opensearch-mcp-server          # OpenSearch 1.x/2.x/3.x

Install from source

git clone https://github.com/thomasxm/CrowdSentinels-AI-MCP.git
cd CrowdSentinels-AI-MCP
chmod +x setup.sh && ./setup.sh

The setup script will:

• Install dependencies (pipx, uv, Claude Code CLI if needed)
• Download 5,049 detection rules and Chainsaw binary
• Prompt for Elasticsearch credentials (never hardcoded)
• Configure the MCP server with Claude Code
• Validate your connection

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Quick Start

1. Set environment variables

export ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS="https://localhost:9200"
export ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY="your_api_key"
# Or use username/password:
# export ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME="elastic"
# export ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD="your_password"
export VERIFY_CERTS="false"

2. Connect to an MCP Client

CrowdSentinel works with any MCP-compatible AI agent. Choose your client below:

Claude Code (CLI)

claude mcp add crowdsentinel \
  -e ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS="https://localhost:9200" \
  -e ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY="your_api_key" \
  -e VERIFY_CERTS="false" \
  -- uvx crowdsentinel-mcp-server

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Linux) or ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crowdsentinel": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["crowdsentinel-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS": "https://localhost:9200",
        "ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY": "your_api_key",
        "VERIFY_CERTS": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code Copilot

Create .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "servers": {
    "crowdsentinel": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["crowdsentinel-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS": "https://localhost:9200",
        "ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY": "your_api_key",
        "VERIFY_CERTS": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Then enable MCP in VS Code settings: "chat.mcp.enabled": true

Cursor

Create or edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crowdsentinel": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["crowdsentinel-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS": "https://localhost:9200",
        "ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY": "your_api_key",
        "VERIFY_CERTS": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Roo Code (VS Code Extension)

Create .roo/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crowdsentinel": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["crowdsentinel-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS": "https://localhost:9200",
        "ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY": "your_api_key",
        "VERIFY_CERTS": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or configure via Roo Code settings panel: Settings > MCP Servers > Add Server.

5ire

In 5ire settings (v0.15.0+), add an MCP server with:

• Command: uvx
• Arguments: crowdsentinel-mcp-server
• Environment Variables:
  • ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS = https://localhost:9200
  • ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY = your_api_key
  • VERIFY_CERTS = false

Note: 5ire v0.14.0 has known MCP compatibility issues. Use v0.15.0+ for reliable operation.

Any MCP Client (Generic)

stdio transport (default — works with most clients):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crowdsentinel": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["crowdsentinel-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS": "https://localhost:9200",
        "ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY": "your_api_key",
        "VERIFY_CERTS": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

SSE transport (for web-based clients):

crowdsentinel-mcp-server --transport sse --port 8001
# Connect to: http://localhost:8001/sse/

HTTP transport (for REST API clients):

crowdsentinel-mcp-server --transport streamable-http --port 8001
# Connect to: http://localhost:8001/mcp/

3. Or use the CLI directly

# Download rules and tools (one-time)
crowdsentinel setup

# Check cluster health
crowdsentinel health

# Hunt for threats
crowdsentinel hunt "powershell encoded" -i winlogbeat-*

# Run detection rules
crowdsentinel rules -p windows --tactic credential_access
crowdsentinel detect windows_builtin_win_alert_mimikatz_keywords_lucene -i winlogbeat-*

# Analyse PCAP files
crowdsentinel pcap overview capture.pcap
crowdsentinel pcap beaconing capture.pcap

# Hunt EVTX logs with Chainsaw
crowdsentinel chainsaw hunt /path/to/evtx/ --sigma-rules /path/to/sigma/

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CLI Usage

CrowdSentinel provides a full CLI for threat hunting from the terminal:

pip install crowdsentinel-mcp-server
crowdsentinel setup    # Download rules, Chainsaw, Sigma (one-time)
crowdsentinel --help

Available Commands

Command	Description	Example
setup	Download detection rules, Chainsaw, and Sigma rules	crowdsentinel setup
health	Show cluster health	crowdsentinel health
indices	List all indices	crowdsentinel indices
hunt	IR-focused threat hunt with IoC extraction	crowdsentinel hunt "powershell" -i winlogbeat-*
eql	Execute an EQL query	crowdsentinel eql "process where process.name == 'cmd.exe'" -i winlogbeat-*
esql	Execute an ES|QL query	crowdsentinel esql "FROM logs-* | LIMIT 10"
detect	Execute a detection rule by ID	crowdsentinel detect win_susp_logon -i winlogbeat-*
rules	List available detection rules	crowdsentinel rules -p windows --tactic credential_access
schema	Detect schema for an index pattern	crowdsentinel schema -i winlogbeat-*
ioc	Hunt for a specific Indicator of Compromise	crowdsentinel ioc 203.0.113.42 --type ip -i winlogbeat-*
analyse	Analyse search results from stdin (JSON)	cat results.json | crowdsentinel analyse -c "context"
pcap	Analyse PCAP files (overview, beaconing, lateral movement)	crowdsentinel pcap beaconing capture.pcap
chainsaw	Hunt EVTX logs with Chainsaw and Sigma rules	crowdsentinel chainsaw hunt /path/to/evtx/

Output Formats

All commands support --output/-o with three formats:

crowdsentinel hunt "failed login" -i winlogbeat-* -o json     # Structured JSON (default)
crowdsentinel hunt "failed login" -i winlogbeat-* -o table    # Human-readable table
crowdsentinel hunt "failed login" -i winlogbeat-* -o summary  # Condensed summary

Pipeline Example

# Hunt then analyse (mirrors the MCP investigation workflow)
crowdsentinel hunt "powershell encoded" -i winlogbeat-* -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse -c "Encoded PowerShell commands" -o summary

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Key Features

79 MCP Tools Threat hunting, detection rules, forensics, network analysis — all accessible via natural language 5,049 Detection Rules Pre-built Lucene & EQL rules with automatic MITRE ATT&CK mapping Investigation State Persistent IoC tracking across tools and sessions with FIFO storage

4 Security Frameworks Cyber Kill Chain (7 stages) Pyramid of Pain (6 levels) Diamond Model (4 vertices) MITRE ATT&CK (automatic mapping) 3 Data Sources Elasticsearch / OpenSearch EVTX logs (Chainsaw + Sigma) PCAP files (Wireshark/TShark)

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Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 LLM Client / Claude Code CLI                    │
└─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┘
                              │ MCP Protocol (stdio/SSE/HTTP)
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    CrowdSentinel MCP Server                      │
│  ┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────────────┐  │
│  │   79 Tools    │ │ 5,049 Rules   │ │ Security Frameworks   │  │
│  │ - Hunting     │ │ - Lucene      │ │ - Cyber Kill Chain    │  │
│  │ - Detection   │ │ - EQL         │ │ - Pyramid of Pain     │  │
│  │ - Forensics   │ │ - Sigma       │ │ - Diamond Model       │  │
│  │ - Network     │ │               │ │ - MITRE ATT&CK        │  │
│  └───────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └───────────────────────┘  │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│  │              Investigation State (Persistent)                ││
│  │         Cross-tool IoC sharing, timeline, reporting         ││
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
└─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
        ┌─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┐
        ▼                     ▼                     ▼
┌───────────────┐    ┌───────────────┐    ┌───────────────┐
│ Elasticsearch │    │   Chainsaw    │    │   Wireshark   │
│  /OpenSearch  │    │  (EVTX/Sigma) │    │    (PCAP)     │
└───────────────┘    └───────────────┘    └───────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼ (Roadmap)
┌───────────────┐    ┌───────────────┐    ┌───────────────┐
│    Splunk     │    │ Velociraptor  │    │     Zeek      │
│               │    │  (EDR/DFIR)   │    │   (NSM/IDS)   │
└───────────────┘    └───────────────┘    └───────────────┘

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What's Included

Tool Categories (79 Tools)

Category	Tools	Description
Elasticsearch Core	18	Index, document, cluster, alias, data stream operations
Threat Hunting	12	Attack pattern detection, IoC hunting, timeline analysis
Detection Rules	9	5,049 rule library — list, execute, validate, suggest
Kill Chain Analysis	5	Stage hunting, progression tracking, adjacent stage prediction
Investigation Prompts	5	Fast triage spine — 10 critical IR questions
Chainsaw (EVTX)	6	Sigma rule hunting, iterative IoC discovery
Wireshark (PCAP)	11	Network forensics, beaconing, lateral movement detection
Investigation State	13	Persistent IoCs, cross-tool sharing, export, reporting

Security Frameworks

Framework	Purpose
Cyber Kill Chain	Hunt by attack stage (7 stages), predict adversary's next move
Pyramid of Pain	Prioritise IoCs by difficulty for attackers to change (6 levels)
Diamond Model	Map adversary, capability, infrastructure, victim relationships
MITRE ATT&CK	Automatic technique mapping for all detections

Detection Rules (5,049 Rules)

Type	Count	Description
Lucene	1,968	Fast pattern matching queries
EQL	3,081	Event sequences and correlations

Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS, Cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP), Network

Log Sources: PowerShell, Sysmon, Security Events, Process Creation, Audit logs

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Configuration

Environment Variables

# Connection (required)
ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS="https://localhost:9200"

# Authentication — choose one:
ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY="your_api_key"        # Recommended
# OR
ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME="elastic"
ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD="your_password"

# Options
VERIFY_CERTS="false"                        # SSL certificate verification
REQUEST_TIMEOUT="30"                        # Request timeout in seconds
DISABLE_HIGH_RISK_OPERATIONS="true"         # Block all write operations

Transport Modes

Mode	Use Case	Command
stdio (default)	MCP clients (Claude Code, etc.)	Auto-configured by setup.sh
SSE	Web/streaming clients	--transport sse --port 8000
HTTP	REST API access	--transport streamable-http

Disabling Write Operations

For read-only access (recommended for production):

DISABLE_HIGH_RISK_OPERATIONS="true"

This hides destructive tools: create_index, delete_index, index_document, delete_document, delete_by_query, create_data_stream, delete_data_stream, put_alias, delete_alias, general_api_request

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Usage Examples

Example 1: Hunt for Brute Force Attacks

You: Hunt for brute force attacks in the last hour

CrowdSentinel: Searching for failed authentication attempts...
[Calls hunt_by_timeframe with attack_types=["brute_force"]]

Found 47 failed login attempts from 3 source IPs targeting the "admin" account.
Top sources:
- 192.168.1.105: 28 attempts
- 10.0.0.42: 15 attempts
- 172.16.0.8: 4 attempts

Example 2: Investigate a Suspicious Host

You: Show me all activity on host DESKTOP-ABC123 in the last 24 hours

CrowdSentinel: Generating a forensic timeline for that host...
[Calls get_host_activity_timeline]

Timeline shows:
- 09:15: User "jsmith" logged in (Event 4624)
- 09:17: PowerShell executed encoded command
- 09:18: New scheduled task created "WindowsUpdate"
- 09:22: Outbound connection to 203.0.113.42:443
- 09:25: LSASS memory access detected

Example 3: Kill Chain Analysis

You: We found C2 beaconing. What should we hunt for next?

CrowdSentinel: Hunting adjacent kill chain stages...
[Calls hunt_adjacent_stages with current_stage="COMMAND_AND_CONTROL"]

Looking backwards (Installation stage):
- Found scheduled task persistence on 3 hosts
- Registry Run key modifications detected

Looking forwards (Actions on Objectives):
- Lateral movement to 2 additional hosts via SMB
- Credential dumping attempts detected

Example 4: Network Traffic Analysis

You: Analyse this PCAP for C2 beaconing

CrowdSentinel: Checking for regular connection intervals...
[Calls detect_beaconing on the PCAP file]

Detected beaconing pattern:
- Host: 192.168.1.50 → 203.0.113.100:443
- Interval: 60 seconds (±2s jitter)
- Duration: 4 hours
- Confidence: HIGH

Recommend blocking 203.0.113.100 and investigating 192.168.1.50.

Example 5: CLI Threat Hunt

# Hunt for encoded PowerShell
crowdsentinel hunt "powershell -enc" -i winlogbeat-* --timeframe 1440 -o json

# Pipe results to analysis
crowdsentinel hunt "event.code:4625" -i winlogbeat-* -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse -c "Failed authentication investigation"

# Search detection rules for lateral movement
crowdsentinel rules --tactic lateral_movement -p windows

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Compatibility

Package	Backend	Install
crowdsentinel-mcp-server	Elasticsearch 8.x (default)	pip install crowdsentinel-mcp-server
crowdsentinel-mcp-server-es7	Elasticsearch 7.x	pip install crowdsentinel-mcp-server-es7
crowdsentinel-mcp-server-es9	Elasticsearch 9.x	pip install crowdsentinel-mcp-server-es9
opensearch-mcp-server	OpenSearch 1.x, 2.x, 3.x	pip install opensearch-mcp-server

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For Developers

Project Structure

crowdsentinel-mcp-server/
├── src/
│   ├── server.py                 # MCP server entry point
│   ├── version.py                # Version constant
│   ├── risk_config.py            # Write operation controls
│   │
│   ├── cli/                      # Standalone CLI
│   │   └── main.py               # CLI entry point (argparse)
│   │
│   ├── clients/                  # Backend logic layer
│   │   ├── base.py               # Base client, authentication
│   │   ├── exceptions.py         # Exception handling decorators
│   │   └── common/
│   │       ├── client.py         # Unified SearchClient (multiple inheritance)
│   │       ├── threat_hunting.py # Threat hunting queries
│   │       ├── ioc_analysis.py   # IoC extraction & analysis
│   │       ├── cyber_kill_chain.py # Kill chain logic
│   │       ├── rule_loader.py    # Detection rule loading
│   │       └── chainsaw_client.py # EVTX/Sigma integration
│   │
│   ├── tools/                    # MCP tool interfaces (thin wrappers)
│   │   ├── register.py           # Dynamic tool registration
│   │   ├── threat_hunting.py     # Hunting tool definitions
│   │   ├── rule_management.py    # Rule management tools
│   │   ├── chainsaw_hunting.py   # Chainsaw tools
│   │   ├── wireshark_tools.py    # Network analysis tools
│   │   └── investigation_state_tools.py # State management tools
│   │
│   ├── storage/                  # Persistent investigation state
│   │   ├── investigation_state.py # Core state management
│   │   ├── storage_manager.py    # File system storage (8GB FIFO)
│   │   └── models.py             # Pydantic models (IoC, Investigation)
│   │
│   └── wireshark/                # Network traffic analysis
│       ├── core/                 # TShark execution, PCAP parsing
│       ├── hunting/              # Beaconing, lateral movement, IoC hunting
│       ├── baseline/             # Traffic baseline creation
│       ├── extraction/           # File carving from traffic
│       └── reporting/            # NCSC-style reports, timelines
│
├── rules/                        # 5,049 detection rules (EQL + Lucene)
├── chainsaw/                     # Chainsaw binary + 3,000+ Sigma rules
├── skills/                       # Claude Code agent skills
└── tests/                        # Test suites

Design Patterns

Pattern	Usage
Multiple Inheritance	SearchClient composes all specialised clients
Decorator	Exception handling via @handle_exceptions
Factory	create_search_client() creates appropriate client
Plugin Architecture	Tools registered dynamically via ToolsRegister
Auto-Capture	Tool results automatically analysed for IoCs

Adding a New Tool

1. Create client method in src/clients/common/your_module.py:

class YourClient(SearchClientBase):
    def your_method(self, param: str) -> dict:
        # Implementation
        return results

2. Add to SearchClient in src/clients/common/client.py:

class SearchClient(YourClient, OtherClients, ...):
    pass

3. Create tool wrapper in src/tools/your_tools.py:

class YourTools:
    def __init__(self, client, mcp):
        self.client = client
        self.mcp = mcp

    def register_tools(self):
        @self.mcp.tool()
        def your_tool(param: str) -> str:
            """Tool description for LLM."""
            result = self.client.your_method(param)
            return json.dumps(result)

4. Register in server in src/server.py:

from src.tools.your_tools import YourTools

def _register_tools(self):
    # ... existing tools ...
    YourTools(self.client, self.mcp).register_tools()

Running Tests

# All tests
uv run pytest

# Specific module
uv run pytest tests/test_investigation_state.py

# With coverage
uv run pytest --cov=src

Local Testing Environment

# Start Elasticsearch
docker-compose -f docker-compose-elasticsearch.yml up -d

# Start OpenSearch
docker-compose -f docker-compose-opensearch.yml up -d

Default credentials (testing only):

• Elasticsearch: elastic / test123
• OpenSearch: admin / admin

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Roadmap

Feature	Status	Description
Velociraptor Integration	Planned	EDR/DFIR artifact collection and live response via Velociraptor API
Zeek Integration	Planned	Network security monitoring — parse Zeek logs (conn, dns, http, ssl, x509) for threat hunting
Splunk Integration	Planned	Add Splunk as a data source alongside Elasticsearch
Sigma Rule Converter	Planned	Convert Sigma rules to native ES/Splunk queries
Threat Intel Feeds	Planned	Automatic IoC enrichment from MISP, OTX, etc.
Case Management	Planned	Export investigations to TheHive, JIRA
Custom Rule Builder	Planned	Create detection rules via natural language

See CHANGELOG.md for detailed version history.

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Documentation

User Guides

Document	Description
FIRST_TIME_SETUP.md	Detailed first-time setup instructions
HOW_TO_USE.md	Comprehensive usage guide
QUICK_START.md	5-minute quick start
TRANSPORT_MODES.md	stdio, SSE, HTTP configuration

Feature Guides

Document	Description
THREAT_HUNTING_GUIDE.md	Threat hunting workflows
DETECTION_RULES_GUIDE.md	Using 5,049 detection rules
CYBER_KILL_CHAIN_GUIDE.md	Kill chain analysis
CHAINSAW_GUIDE.md	EVTX log analysis with Sigma
INVESTIGATION_PROMPTS_GUIDE.md	Fast triage spine
AI_AGENT_INTEGRATION.md	Workflow guidance for AI agents

Developer Guides

Document	Description
ARCHITECTURE.md	Detailed architecture documentation
CONTRIBUTING.md	Contribution guidelines

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

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Licence

GNU General Public Licence v3.0 — See LICENSE for details.

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Acknowledgements

• MCP Framework: Model Context Protocol by Anthropic
• Chainsaw: EVTX log analyser by WithSecure Labs
• Detection Rules: Community-contributed Sigma and custom rules
• Frameworks: Cyber Kill Chain (Lockheed Martin), Pyramid of Pain (David J. Bianco), Diamond Model, MITRE ATT&CK

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Made for the security community by medjedtxm