exploitsynth 0.3.1

ExploitSynth scanner CLI — AI port-identification from your terminal

ExploitSynth CLI

AI port identification from your terminal — for the open ports your scanner (nmap, Nessus) couldn't fingerprint. The CLI talks to the same engine as scan.exploitsynth.com; your scans, projects, and credits are shared.

Install

pipx install exploitsynth        # isolated, on your PATH

Optional tab-completion for your shell:

exploitsynth --install-completion        # bash | zsh | fish | powershell

Authenticate

Grab an API key from Settings → API keys in the web app, then:

exploitsynth login               # prompts for the key, verifies, stores it

The key lives in ~/.config/exploitsynth/config.json (chmod 600). You can also skip the file and export it per-shell:

export EXPLOITSYNTH_API_KEY=sk_...

Scan

# Known-open ports — identify them directly
exploitsynth scan 45.33.32.156 --ports 22,80,9929

# Discovery — find open ports first, then identify
exploitsynth scan 10.0.0.0/28 --scope top1000

# Import — feed the ports your scanner left unidentified
exploitsynth scan --nessus engagement.nessus --project acme
exploitsynth scan --nmap recon.xml --project acme

Chain it after your scanner

exploitsynth reads targets from stdin (-) or a file (-iL), so it drops straight into a recon pipeline — point a fast scanner at the network, then let ExploitSynth identify what it couldn't:

# pipe targets in
rustscan -a 10.0.0.5 --ports-only | exploitsynth scan - --ports 22,80,9929

# or a host list
exploitsynth scan -iL hosts.txt --scope top100

Live per-port progress streams into your terminal, with the same per-port timeout countdown you see in the web app. Each scan costs 1 credit per port; the cost is previewed (and confirmed in an interactive shell) before it runs.

Scan a private network (--via local)

Targets on an internal network (10.x, 192.168.x) or behind a firewall that only allows your source IP aren't reachable from the cloud. --via local solves this: discovery runs on your machine, and a reverse tunnel routes the engine's probes back out through your machine — so the scan reaches anything you can reach. Typical HTB / internal-pentest flow:

# 1. get on the network (client VPN, on-site LAN, HTB, …)
sudo openvpn engagement.ovpn        # you can now reach 10.129.45.12

# 2. one command
exploitsynth scan 10.129.45.12 --via local --scope top1000

What happens: local nmap finds the open ports, the CLI opens an outbound tunnel (no inbound ports needed), and the cloud identifies each service through that tunnel. The agent, prompts, and LLM stay in the cloud — only network egress is borrowed from your box.

Requirements & notes:

• You must be on a network that can reach the target (the CLI says so if you're not).
• nmap must be installed; chisel is fetched automatically if it isn't on PATH.
• The tunnel only lives while the command runs, so --via local streams live and can't be combined with --no-follow. Ctrl-C tears the tunnel down.
• Cost is the number of open ports found (discovery is free — it's your nmap).

Options

Flag	Meaning
--ports 22,80,9929	Known-open ports to identify directly (skips discovery)
--scope top100|top1000|all	Discovery scope (or a range like 1-1000)
--via local	Scan a private/firewalled target through a tunnel out of this machine
-iL FILE	Read newline/comma-separated targets from a file
- (as TARGET)	Read targets from stdin
--nessus FILE / --nmap FILE	Import unidentified ports from a scan export
--project NAME	Engagement to file the scan under (created if missing)
--label TEXT	Optional scan label
--timeout 300	Per-port agent budget in seconds (30–600)
--slow	Run one agent at a time instead of three
--no-follow	Fire-and-forget; don't stream progress
--yes	Skip the credit-cost confirmation
--json	Emit machine-readable JSON on stdout

Inspect

exploitsynth scans                       # recent scans
exploitsynth scans --project acme
exploitsynth show <scan_id>              # full result table
exploitsynth show <scan_id> --reasoning  # include the agent's reasoning
exploitsynth credits                     # your credit balance
exploitsynth cancel <scan_id>            # cancel a queued/running scan

Scripting

Every read command supports --json (printed to stdout; progress and notes go to stderr, so pipes stay clean):

exploitsynth scans --json | jq '.[] | {id, status}'
exploitsynth show <scan_id> --json | jq '.results[] | {port, service, version}'

Exit codes: 0 success, 1 error, 3 insufficient credits.

Self-hosting

Point the CLI at your own deployment:

exploitsynth login --url https://scan.example.com
# or
export EXPLOITSYNTH_API_URL=https://scan.example.com