permi 0.2.18

The security signal filter for African fintech engineering teams — precision-first AppSec that removes false positives so developers only see findings that matter

Permi

The security signal filter for African fintech engineering teams

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What is Permi?

Most security scanners produce hundreds of findings. Most are noise. Developers learn to ignore them — and that is when the real vulnerabilities get missed.

Permi fixes this. It scans your code and live applications for vulnerabilities, then uses an AI filter to confirm which findings are real before you see them. Your team spends time fixing actual problems instead of chasing false alarms.

Permi also includes rules built specifically for the African development context — USSD gateway vulnerabilities, Paystack and Flutterwave credential exposure, and patterns relevant to Nigeria Data Protection Act compliance. No foreign scanner prioritises this. Permi does.

Built from Jos, Nigeria. For African fintech engineering teams. Then for the world.

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Quick Start

pip install permi
permi setup --community    # 50 free AI filter credits — no card needed
permi scan --path ./myapp

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⚠️ Windows Users — If Permi Freezes on First Run

Some Windows machines freeze immediately when running permi — even before the banner appears. This is caused by Windows Defender or corporate antivirus scanning Python processes in real time.

Fix — add Permi to your antivirus exclusions:

1. Open Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Manage settings
2. Scroll to Exclusions → Add an exclusion → Folder
3. Add these two folders:
   • C:\Users\<yourname>\.permi
   • C:\Users\<yourname>\Permi\venv (or wherever your venv lives)
4. Open a new terminal and run permi again

If you are on a corporate machine or university network, your IT department may have group policies that block Python subprocess calls. Run Permi from Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) instead:

wsl
pip install permi
permi scan --path ./myapp

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Installation

pip install permi

Requires Python 3.9+. Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

For JavaScript/SPA scanning (React, Vue, Angular, Next.js)

pip install "permi[js]"
playwright install chromium

Cloudflare-protected sites: Also run pip install playwright-stealth for better rendering success rates.

Low-RAM machines (4GB): Use --max-pages 10 with --js.

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Usage

Scan a live website (standard HTTP)

permi scan --url https://yoursite.com

Scan a JavaScript-rendered application (React / Vue / Angular / Next.js)

permi scan --url https://yoursite.com --js

The --js flag launches a headless Chromium browser that fully renders JavaScript before scanning. Required for single-page applications where links and forms are built dynamically.

Without --js, Permi will detect a SPA and show:

[Permi] ⚠️  JavaScript-rendered application detected.
[Permi]    Re-run with --js to scan the full JavaScript-rendered content:
[Permi]      permi scan --url https://yoursite.com --js

Scan a local codebase

permi scan --path ./myapp

Scan a GitHub repository

permi scan --path https://github.com/username/repo

Include subdomains

permi scan --url https://yoursite.com --include-subdomains

High severity findings only

permi scan --url https://yoursite.com --severity high

Export results to a file

permi scan --url https://yoursite.com --export report.md
permi scan --path ./myapp --export results.json
permi scan --path ./myapp --export results.txt

Show all raw findings (skip AI filter)

permi scan --url https://yoursite.com --offline

JSON output (for CI/CD pipelines)

permi scan --url https://yoursite.com --output json

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Setting Up AI Filtering

The AI filter is what separates confirmed vulnerabilities from noise. Without it, Permi shows all raw findings. With it, each finding is reviewed before you see it.

Option 1 — Free community credits (recommended for new users)

permi setup --community

50 free AI filter calls. No credit card. Starts immediately. The community proxy may take up to 60 seconds to wake on first use — it retries automatically.

Option 2 — Your own OpenRouter API key (unlimited)

permi setup --api-key YOUR_KEY

Get a free key at openrouter.ai.

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GitHub Action — Scan Every Pull Request

Add Permi to your CI/CD pipeline. Every pull request is automatically scanned, findings are posted as PR comments, and merges are blocked if high severity issues are found.

# .github/workflows/security.yml
name: Security Scan

on:
  push:
    branches: [main, develop]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main, develop]

jobs:
  permi-scan:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      pull-requests: write

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: Peternasarah/permi-action@v1
        with:
          severity: high
          openrouter_api_key: ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}

What happens on every PR:

• Permi scans the changed code
• AI filter removes false positives
• Findings posted as a PR comment
• Merge blocked if high severity issues found
• Free forever

→ View Permi GitHub Action on the Marketplace

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How It Works

┌─────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐
│   Crawler   │───▶│    Scanner   │───▶│  AI Filter   │───▶│   Results    │
│ HTTP or JS  │    │ SQL · XSS    │    │ Confirms or  │    │ Only real    │
│  (--js)     │    │ Secrets · +  │    │ dismisses    │    │ findings     │
└─────────────┘    └──────────────┘    │ each finding │    └──────────────┘
                                       └──────────────┘

Two crawler modes:

• HTTP mode (default) — fast BeautifulSoup crawler for server-rendered sites
• JS mode (--js) — Playwright headless Chromium for React/Vue/Angular SPAs

AI filter:

• Reviews each finding individually before it reaches you
• CSP-aware: correctly dismisses reflected XSS when a Content-Security-Policy blocks execution
• Caches results so repeated scans do not consume extra credits
• Three-tier verdict: REAL / REVIEW / FP with confidence score 0-100
• Community proxy for users without their own API key

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What Permi Detects

Web scanning (--url)

Category	What is detected
SQL Injection	Error-based, Boolean-based blind, Time-based blind
Cross-Site Scripting	Reflected XSS — HTML-encoding aware, CSP-aware
Missing Security Headers	CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, Permissions-Policy
Server Version Disclosure	Server and X-Powered-By version number leakage

Source code scanning (--path)

Category	What is detected
SQL Injection	String concatenation, f-strings, % formatting in queries
Cross-Site Scripting	innerHTML, document.write, Jinja2 |safe filter
Hardcoded Secrets	Passwords, API keys, AWS keys, Paystack/Flutterwave secrets
Insecure Practices	eval(), exec(), pickle.loads(), SSL verification disabled, debug mode
USSD Vulnerabilities	Unvalidated sessionId, phoneNumber, serviceCode

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Nigerian and African-Specific Rules

Permi includes rules built for the African development context that no global tool will ever prioritise:

• USSD gateway vulnerabilities — unvalidated sessionId, phoneNumber, serviceCode
• Paystack and Flutterwave key exposure — detects Nigerian payment gateway live secrets
• BVN and NIN pattern detection — NDPA-sensitive personal data in code
• NDPA-relevant patterns — helps with Nigeria Data Protection Act compliance

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Example Output

[Permi] Mode     : JS scan (Playwright headless browser)
[Permi] Target   : https://yourapp.com
[Permi] Crawl    : up to 15 pages (JS-rendered)

[Permi JS] Rendering page 1/15: https://yourapp.com
[Permi JS] Rendering page 2/15: https://yourapp.com/login
[Permi JS] Crawl complete — 8 pages rendered, 24 URLs found, 12 unique signatures

[Permi] Engine found 7 raw finding(s)
[Permi] Running AI filter on 7 finding(s)...

════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  FILTER SUMMARY
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  Raw findings     : 7
  Confirmed real   : 4
  False positives  : 3 removed
  Noise reduced by : 43%  [████████░░░░░░░░░░░░]
  Avg confidence   : 89%

  Severity breakdown:
    ● High   : 2
    ● Medium : 2

  Top issues to fix:
    • 2× SQL Injection — string concatenation
    • 1× Hardcoded secret — generic password
    • 1× Insecure — SSL/TLS verification disabled
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

  [1] [HIGH] WEB_SQL001  SQL Injection — Error-based
  URL       : https://yourapp.com/login
  Parameter : username
  Fix       : Use parameterised queries: cursor.execute("SELECT * FROM users WHERE name = ?", (name,))
  AI        : REAL [94% confidence]  SQL syntax error confirms input reaches query unescaped.

  Scan completed in 2 min 14s | 12 URLs tested

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CLI Reference

permi scan --url URL             Scan a live website
  --js                           Use Playwright for JS-rendered SPAs
  --js-timeout N                 Per-page timeout in seconds (default: 20)
  --include-subdomains           Also scan subdomains
  --max-pages N                  Max pages to crawl (default: 30)
  --severity LEVEL               high | medium | low | all (default: all)
  --offline                      Skip AI filter, show raw findings
  --output FORMAT                human (default) | json
  --export FILE                  Export full report (.txt, .json, .md)

permi scan --path PATH           Scan local codebase or GitHub repo
  --severity LEVEL               Filter by severity
  --offline                      Skip AI filter
  --output FORMAT                human | json
  --export FILE                  Export full report

permi setup --community          Register for 50 free AI filter credits
permi setup --api-key KEY        Use your own OpenRouter API key (unlimited)
permi info                       Show config, credits, Playwright status
permi feedback                   Share feedback with the Permi team

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CI/CD Integration

Permi exits with code 1 if any HIGH severity findings are confirmed after filtering. Use this in any pipeline:

# GitHub Actions — inline (without the Marketplace Action)
- name: Run Permi security scan
  run: |
    pip install permi
    permi setup --api-key ${{ secrets.OPENROUTER_API_KEY }}
    permi scan --path . --severity high --output json --export permi-report.json

# Fail the build on high severity findings
permi scan --path ./myapp --severity high || exit 1

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Changelog

v0.2.17 — Precision improvements

• FIX: Windows Defender freeze — DB path now resolves lazily, not at import time
• FIX: XSS false positives — proper HTML entity encoding check before flagging
• FIX: Boolean SQLi false positives — both responses must exceed 2000 bytes
• FIX: Time-based SQLi — requires minimum 8s hard threshold, not just baseline + 4s
• FIX: Tracking parameters (utm_, ref_, locale) now fully skipped in all scanners
• NEW: Progress indicator during web scan — scan never looks frozen
• NEW: pip install "permi[js]" installs Playwright dependencies automatically
• NEW: permi info shows playwright-stealth installation status

v0.2.13 — JS/SPA Support + GitHub Action

• NEW: --js flag for JavaScript-rendered applications (React, Vue, Angular, Next.js)
• NEW: Playwright headless browser integration with stealth mode
• NEW: Network interception — discovers XHR/fetch API endpoints automatically
• NEW: SPA detection warning with exact re-run command shown to user
• NEW: Permi GitHub Action
• NEW: Windows antivirus freeze detection and guidance
• NEW: Scan timer — total duration shown at end of every scan

v0.2.2 — AI Filter + Community Proxy

• Precision filter with three-tier verdict: REAL / REVIEW / FP with 0–100 confidence score
• Community proxy — 50 free credits with permi setup --community
• OpenRouter API key support
• Inline fix templates — exact remediation per finding
• --export flag — save full reports as .txt, .json, or .md
• --include-subdomains flag
• Feedback system — permi feedback

v0.1 — Foundation

• CLI scanner (web + static analysis)
• PyPI distribution (pip install permi)
• 17 detection rules across SQL, XSS, secrets, USSD, insecure practices
• SQLite database at ~/.permi/permi.db

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Contributing

Pull requests welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss significant changes.

If you find a vulnerability in a real application using Permi, please report it responsibly to the affected organisation before disclosing publicly. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full guide, including how to write new vulnerability rules.

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Author

Nasarah Peter Dashe Founder · Cybersecurity Student @ University of Jos, Nigeria github.com/Peternasarah/permi · @peternasarah

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Links

• Website: peternasarah.github.io/permi
• PyPI: pypi.org/project/permi
• GitHub Action: github.com/marketplace/actions/permi-security-scanner
• Issues: github.com/Peternasarah/permi/issues
• Security: SECURITY.md
• License: LICENSE

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License

PERMI COMMUNITY LICENSE — see LICENSE for details.

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Built in Nigeria. For Nigeria. Then for the World.