CrowdSentinel MCP Server

AI-Powered Threat Hunting & Incident Response Framework

MCP Official Registry · PyPI Package

Open-source threat hunting orchestrator connecting LLMs to enterprise security data via Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Quick Start · Installation · CLI Usage · Features · Architecture · Documentation · Examples

Warning This project is in active development and intended for security testing, research, and educational purposes only. It is not production-ready. Do not deploy in production environments. APIs, tool interfaces, and data formats may change without notice. Use at your own risk.

Demo

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0d0381f0-5b68-43b2-8630-19ec130885b2

What is CrowdSentinel?

CrowdSentinel transforms traditional SIEM querying into intelligent, framework-driven investigations using natural language. It serves as a unified security intelligence layer that connects large language models to enterprise security data sources, enabling:

• Natural Language Threat Hunting — Query Elasticsearch using plain English
• AI-Guided Investigation Workflows — Built-in prompts guide agents through proper IR methodology
• Persistent Investigation State — Memory-managed IoC tracking, forensic timelines, and cross-query correlation that survives across sessions (8GB FIFO storage)
• Cross-Tool IoC Correlation — IoCs discovered in one tool are automatically available to all others
• Multi-Source Analysis — Elasticsearch, EVTX logs (Chainsaw), PCAP files (Wireshark), live endpoint forensics (Velociraptor)
• Velociraptor Endpoint Forensics — 20 MCP tools for live artefact collection (processes, network, persistence, execution evidence, NTFS MFT) with automatic IoC extraction
• DFIR Knowledge Resources — 9 MCP resources exposing investigation playbooks, Pyramid of Pain reference, and cross-correlation guidance directly to connected AI agents
• Standalone CLI — Full threat hunting from the terminal without an MCP client

Installation

Install from PyPI (recommended)

# Install with pip
pip install crowdsentinel-mcp-server

# Or install with uv
uv pip install crowdsentinel-mcp-server

# Download detection rules, Chainsaw, and Sigma rules (one-time)
crowdsentinel setup

Detection rules (6,060 Lucene + EQL + ES|QL) are bundled with the package — no download needed. The setup command downloads additional tools:

• Chainsaw binary for EVTX analysis
• 3,000+ Sigma rules for Chainsaw

Downloaded tools are stored in ~/.crowdsentinel/ and persist across package upgrades.

System dependency for PCAP analysis:

# Required for network traffic analysis and cross-tool IoC correlation
sudo apt install tshark    # Debian/Ubuntu/Kali
sudo dnf install wireshark-cli  # Fedora/RHEL
brew install wireshark     # macOS

Run directly with uvx (no install needed)

# Elasticsearch 8.x (default)
uvx crowdsentinel-mcp-server

# Other backends
uvx crowdsentinel-mcp-server-es7   # Elasticsearch 7.x
uvx crowdsentinel-mcp-server-es9   # Elasticsearch 9.x
uvx opensearch-mcp-server          # OpenSearch 1.x/2.x/3.x

Install from source

git clone https://github.com/thomasxm/CrowdSentinels-AI-MCP.git
cd CrowdSentinels-AI-MCP
chmod +x setup.sh && ./setup.sh

The setup script will:

• Install dependencies (pipx, uv, Claude Code CLI if needed)
• Bundle 6,060 detection rules and download Chainsaw binary
• Prompt for Elasticsearch credentials (never hardcoded)
• Configure the MCP server with Claude Code
• Validate your connection

Installed Size

CrowdSentinel bundles 6,060 detection rules and integrates with external analysis tools. Below is the full disk space breakdown so you can plan accordingly.

Core package (via pip or uvx):

Additional tools (via crowdsentinel setup):

System dependency (via package manager):

Full installation summary:

Note: PyPI download size is only 8.9 MB (wheel) thanks to compression of the bundled detection rules.

Quick Start

1. Set environment variables

export ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS="https://localhost:9200"
export ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY="your_api_key"
# Or use username/password:
# export ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME="elastic"
# export ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD="your_password"
export VERIFY_CERTS="false"

2. Connect to an MCP Client

CrowdSentinel works with any MCP-compatible AI agent. Choose your client below:

claude mcp add crowdsentinel \
  -e ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS="https://localhost:9200" \
  -e ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY="your_api_key" \
  -e VERIFY_CERTS="false" \
  -- uvx crowdsentinel-mcp-server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crowdsentinel": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["crowdsentinel-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS": "https://localhost:9200",
        "ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY": "your_api_key",
        "VERIFY_CERTS": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "crowdsentinel": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["crowdsentinel-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS": "https://localhost:9200",
        "ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY": "your_api_key",
        "VERIFY_CERTS": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crowdsentinel": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["crowdsentinel-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS": "https://localhost:9200",
        "ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY": "your_api_key",
        "VERIFY_CERTS": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crowdsentinel": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["crowdsentinel-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS": "https://localhost:9200",
        "ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY": "your_api_key",
        "VERIFY_CERTS": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crowdsentinel": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["crowdsentinel-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS": "https://localhost:9200",
        "ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY": "your_api_key",
        "VERIFY_CERTS": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

crowdsentinel-mcp-server --transport sse --port 8001
# Connect to: http://localhost:8001/sse/

crowdsentinel-mcp-server --transport streamable-http --port 8001
# Connect to: http://localhost:8001/mcp/

3. Or use the CLI directly

# Download rules and tools (one-time)
crowdsentinel setup

# Check cluster health
crowdsentinel health

# Hunt for threats
crowdsentinel hunt "powershell encoded" -i winlogbeat-*

# Run detection rules
crowdsentinel rules -p windows --tactic credential_access
crowdsentinel detect windows_builtin_win_alert_mimikatz_keywords_lucene -i winlogbeat-*

# Analyse PCAP files
crowdsentinel pcap overview capture.pcap
crowdsentinel pcap beaconing capture.pcap

# Hunt EVTX logs with Chainsaw
crowdsentinel chainsaw hunt /path/to/evtx/ --sigma-rules /path/to/sigma/

CLI Usage

CrowdSentinel provides a full CLI for threat hunting from the terminal:

pip install crowdsentinel-mcp-server
crowdsentinel setup    # Download rules, Chainsaw, Sigma (one-time)
crowdsentinel --help

Available Commands

Output Formats

All commands support --output/-o with three formats:

crowdsentinel hunt "failed login" -i winlogbeat-* -o json     # Structured JSON (default)
crowdsentinel hunt "failed login" -i winlogbeat-* -o table    # Human-readable table
crowdsentinel hunt "failed login" -i winlogbeat-* -o summary  # Condensed summary

Agent Mode (--mcp)

The analyse --mcp flag replaces deterministic analysis with an AI agent that autonomously uses all 97 MCP tools to investigate. The agent follows the 4-phase IR methodology: hunt, analyse, correlate, report.

Authentication:

# Option 1: Browser sign-in (ChatGPT subscription — no API billing)
crowdsentinel auth login

# Option 2: Anthropic (setup-token or API key)
crowdsentinel auth login --provider anthropic

# Option 3: Environment variable
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."   # or OPENAI_API_KEY

# Option 4: Local models (Ollama, vLLM — free)
crowdsentinel analyse --mcp --model-url http://localhost:11434/v1 --model llama3.1

# Check auth status
crowdsentinel auth status

Agent flags:

Pipeline Examples

Deterministic analysis (no API key needed):

# Hunt then analyse
crowdsentinel hunt "powershell encoded" -i winlogbeat-* -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse -c "Encoded PowerShell commands" -o summary

# Investigate failed authentication attempts
crowdsentinel hunt "event.code:4625" -i winlogbeat-* -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse -c "Failed login brute force investigation" -o summary

# Triage process execution and privilege escalation
crowdsentinel hunt "event.code:4688 OR event.code:4672 OR event.code:1" -i winlogbeat-* -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse -c "Process execution and privilege escalation" -o summary

AI agent investigation (requires auth):

# Credential dumping investigation — agent hunts, analyses kill chain, checks adjacent stages
crowdsentinel hunt "mimikatz OR lsass OR procdump" -i winlogbeat-* -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse --mcp -c "Credential dumping tools investigation" --max-steps 15 -o summary

# Encoded PowerShell — full IR workflow with kill chain and adjacent stage hunting
crowdsentinel hunt "powershell -enc OR FromBase64String" -i winlogbeat-* -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse --mcp -c "Full IR workflow: encoded PowerShell" --max-steps 30 -o table

# Process execution with detection rules
crowdsentinel hunt "event.code:4688" -i winlogbeat-* -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse --mcp -c "Execute detection rules against process creation" --max-steps 20 -o summary

# PCAP beaconing — agent generates IoCs and maps to kill chain
crowdsentinel pcap beaconing capture.pcap -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse --mcp -c "Investigate beaconing for C2 infrastructure" --max-steps 10 -o summary

# Anti-forensics investigation
crowdsentinel hunt "event.code:1102" -i winlogbeat-* -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse --mcp -c "Security log cleared - anti-forensics" --max-steps 10 -o summary

# With external MCP server (e.g., VirusTotal)
crowdsentinel hunt "powershell" -i winlogbeat-* -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse --mcp --mcp-server "vt:uvx virustotal-mcp-server" \
  -c "Check IoCs against VirusTotal" -o summary

Key Features

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 LLM Client / Claude Code CLI                    │
└─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┘
                              │ MCP Protocol (stdio/SSE/HTTP)
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    CrowdSentinel MCP Server                      │
│  ┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────────────┐  │
│  │  125+ Tools   │ │ 6,060 Rules   │ │ Security Frameworks   │  │
│  │ - Hunting     │ │ - Lucene      │ │ - Cyber Kill Chain    │  │
│  │ - Detection   │ │ - EQL         │ │ - Pyramid of Pain     │  │
│  │ - Forensics   │ │ - Sigma       │ │ - Diamond Model       │  │
│  │ - Endpoint    │ │               │ │ - MITRE ATT&CK        │  │
│  │ - Network     │ │               │ │                       │  │
│  │ - Enrichment  │ │               │ │ 9 MCP Resources       │  │
│  │ - Correlation │ │               │ │ (DFIR knowledge base) │  │
│  └───────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └───────────────────────┘  │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│  │              Investigation State (Persistent)                ││
│  │    Cross-source IoC sharing, auto-capture, STIX 2.1 export  ││
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
└──────────┬──────────────┬───────────────────┬───────────────────┘
           │              │                   │
  ┌────────┼──────────────┼───────────────┐   │
  ▼        ▼              ▼               ▼   ▼
┌──────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐
│Elasticsearch │ │ Velociraptor  │ │   Chainsaw    │ │   Wireshark   │
│ /OpenSearch  │ │  (EDR/DFIR)   │ │  (EVTX/Sigma) │ │    (PCAP)     │
│   (SIEM)     │ │  (Endpoint)   │ │  (Offline)    │ │  (Network)    │
└──────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └───────────────┘
                          │
  ┌───────────────────────┼───────────────────────┐
  ▼                       ▼                       ▼
┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐
│ Shodan        │ │  VirusTotal   │ │  AbuseIPDB    │
│ InternetDB    │ │     (v3)      │ │  + ThreatFox  │
│  (free/no key)│ │  (free tier)  │ │  (free tier)  │
└───────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └───────────────┘
                          │
                          ▼ (Roadmap)
┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐
│    Splunk     │ │  Carbon Black │ │     Zeek      │
│               │ │  (EDR)        │ │   (NSM/IDS)   │
└───────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └───────────────┘

What's Included

Tool Categories (84 Tools)

Security Frameworks

Detection Rules (6,060 Rules)

Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS, Cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP), Network, Identity

Log Sources: PowerShell, Sysmon, Security Events, Process Creation, Audit logs

Configuration

Environment Variables

# Connection (required — choose one)
ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS="https://localhost:9200"       # Self-hosted
# OR
ELASTICSEARCH_CLOUD_ID="deployment:base64..."      # Elastic Cloud

# Authentication — choose one (in priority order):
ELASTICSEARCH_BEARER_TOKEN="service_token_here"    # Service/bearer token
ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY="your_api_key"               # API key (recommended)
ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME="elastic"                   # Basic auth
ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD="your_password"

# TLS / Certificate verification
VERIFY_CERTS="true"                                # Verify against system CA bundle
# VERIFY_CERTS="/path/to/ca.crt"                   # Verify against custom CA certificate
# ELASTICSEARCH_CA_CERT="/path/to/ca.crt"          # Explicit CA certificate path
# ELASTICSEARCH_CLIENT_CERT="/path/to/client.crt"  # Client certificate (mTLS)
# ELASTICSEARCH_CLIENT_KEY="/path/to/client.key"   # Client private key (mTLS)

# Options
REQUEST_TIMEOUT="30"                               # Request timeout in seconds
DISABLE_HIGH_RISK_OPERATIONS="true"                # Block all write operations

# Threat Intelligence (optional — Shodan InternetDB works without any key)
VIRUSTOTAL_API_KEY="your_vt_key"                   # Free: 500 lookups/day
ABUSEIPDB_API_KEY="your_abuse_key"                 # Free: 1,000 lookups/day
THREATFOX_API_KEY="your_tf_key"                    # Free: unlimited

# MISP Integration (optional — offline JSON export works without a server)
MISP_URL="https://misp.example.org"                # MISP instance URL
MISP_API_KEY="your_misp_key"                       # MISP API key (40-char hex)
# MISP_SSL_VERIFY="true"                           # Set "false" for self-signed (dev only)

Security Warning: Never use VERIFY_CERTS="false" or plain-text passwords in production. Use API keys or service tokens with TLS certificate verification enabled. For self-signed certificates, set ELASTICSEARCH_CA_CERT to your CA certificate path.

Production Configuration Examples

ELASTICSEARCH_CLOUD_ID="my-deployment:dXMtY2VudHJhbC0x..."
ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY="your_cloud_api_key"
VERIFY_CERTS="true"

ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS="https://es-cluster.internal:9200"
ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY="your_api_key"
ELASTICSEARCH_CA_CERT="/etc/elasticsearch/certs/ca.crt"
VERIFY_CERTS="true"

ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS="https://es-cluster.internal:9200"
ELASTICSEARCH_CA_CERT="/etc/elasticsearch/certs/ca.crt"
ELASTICSEARCH_CLIENT_CERT="/etc/elasticsearch/certs/client.crt"
ELASTICSEARCH_CLIENT_KEY="/etc/elasticsearch/certs/client.key"
VERIFY_CERTS="true"

ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS="http://localhost:9200"
ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME="elastic"
ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD="test123"
VERIFY_CERTS="false"

Transport Modes

Disabling Write Operations

For read-only access (recommended for production):

DISABLE_HIGH_RISK_OPERATIONS="true"

This hides destructive tools: create_index, delete_index, index_document, delete_document, delete_by_query, create_data_stream, delete_data_stream, put_alias, delete_alias, general_api_request

Usage Examples

Example 1: Hunt for Brute Force Attacks

You: Hunt for brute force attacks in the last hour

CrowdSentinel: Searching for failed authentication attempts...
[Calls hunt_by_timeframe with attack_types=["brute_force"]]

Found 47 failed login attempts from 3 source IPs targeting the "admin" account.
Top sources:
- 192.168.1.105: 28 attempts
- 10.0.0.42: 15 attempts
- 172.16.0.8: 4 attempts

Example 2: Investigate a Suspicious Host

You: Show me all activity on host DESKTOP-ABC123 in the last 24 hours

CrowdSentinel: Generating a forensic timeline for that host...
[Calls get_host_activity_timeline]

Timeline shows:
- 09:15: User "jsmith" logged in (Event 4624)
- 09:17: PowerShell executed encoded command
- 09:18: New scheduled task created "WindowsUpdate"
- 09:22: Outbound connection to 203.0.113.42:443
- 09:25: LSASS memory access detected

Example 3: Kill Chain Analysis

You: We found C2 beaconing. What should we hunt for next?

CrowdSentinel: Hunting adjacent kill chain stages...
[Calls hunt_adjacent_stages with current_stage="COMMAND_AND_CONTROL"]

Looking backwards (Installation stage):
- Found scheduled task persistence on 3 hosts
- Registry Run key modifications detected

Looking forwards (Actions on Objectives):
- Lateral movement to 2 additional hosts via SMB
- Credential dumping attempts detected

Example 4: Network Traffic Analysis

You: Analyse this PCAP for C2 beaconing

CrowdSentinel: Checking for regular connection intervals...
[Calls detect_beaconing on the PCAP file]

Detected beaconing pattern:
- Host: 192.168.1.50 → 203.0.113.100:443
- Interval: 60 seconds (±2s jitter)
- Duration: 4 hours
- Confidence: HIGH

Recommend blocking 203.0.113.100 and investigating 192.168.1.50.

Example 5: CLI Threat Hunt

# Hunt for encoded PowerShell
crowdsentinel hunt "powershell -enc" -i winlogbeat-* --timeframe 1440 -o json

# Pipe results to analysis
crowdsentinel hunt "event.code:4625" -i winlogbeat-* -o json | \
  crowdsentinel analyse -c "Failed authentication investigation"

# Search detection rules for lateral movement
crowdsentinel rules --tactic lateral_movement -p windows

Compatibility

For Developers

crowdsentinel-mcp-server/
├── src/
│   ├── server.py                 # MCP server entry point
│   ├── version.py                # Version constant
│   ├── risk_config.py            # Write operation controls
│   │
│   ├── cli/                      # Standalone CLI
│   │   └── main.py               # CLI entry point (argparse)
│   │
│   ├── clients/                  # Backend logic layer
│   │   ├── base.py               # Base client, authentication
│   │   ├── exceptions.py         # Exception handling decorators
│   │   └── common/
│   │       ├── client.py         # Unified SearchClient (multiple inheritance)
│   │       ├── threat_hunting.py # Threat hunting queries
│   │       ├── ioc_analysis.py   # IoC extraction & analysis
│   │       ├── cyber_kill_chain.py # Kill chain logic
│   │       ├── rule_loader.py    # Detection rule loading
│   │       └── chainsaw_client.py # EVTX/Sigma integration
│   │
│   ├── tools/                    # MCP tool interfaces (thin wrappers)
│   │   ├── register.py           # Dynamic tool registration
│   │   ├── threat_hunting.py     # Hunting tool definitions
│   │   ├── rule_management.py    # Rule management tools
│   │   ├── chainsaw_hunting.py   # Chainsaw tools
│   │   ├── wireshark_tools.py    # Network analysis tools
│   │   └── investigation_state_tools.py # State management tools
│   │
│   ├── storage/                  # Persistent investigation state
│   │   ├── investigation_state.py # Core state management
│   │   ├── storage_manager.py    # File system storage (8GB FIFO)
│   │   └── models.py             # Pydantic models (IoC, Investigation)
│   │
│   └── wireshark/                # Network traffic analysis
│       ├── core/                 # TShark execution, PCAP parsing
│       ├── hunting/              # Beaconing, lateral movement, IoC hunting
│       ├── baseline/             # Traffic baseline creation
│       ├── extraction/           # File carving from traffic
│       └── reporting/            # NCSC-style reports, timelines
│
├── rules/                        # 6,060 detection rules (EQL + Lucene)
├── chainsaw/                     # Chainsaw binary + 3,000+ Sigma rules
├── skills/                       # Claude Code agent skills
└── tests/                        # Test suites

class YourClient(SearchClientBase):
    def your_method(self, param: str) -> dict:
        # Implementation
        return results

class SearchClient(YourClient, OtherClients, ...):
    pass

class YourTools:
    def __init__(self, client, mcp):
        self.client = client
        self.mcp = mcp

    def register_tools(self):
        @self.mcp.tool()
        def your_tool(param: str) -> str:
            """Tool description for LLM."""
            result = self.client.your_method(param)
            return json.dumps(result)

from src.tools.your_tools import YourTools

def _register_tools(self):
    # ... existing tools ...
    YourTools(self.client, self.mcp).register_tools()

# All tests
uv run pytest

# Specific module
uv run pytest tests/test_investigation_state.py

# With coverage
uv run pytest --cov=src

# Start Elasticsearch
docker-compose -f docker-compose-elasticsearch.yml up -d

# Start OpenSearch
docker-compose -f docker-compose-opensearch.yml up -d

Roadmap

See CHANGELOG.md for detailed version history.

Velociraptor Integration (Live Endpoint Forensics)

CrowdSentinel integrates with Velociraptor for live endpoint forensic artefact collection. When configured, 20 additional MCP tools and 3 cross-correlation tools become available.

Setup

# Install optional dependencies
pip install crowdsentinel-mcp-server[velociraptor]

# Set the Velociraptor API config path
export VELOCIRAPTOR_API_CONFIG="/path/to/api_client.yaml"

The API client config is generated from the Velociraptor server:

velociraptor config api_client --name crowdsentinel --role administrator,api \
  --config server.config.yaml /path/to/api_client.yaml

Available Tools

Cross-Source IoC Sharing

IoCs extracted from Velociraptor artefacts are automatically captured into the active investigation alongside SIEM, Chainsaw, and Wireshark findings. Use get_shared_iocs to retrieve the combined indicator set for cross-source correlation.

SIEM (Elasticsearch)          Endpoint (Velociraptor)
       │                              │
  hunt_by_timeframe()         velociraptor_pslist()
       │                              │
  auto_capture ──────► Investigation State ◄────── auto_capture
                              │
                     get_shared_iocs()

DFIR Knowledge Resources

9 MCP resources provide structured investigation reference data directly to connected AI agents:

Documentation

User Guides

Feature Guides

Developer Guides

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Licence

GNU General Public Licence v3.0 — See LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgements

• MCP Framework: Model Context Protocol by Anthropic
• Chainsaw: EVTX log analyser by WithSecure Labs
• Detection Rules: Community-contributed Sigma and custom rules
• Frameworks: Cyber Kill Chain (Lockheed Martin), Pyramid of Pain (David J. Bianco), Diamond Model, MITRE ATT&CK