Kali MCP Server

A production-ready MCP (Model Context Protocol) server running in a Kali Linux Docker container, providing AI assistants with access to 35 security tools covering the full offensive security lifecycle.

Overview

This project provides a Docker containerized MCP server that runs on Kali Linux, giving AI assistants (like Claude) access to a full suite of security and penetration testing tools. The server communicates via Server-Sent Events (SSE) or stdio and allows AI to execute commands in a controlled environment.

Quick Start

Building and Running the Container

# Quick start with the helper script
./run_docker.sh

# Or with Docker Compose
docker compose up --build -d

# Or manually:
docker build -t kali-mcp-server .
docker run -p 8000:8000 kali-mcp-server

Development Checks

# install dev dependencies
./run_tests.sh install

# individual checks
./run_tests.sh typecheck     # pyright
./run_tests.sh lint          # ruff check .
./run_tests.sh format        # ruff format .
./run_tests.sh test          # pytest
./run_tests.sh test-tools    # pytest tests/test_tools.py
./run_tests.sh test-session  # pytest -k "session"

# run install + typecheck + lint + tests
./run_tests.sh all

Connecting to Claude Desktop

1. Edit your Claude Desktop config file at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kali-mcp-server": {
      "transport": "sse",
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/sse",
      "command": "docker compose up -d"
    }
  }
}

2. Restart Claude Desktop
3. Test with: /run nmap -F localhost

Available MCP Tools (35)

Core Tools

Tool	Description
run	Execute shell commands in the Kali Linux environment
fetch	Fetch and analyze web content from URLs
resources	List available system resources and command examples

Reconnaissance & Scanning

Tool	Description
port_scan	Smart nmap wrapper with scan presets (quick, full, stealth, udp, service, aggressive)
dns_enum	Comprehensive DNS enumeration with zone transfer attempts
network_discovery	Multi-stage network reconnaissance and discovery
subdomain_enum	Subdomain enumeration using subfinder, amass, waybackurls
recon_auto	Automated multi-stage reconnaissance pipeline

Web Application Testing

Tool	Description
vulnerability_scan	Automated vulnerability assessment with multiple tools
web_enumeration	Web application discovery and enumeration
web_audit	Comprehensive web application security audit
spider_website	Web crawling and spidering using gospider
form_analysis	Discover and analyze web forms
header_analysis	HTTP header security analysis
ssl_analysis	SSL/TLS security assessment using testssl.sh

Credential & Brute-Force Attacks

Tool	Description
hydra_attack	Brute-force credential testing via hydra (SSH, FTP, HTTP, SMB, MySQL, RDP, etc.)
credential_store	Store/retrieve discovered credentials tied to sessions

Payload & Exploit Tools

Tool	Description
payload_generate	Generate payloads using msfvenom (reverse shell, bind shell, meterpreter)
reverse_shell	Generate reverse shell one-liners for bash, python, php, perl, powershell, nc, ruby, java
exploit_search	Search for exploits using searchsploit

Encoding & Hash Tools

Tool	Description
encode_decode	Multi-format encoding/decoding (base64, URL, hex, HTML, ROT13)
hash_identify	Identify hash types with Hashcat mode and John format lookup

Share Enumeration

Tool	Description
enum_shares	SMB/NFS share enumeration (smbclient, enum4linux, showmount)

Output Parsing

Tool	Description
parse_nmap	Parse nmap text/XML output into structured JSON findings
parse_tool_output	Parse output from nikto, gobuster, dirb, hydra, or sqlmap

Evidence & Reporting

Tool	Description
save_output	Save content to timestamped files for evidence collection
create_report	Generate structured reports (markdown, text, JSON)
file_analysis	Analyze files (type detection, strings, hashes, metadata)
download_file	Download files from URLs with hash verification

Session Management

Tool	Description
session_create	Create a new pentest session
session_list	List all sessions with metadata
session_switch	Switch between sessions
session_status	Show current session status
session_delete	Delete a session and its evidence
session_history	Show command history for current session

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Tool Details

port_scan - Smart Nmap Wrapper

Runs nmap with predefined scan presets, generating both text and XML output.

/port_scan target=192.168.1.1 scan_type=quick
/port_scan target=10.0.0.0/24 scan_type=aggressive ports=80,443,8080

Scan Presets:

Preset	Nmap Flags
quick	-F -sV
full	-sS -sV -p-
stealth	-sS -T2 --max-retries 1
udp	-sU --top-ports 100
service	-sV --version-intensity 5 -sC
aggressive	-A -T4

dns_enum - DNS Enumeration

Queries all DNS record types and attempts zone transfers.

/dns_enum domain=example.com
/dns_enum domain=target.com record_types=a,mx,ns,txt

recon_auto - Automated Recon Pipeline

Runs a multi-stage reconnaissance pipeline with configurable depth.

/recon_auto target=example.com depth=quick
/recon_auto target=10.0.0.1 depth=standard
/recon_auto target=target.com depth=deep

Depth Levels:

Depth	Phases
quick	DNS enumeration, quick port scan, header analysis
standard	+ service scan, SSL analysis, exploit search
deep	+ subdomain enumeration, web enumeration, vulnerability scan

hydra_attack - Brute-Force Testing

/hydra_attack target=192.168.1.1 service=ssh username=admin passlist=/usr/share/wordlists/rockyou.txt
/hydra_attack target=10.0.0.1 service=ftp userlist=users.txt passlist=passwords.txt threads=32

Supported Services: ssh, ftp, http-get, http-post-form, smb, mysql, rdp, telnet, vnc, pop3, imap, smtp

payload_generate - Msfvenom Payloads

/payload_generate payload_type=reverse_shell platform=linux lhost=10.0.0.1 lport=4444 format=elf
/payload_generate payload_type=meterpreter platform=windows lhost=10.0.0.1 format=exe

Payload Types: reverse_shell, bind_shell, meterpreter Platforms: linux, windows, osx, php, python Formats: elf, exe, raw, python, php, war

reverse_shell - Shell One-Liners

Generates ready-to-use reverse shell commands with listener hints.

/reverse_shell lhost=10.0.0.1 shell_type=bash lport=4444
/reverse_shell lhost=10.0.0.1 shell_type=python lport=9999

Shell Types: bash, python, php, perl, powershell, nc, ruby, java

encode_decode - Encoding Utility

/encode_decode data="hello world" operation=encode format=base64
/encode_decode data="aGVsbG8gd29ybGQ=" operation=decode format=base64
/encode_decode data="<script>alert(1)</script>" operation=encode format=html

Formats: base64, url, hex, html, rot13

hash_identify - Hash Identification

Identifies hash types by regex and returns Hashcat mode numbers and John format names.

/hash_identify hash_value=5d41402abc4b2a76b9719d911017c592
/hash_identify hash_value=$2y$10$abcdefghijklmnopqrstuuABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ012345

Supported Types: MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512, bcrypt, SHA-512/256/MD5 Crypt, NTLM, Apache APR1, MySQL, Django

enum_shares - Share Enumeration

/enum_shares target=192.168.1.1 enum_type=all
/enum_shares target=10.0.0.1 enum_type=smb username=admin password=pass

Enum Types: smb (smbclient + enum4linux), nfs (showmount), all

credential_store - Credential Management

Stores discovered credentials as JSON tied to the active session.

/credential_store action=add username=admin password=pass123 service=ssh target=10.0.0.1
/credential_store action=list
/credential_store action=search username=admin

parse_nmap - Nmap Output Parser

Parses both text and XML nmap output into structured JSON with hosts, open ports, services, OS detection, and script output.

/parse_nmap filepath=port_scan_10_0_0_1_quick_20240101_120000.txt
/parse_nmap filepath=scan_results.xml

parse_tool_output - Generic Output Parser

Auto-detects and parses output from nikto, gobuster, dirb, hydra, or sqlmap.

/parse_tool_output filepath=nikto_results.txt
/parse_tool_output filepath=gobuster_output.txt tool_type=gobuster

vulnerability_scan

/vulnerability_scan target=127.0.0.1 scan_type=quick
/vulnerability_scan target=example.com scan_type=comprehensive

Scan Types: quick, comprehensive, web, network

web_enumeration

/web_enumeration target=http://example.com enumeration_type=full

Types: basic, full, aggressive

network_discovery

/network_discovery target=192.168.1.0/24 discovery_type=comprehensive

Types: quick, comprehensive, stealth

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Pre-installed Tools

The Docker container includes the following tools, all enabled for use through the run command:

Category	Tools
Network Scanning	nmap, masscan, netcat, tcpdump, tshark
Web Testing	nikto, gobuster, dirb, sqlmap, wfuzz, ffuf, feroxbuster, whatweb, wafw00f
Exploitation	metasploit-framework (msfconsole, msfvenom), searchsploit
Credential Attacks	hydra, hashcat, john
Information Gathering	whois, dig, nslookup, amass, subfinder, theharvester, recon-ng, fierce, dnsenum, dnsrecon
Web Crawling	gospider, waybackurls
Share Enumeration	smbclient, enum4linux, showmount (nfs-common)
SSL/TLS	testssl.sh, openssl
HTTP Probing	httpx-toolkit, curl, wget
File Analysis	file, strings, binwalk, exiftool, xxd, hexdump
Utilities	python3, perl, ruby, php, git, base64, jq

All commands are allowed by default inside the container. The container itself is the security boundary.

Security Considerations

• Container isolation: The server runs inside an isolated Docker container. Root is used inside the container because many security tools (nmap SYN scans, tcpdump, etc.) require raw socket access
• Input sanitization: Shell metacharacters (;, &, |) are stripped from all command input
• No host access: The container has no access to the host filesystem or network stack (unless volumes are explicitly mounted)
• Authorization required: Only use for legitimate security testing with proper authorization
• Local only: The container should not be exposed to the internet

Requirements

• Docker
• Claude Desktop or other MCP client (SSE or stdio)
• Port 8000 available on your host machine

Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/kali-mcp-server.git
cd kali-mcp-server

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Running Checks

# All checks
./run_tests.sh

# Individual
pyright                          # Type checking
ruff check .                     # Linting
ruff format .                    # Formatting
pytest                           # All tests
pytest tests/test_tools.py       # Single file
pytest -k "session"              # Pattern match

Architecture

Adding a new tool requires changes in three places:

1. kali_mcp_server/tools.py - Implement the async function
2. kali_mcp_server/server.py - Add dispatch in handle_tool_request() and schema in list_available_tools()
3. tests/ - Add tests in both test_tools.py and test_server.py

Acknowledgements

• Kali Linux for their security-focused distribution
• Anthropic for Claude and the MCP protocol
• The open-source security tools community

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_{Built for security professionals and AI assistants}