performing-ai-assisted-vulnerability-discovery

name	performing-ai-assisted-vulnerability-discovery
description	Using LLMs to accelerate vulnerability research and pentest workflows — generating syntax-valid fuzzing seeds and evolving grammars, fine-tuned mutation dictionaries, parallel agent-based proof-of-vulnerability generation, and evidence-driven passive analysis of real HTTP traffic via the Burp MCP server. Covers concrete prompts, AFL++/ libFuzzer wiring, and Burp+Codex/Gemini/Ollama MCP setup.
domain	cybersecurity
subdomain	ai-security
tags	["penetration-testing","ai-security","fuzzing","vulnerability-research","burp-mcp"]
version	1.0
author	xalgorix
license	Apache-2.0

Performing AI-Assisted Vulnerability Discovery

When to Use

• During authorized vulnerability research where complex input formats (SQL, URLs, custom/binary protocols) stall a blind fuzzer
• When bootstrapping a coverage-guided fuzzer (AFL++, libFuzzer, Honggfuzz) that needs syntax-valid, security-relevant seeds
• When you have crash candidates and need to scale proof-of-vulnerability (PoV) generation across many agents/models
• When triaging large volumes of real Burp HTTP traffic and want evidence-driven passive analysis + report drafting
• When working under cost/time budgets (bug-bounty, CTF, AIxCC-style cyber reasoning systems)

Critical: Techniques Most Often Missed

Teams either ignore LLMs entirely or paste code and hope. The high-value patterns are about feeding the model coverage feedback and keeping the human/Burp as the source of truth.

1. LLM seed generation for semantic validity (deeper coverage early)

SYSTEM: You are a helpful security engineer.
USER: Write a Python3 program that prints 200 unique SQL injection strings targeting common
anti-pattern mistakes (missing quotes, numeric context, stacked queries). Ensure length <= 256
bytes/string so they survive common length limits.

python3 gen_sqli_seeds.py > seeds.txt
afl-fuzz -i seeds.txt -o findings/ -- ./target @@

Ask for a single self-contained script and tell it to diversify encoding (UTF-8, URL-encoded, UTF-16-LE).

2. Coverage-feedback grammar evolution ("Grammar Guy")

The previous grammar triggered 12 % of the program edges. Functions not reached: parse_auth,
handle_upload. Add / modify rules to cover these.

for epoch in range(MAX_EPOCHS):
    grammar = llm.refine(grammar, feedback=coverage_stats)   # use diff+patch, not full rewrite
    save(grammar, f"grammar_{epoch}.txt")
    coverage_stats = run_fuzzer(grammar)                     # stop when Δcoverage < ε

3. Fine-tuned mutation dictionary for memory-safety bugs

# AFL_CUSTOM_MUTATOR dictionary entries suggested by a model fine-tuned on vuln patterns
{"pattern":"%99999999s"}
{"pattern":"AAAAAAAA....<1024>....%n"}

Prompt: "Give mutation dictionary entries likely to break memory safety in function X." Empirically >2× faster time-to-crash.

4. Parallel agent-based PoV generation

Spawn many lightweight agents (different models/temperatures); each reproduces the crash with gdb, proposes a minimal payload, validates it in a sandbox, and re-queues failures as new fuzz seeds.

How to CONFIRM a hit (avoid false negatives / hallucinations)

• Deterministic PoV: the model's claimed bug must reproduce — feed the exact input to the target under gdb/ASan and confirm the same crash PC / sanitizer message. No reproduction = not a finding.
• Coverage delta: a new grammar/seed set is "working" only if edges/blocks hit actually increase; measure, don't trust the prompt.
• Evidence-bound (Burp MCP): every reported web finding must cite the real request/response in Burp — the model is for analysis/reporting, not blind scanning. Re-check the raw traffic.
• Treat all LLM output as untrusted hypotheses; validate before submitting (wrong patches/PoVs cost points/credibility).

Workflow

Step 1: Generate and load seeds

python3 gen_sqli_seeds.py > seeds.txt          # or XSS/path-traversal/binary-blob variants
afl-fuzz -i seeds.txt -o findings/ -- ./target @@

Step 2: Evolve a grammar against coverage

1. Prompt the model for an initial ANTLR/Peach/libFuzzer grammar.
2. Fuzz N minutes; collect edges/blocks hit.
3. Summarize uncovered functions, feed back, ask for diff/patch rules.
4. Merge, re-fuzz, repeat until Δcoverage < ε (mind the token budget).

Step 3: Add a fine-tuned custom mutator

Run static analysis -> function list + AST.
Prompt fine-tuned model for mutation-dictionary tokens per risky function (sprintf wrappers, etc.).
Wire tokens into AFL_CUSTOM_MUTATOR.

Step 4: Scale PoV generation and triage

Static/dynamic analysis -> bug candidates (crash PC, input slice, sanitizer msg).
Orchestrator -> N agents: reproduce (gdb), propose payload, validate in sandbox, submit on success.
Failed attempts re-queue as coverage seeds (feedback loop).

Step 5: Multi-bug super-patch (optional, scoring-aware)

Here are 10 stack traces + file snippets. Identify the shared mistake and generate a unified diff
fixing all occurrences.

Interleave confirmed (PoV-validated) and speculative patches at a tuned ratio (e.g. 2 speculative : 1 confirmed).

Step 6: Evidence-driven web analysis with Burp MCP

# Install the Burp MCP Server BApp (listens on 127.0.0.1:9876), extract the proxy JAR, point a client at the SSE endpoint:
cat > ~/.codex/config.toml <<'EOF'
[mcp_servers.burp]
command = "java"
args = ["-jar", "/absolute/path/to/mcp-proxy.jar", "--sse-url", "http://127.0.0.1:19876"]
EOF
codex      # then run /mcp to verify the Burp tools list

If the MCP handshake fails on strict Origin/header checks, front it with a local Caddy reverse proxy that pins Host/Origin to 127.0.0.1:9876 and strips User-Agent/Accept/Accept-Encoding/Connection (which trigger Burp's 403 during SSE init):

brew install caddy
caddy run --config ~/burp-mcp/Caddyfile &

Step 7: Run evidence-focused analysis prompts (burp-mcp-agents)

passive_hunter.md  broad passive surfacing | idor_hunter.md  IDOR/BOLA/tenant drift
auth_flow_mapper.md  auth vs unauth path diff | ssrf_redirect_hunter.md  SSRF/open-redirect
logic_flaw_hunter.md  multi-step logic flaws | report_writer.md  evidence-focused reporting

Prefer local models (Ollama: deepseek-r1:14b ~16GB, gpt-oss:20b ~20GB) when traffic holds secrets; share only the minimum evidence per finding. Tag your traffic so it is auditable:

Match:   ^User-Agent: (.*)$
Replace: User-Agent: $1 BugBounty-Username

Key Concepts

Concept	Description
LLM seed generation	Model emits syntax-valid, security-relevant inputs so the fuzzer reaches deep branches early
Grammar evolution	Iteratively refine an input grammar using coverage feedback (Grammar Guy pattern)
Custom mutator dict	Fine-tuned model supplies tokens (%n, oversized %s) that break memory safety faster
Agent-based PoV	Many parallel LLM agents reproduce/validate crashes; failures recycle as new seeds
Super-patch	One unified diff that fixes a root cause shared across multiple crashes
Evidence-driven review	Burp stays source of truth; the LLM reasons over real requests/responses, no blind scanning
Privacy mode	Local backends / redaction prevent leaking cookies/PII to cloud models

Tools & Systems

Tool	Purpose
AFL++ / libFuzzer / Honggfuzz	Coverage-guided fuzzers consuming LLM seeds, grammars, and custom mutators
LLM (GPT/Claude/Mixtral/Llama)	Seed/grammar generation, mutation dicts, PoV reasoning, patch synthesis
Burp MCP Server (BApp)	Exposes intercepted HTTP(S) traffic to MCP clients on 127.0.0.1:9876
mcp-proxy.jar + Caddy	Bridge stdio↔SSE and normalize headers for the strict MCP handshake
Codex / Gemini CLI / Ollama	MCP clients/backends (cloud or local) for traffic analysis
burp-mcp-agents	Prompt pack (passive/idor/ssrf/logic/report hunters) + launcher helpers
Burp AI Agent	Couples local/cloud LLMs with passive/active analysis and 53+ MCP tools

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Stalled parser fuzzing

A binary protocol parser shows flat coverage. LLM-generated syntax-valid seeds plus a coverage-evolved grammar push edges from 12% upward and surface a crash in handle_upload.

Scenario 2: Crash-to-PoV at scale

Dozens of ASan crashes need PoVs under a deadline. Parallel agents reproduce each in gdb, generate minimal payloads, and validate in a sandbox, recycling misses as seeds.

Scenario 3: Passive bug bounty triage

Hundreds of Burp requests are analyzed via the idor_hunter.md and ssrf_redirect_hunter.md prompts through a local Ollama model, flagging object-ID drift backed by real request/response evidence.

Scenario 4: Sensitive-data engagement

Traffic contains session cookies/PII, so a local deepseek-r1:14b backend with STRICT privacy mode is used, sharing only minimal evidence and keeping an integrity-hashed audit log.

Output Format

## AI-Assisted Discovery Finding

**Technique**: LLM-assisted fuzzing / evidence-driven Burp MCP analysis
**Severity**: Per confirmed vulnerability (set after PoV reproduction)
**Target**: <binary/function or HTTP endpoint>

### Method
- Seeds/grammar: <prompt + coverage delta achieved, e.g. 12% -> 41% edges>
- PoV: <agent/model that reproduced; gdb crash PC + sanitizer message>
- Burp evidence: <request/response IDs cited from Burp history>

### Validation
| Check | Result |
|-------|--------|
| Deterministic reproduction | yes (ASan heap-buffer-overflow @ parse_auth) |
| Coverage increase measured | +29% edges |
| Evidence cited from Burp | req #482 / resp #482 |

### Recommendation
1. Fix the confirmed root cause; consider the super-patch diff if multiple crashes share it
2. Add the generated seeds/grammar to regression fuzzing CI
3. Keep cloud LLM usage in privacy/redaction mode; prefer local models for sensitive traffic; require PoV reproduction before reporting