exploits-search

Vulnetix Exploit Search Skill

This skill searches for vulnerabilities with known exploits across the entire VDB, with filtering by ecosystem, severity, exploit source, EPSS score, and CISA KEV status. Use it to discover exploited vulnerabilities relevant to your repository's technology stack. This skill does not modify application code -- it only updates .vulnetix/memory.yaml to track findings.

How this differs from /vulnetix:exploits: The existing /vulnetix:exploits <vuln-id> skill performs deep analysis of a single known vulnerability (PoC fetching, ATT&CK mapping, CWSS scoring). This skill discovers exploited vulnerabilities across the landscape, optionally filtered to your repository's ecosystems.

Vulnerability Memory (.vulnetix/memory.yaml)

This skill reads and updates the .vulnetix/memory.yaml file in the repository root. This file is shared with /vulnetix:fix, /vulnetix:exploits, /vulnetix:package-search, /vulnetix:vuln, and /vulnetix:remediation.

Schema

The canonical schema is defined in /vulnetix:fix. This skill creates minimal stub entries for newly discovered vulnerabilities that affect the repository.

Reading Prior State

At the start of every invocation:

1. Use Glob to check if .vulnetix/memory.yaml exists in the repo root
2. If it exists, use Read to load it -- used in Step 4 to annotate results with prior status
3. Use Glob for .vulnetix/scans/*.cdx.json -- cross-reference against search results

Writing Updated State

After completing the search (Step 5):

For each result that matches a dependency in the repository and is not already tracked:

1. Create a stub entry with status: under_investigation, discovery.source: scan, decision.choice: investigating, decision.reason: "Discovered via /vulnetix:exploits-search"
2. Append to history: event: discovered, detail: "Found via exploit search (<filters used>)"

For existing entries, do not change status or decision.

VEX Status Mapping

• not_affected --> "Not affected"
• affected --> "Vulnerable"
• fixed --> "Fixed"
• under_investigation --> "Investigating"

Workflow

Step 1: Load Memory and Detect Repository Ecosystems

1. Load .vulnetix/memory.yaml if it exists
2. Use Glob to detect manifest files and determine repository ecosystems:
3. package.json, package-lock.json, yarn.lock, pnpm-lock.yaml --> npm
4. go.mod, go.sum --> go
5. Cargo.toml, Cargo.lock --> cargo
6. requirements.txt, pyproject.toml, Pipfile, poetry.lock, uv.lock --> pypi
7. Gemfile, Gemfile.lock --> rubygems
8. pom.xml, build.gradle, gradle.lockfile --> maven
9. composer.json, composer.lock --> packagist

The detected ecosystem is used as a default filter if the user does not specify one.

Step 2: Parse Filters from User Message

Map the user's natural language and any explicit arguments to CLI flags:

CLI Reference (from vulnetix vdb exploits search docs):

| Flag | Type | Default | Description | |------|------|---------|-------------| | --ecosystem | string | -- | Filter by package ecosystem (npm, pypi, maven, go, cargo, nuget, rubygems, packagist, etc.) | | --source | enum | -- | Filter by exploit source: exploitdb, metasploit, nuclei, vulncheck-xdb, crowdsec, github, poc | | --severity | enum | -- | Filter by CVSS severity: CRITICAL, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW | | --in-kev | bool | false | Only show exploits listed in CISA KEV catalog | | --min-epss | float | -- | Minimum EPSS score threshold (0.0-1.0) | | -q | string | -- | Free-text search query (CVE ID, title, description) | | --sort | enum | recent | Sort order: recent, epss, severity, maturity | | --limit | int | 100 | Maximum results per page (1-100) | | --offset | int | 0 | Pagination offset | | -o, --output | string | pretty | Output format: json or pretty |

Natural language mapping examples:

| User says | Flags | |-----------|-------| | "npm exploits" | --ecosystem npm | | "critical vulnerabilities" | --severity CRITICAL | | "metasploit modules" | --source metasploit | | "actively exploited" / "in KEV" | --in-kev | | "high EPSS" / "likely exploited" | --min-epss 0.7 --sort epss | | "critical npm with metasploit" | --ecosystem npm --severity CRITICAL --source metasploit | | "remote code execution" | -q "remote code execution" | | "sort by severity" | --sort severity | | "sort by maturity" | --sort maturity | | "first 20" / "top 20" | --limit 20 | | "next page" / "more" | --offset <previous + limit> |

Auto-ecosystem detection: If the user does not specify an ecosystem and the repository uses a single ecosystem, automatically add --ecosystem <detected>. If the repo uses multiple ecosystems, ask whether to filter or search across all.

If the argument $ARGUMENTS is provided as free text (not a flag), use it as the -q value.

Step 3: Execute Exploit Search

Build and run the CLI command:

vulnetix vdb exploits search [flags] -o json

Examples:

# Search for critical npm exploits
vulnetix vdb exploits search --ecosystem npm --severity CRITICAL -o json

# CISA KEV entries with high EPSS
vulnetix vdb exploits search --in-kev --min-epss 0.5 --sort epss -o json

# Free-text search
vulnetix vdb exploits search -q "remote code execution" --ecosystem npm -o json

# Metasploit modules for Maven
vulnetix vdb exploits search --source metasploit --ecosystem maven -o json

# Sort by exploitation maturity
vulnetix vdb exploits search --ecosystem pypi --sort maturity --limit 20 -o json

Response structure (from V2 OAS ExploitSearchResult schema):

{
  "timestamp": 1711382400000,
  "total": 142,
  "limit": 100,
  "offset": 0,
  "hasMore": true,
  "filters": { "ecosystem": "npm", "severity": "CRITICAL" },
  "results": [
    {
      "cveId": "CVE-2021-44228",
      "state": "PUBLISHED",
      "title": "Apache Log4j2 JNDI injection",
      "description": "...",
      "aliases": ["GHSA-jfh8-c2jp-5v3q"],
      "metrics": {
        "cvssV3Score": 10.0,
        "cvssV3Vector": "AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H",
        "cvssV4Score": null
      },
      "epss": { "score": 0.97, "percentile": 0.999 },
      "cess": { "score": 0.92 },
      "cwes": [{ "id": "CWE-502", "description": "Deserialization" }],
      "affectedProducts": [{ "vendor": "apache", "product": "log4j" }],
      "fixAvailability": { "hasRegistryFix": true, "hasSourceFix": true },
      "kev": {
        "inCisaKev": true,
        "dateAdded": "2021-12-10",
        "dueDate": "2021-12-24",
        "overdue": true,
        "ransomwareUse": true
      },
      "exploitationMaturity": {
        "score": 95,
        "level": "WIDESPREAD",
        "confidence": "HIGH"
      },
      "exploitTriviality": { "level": "TRIVIAL" },
      "exploitSources": {
        "exploitdb": 3,
        "metasploit": 2,
        "nuclei": 5,
        "github": 12,
        "vulncheckXdb": 1,
        "crowdsec": 1
      },
      "sightings": {
        "totalSightings": 50000,
        "uniqueIPs": 12000,
        "isActive": true
      },
      "timeline": {
        "publishedDate": "2021-12-09",
        "firstExploitDate": "2021-12-09",
        "ageDays": 1567
      },
      "ecosystems": ["maven", "npm"]
    }
  ]
}

Step 4: Present Results

Render a results table:

Exploit Search Results
Filters: ecosystem=npm, severity=CRITICAL
Total: N results (showing 1-20)

| # | CVE ID          | Severity | EPSS | Maturity   | Exploit Sources       | KEV | Fix? |
|---|-----------------|----------|------|------------|-----------------------|-----|------|
| 1 | CVE-2021-44228  | critical | 0.97 | WIDESPREAD | ExDB:3 MSF:2 Nuc:5   | Yes | Yes  |
| 2 | CVE-2024-XXXXX  | critical | 0.82 | ACTIVE     | MSF:1 GH:3            | Yes | Yes  |
| 3 | CVE-2023-YYYYY  | critical | 0.65 | WEAPONIZED | ExDB:1 Nuc:2