| name | cve-triage |
| description | CVE lookup and triage — map discovered services/versions to known CVEs via the cve_lookup tool, score by CVSS/exploitability, and prioritize what to verify first. |
| routing | {"phases":["vuln_discovery"],"task_types":["triage"]} |
CVE Triage
Turn version/banner evidence from recon into a prioritized, exploitability-aware
list of CVEs worth verifying. Use this after fingerprinting a service, when a
banner or Server: header reveals a product and version, or whenever the target
exposes software with a known version.
The cve_lookup tool
VulnClaw ships a read-only cve_lookup tool backed by NVD:
- Keyword search —
cve_lookup(query="Apache httpd 2.4.49", limit=5) returns
the top CVEs sorted by CVSS, highest first.
- CVE-ID detail —
cve_lookup(query="CVE-2021-44228") returns the full record
plus best-effort exploit / PoC repositories discovered on GitHub.
It performs no egress to the target and is safe during recon. Without an
NVD_API_KEY it still works (lower rate limit); set one for heavier use.
Workflow
- Extract product + version from recon — service banners,
Server headers,
JS bundles, login footers, package manifests. A precise version string
(OpenSSH 8.2p1, nginx 1.18.0) yields far better matches than a bare name.
- Query
cve_lookup with "<product> <version>". Pull the detail record for
any high/critical hit by re-querying its CVE-ID.
- Score & prioritize — see
references/cve-triage-workflow.md. Rank by CVSS,
then by exploit availability, then by exposure (is the vulnerable surface
actually reachable on this target?).
- Confirm version applicability — match the target's version against the
CVE's affected
cpe range before claiming it. Banner ≠ proof of vulnerability.
- Record findings with the CVE-ID, CVSS, and the evidence that maps this
target to it. Mark unconfirmed version-only matches as needs-manual-review,
not verified.
Pitfalls
- A keyword match is a hypothesis, not a finding — version ranges and backported
patches mean a banner version can be patched in place.
- GitHub "PoC" repos are unverified third-party code; treat as leads, never run
blindly against a target.
- Prefer the CVSS base score for triage, but let exploit availability and real
exposure override raw score when prioritizing verification effort.
