threatkb

threatkb

threatkb answers questions about the MITRE ATT&CK knowledge base from a dataset file you keep on your own machine: look a technique up by its ATT&CK id or by an approximate name, pull the full record for a technique (platforms, kill-chain phases, references, sub-techniques, mitigations, detections), list the mitigations or detections tied to a technique, and list the tactics the dataset knows about. One binary serves a command-line interface and a stdio MCP server.

There is no bundled dataset and no network service behind this tool. You point it at a STIX bundle in the enterprise-attack.json shape (the layout MITRE publishes for the enterprise matrix) with the THREATKB_DATA_FILE environment variable. When the variable is unset or the file cannot be read, the query commands fail with an error naming the missing dataset instead of guessing — threatkb never invents ATT&CK data. threatkb info still answers in that state and reports dataset_loaded: false with the reason.

Install

THREATKB_DATA_FILE=/path/to/enterprise-attack.json npx @reneturcios/threatkb tactics

Or run the container image:

docker run -i -e THREATKB_DATA_FILE=/data/enterprise-attack.json \
  -v /path/to/data:/data ghcr.io/cloudcorprecords/threatkb

The container defaults to the MCP server (see below). Pass CLI arguments to use it as a CLI instead.

CLI

export THREATKB_DATA_FILE=/path/to/enterprise-attack.json

threatkb query --id T1059
threatkb query --name "command and scripting"
threatkb full --id T1059
threatkb full --name PowerShell
threatkb mitigations T1059
threatkb detections T1059
threatkb tactics
threatkb info

threatkb --version

Results print as JSON. Technique searches return {results: [...], count: N}; mitigation and detection queries return {technique_id, results: [...], count: N} for the one technique asked about, and an unknown technique id is an error. Exit codes: 0 on success, 1 when a query fails (including a missing dataset), 2 for usage errors.

Lookup rules: an id lookup is exact and case-insensitive (t1059 finds T1059). A name lookup is fuzzy — exact name first, then names starting with the query, then names containing it, then names containing every word of the query.

MCP server

One bin serves both faces. The mcp subcommand starts a stdio MCP server:

npx -y @reneturcios/threatkb mcp

MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "threatkb": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@reneturcios/threatkb", "mcp"],
      "env": {
        "THREATKB_DATA_FILE": "/path/to/enterprise-attack.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

Tool	Input	What it returns
query_technique	technique_id or tech_name (one required in practice)	Matching technique summaries as {results, count}.
search_technique_full	technique_id or tech_name	The same matches with full detail: platforms, kill-chain phases, references, sub-techniques, mitigations, detections.
query_mitigations	technique_id (required)	Mitigations linked to that technique.
query_detections	technique_id (required)	Detections linked to that technique.
list_tactics	(none)	Every tactic in the dataset as {results, count}.
server_info	(none)	Server name, version, dataset path, whether the dataset loaded, and object counts when it did.

How the STIX dataset is read

threatkb indexes a deliberately simplified slice of the STIX model, documented here so the limits are clear:

• Techniques are attack-pattern objects; the ATT&CK id comes from the external_references entry with source name mitre-attack. Tactics come from a technique's kill_chain_phases phase names.
• Tactics are x-mitre-tactic objects (with x_mitre_shortname).
• Mitigations are course-of-action objects linked to a technique by a mitigates relationship.
• Detections are detects relationships pointing at the technique; the relationship's source (usually an x-mitre-data-component) is resolved, including its data source name when linked. A technique's x_mitre_detection guidance text is also returned as a detection entry.
• Sub-techniques are recognised by x_mitre_is_subtechnique or a dotted id; the parent comes from a subtechnique-of relationship when present, otherwise from the id prefix.

Revocation/deprecation flags, analytics, data-source coverage scoring, and group/software attribution are out of scope.

Development

npm install
npm run build   # tsc -> dist/
npm test        # node test runner over test/*.test.ts, on a hand-written STIX fixture, no real dataset needed
npm run dev     # run the CLI from source via tsx

License

MIT — see LICENSE.