Para-Zero v2.0

A production-ready CVE analysis framework for HackTheBox lab automation and vulnerability research.

Quick Links:

• 📖 Installation Guide - Complete setup instructions (10-15 min)
• 🚀 GitHub Repository - Source code
• 🐛 Issues - Report problems

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Features

✓ 280K+ CVE Database - Persistent SQLite storage, offline-first
✓ NVD API Integration - Authenticated API access with delta updates
✓ Multi-Source PoC Crawler - GitHub, Exploit-DB, Metasploit
✓ HTB Lab Analysis - Automated machine vulnerability mapping
✓ Semantic Search - Vector embeddings with Chroma
✓ Professional CLI - 15+ commands for all operations
✓ Optional Ollama - Offline LLM for code generation and analysis

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60-Second Setup

# 1. Clone and enter directory
git clone https://github.com/SecScholar/para-zero.git
cd para-zero

# 2. Create virtual environment and install
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # or venv\Scripts\activate on Windows
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install -e .

# 3. Verify installation
python test_v2.py

# 4. Get started (see INSTALL.md for next steps)
python -m para_zero --help

For detailed setup instructions, see INSTALL.md

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Project Structure

para-zero/
├── src/para_zero/              # Main implementation
│   ├── cli.py                  # Command-line interface
│   ├── storage/
│   │   ├── database.py         # SQLite database layer
│   │   ├── schema.py           # SQLAlchemy ORM models
│   │   └── vectordb.py         # Chroma vector embeddings
│   ├── data/
│   │   ├── nvd_builder.py      # NVD API client (v2.0)
│   │   └── poc_crawler.py      # PoC discovery
│   └── analysis/
│       ├── htb_analyzer.py     # HackTheBox machine analysis
│       └── llm_engine.py       # Ollama integration
├── data/                       # Runtime data directory
├── INSTALL.md                  # Installation & setup guide
├── README.md                   # This file
├── pyproject.toml              # Project metadata
├── requirements.txt            # Python dependencies
└── test_v2.py                  # Unit tests (7/7 passing)

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Common Commands

# Initialize database
python -m para_zero database init

# Download CVEs from NVD (with API key)
export NVD_API_KEY='your-key-here'
python -m para_zero crawl nvd --start-year 2020

# Analyze HackTheBox machines
python -m para_zero analyze htb --machine "Stocker"

# Show all available commands
python -m para_zero --help

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Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• 4 GB disk space (for CVE database)
• 2 GB RAM (minimum)

Optional:

• NVD API Key (free, for authenticated access) - Get at https://nvd.nist.gov/developers/request-an-api-key
• Ollama (for offline LLM) - https://ollama.ai

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Getting Started

1. Follow the Installation Guide - Step-by-step setup
2. Run tests: python test_v2.py - Verify installation
3. Explore the CLI: python -m para_zero --help - See all commands
4. Load sample data: python -m para_zero database load-samples - Try it out

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What You Can Do

Immediately

• Query offline CVE database
• Analyze HackTheBox machines for vulnerabilities
• Run built-in test suite

With NVD API Key

• Download full CVE dataset (50 requests/30 seconds)
• Perform delta updates automatically
• Analyze historical vulnerabilities

With Ollama

• Generate verification code with offline LLMs
• Analyze vulnerability patterns
• Create custom analysis pipelines

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Testing

python test_v2.py

Expected: 7/7 tests pass ✓

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Troubleshooting

ModuleNotFoundError: Ensure virtual environment is activated and -e flag was used:

source venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

Missing dependencies: Reinstall requirements:

pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txt

Database errors: Recreate data directories:

mkdir -p data/{archive,quarantine,research_queue,vectordb}
rm -f data/para_zero.db-wal data/para_zero.db-shm

See INSTALL.md for more troubleshooting.

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License

MIT License - See LICENSE file

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Support

• 📚 Documentation: INSTALL.md
• 🐛 Issues: https://github.com/SecScholar/para-zero/issues
• 📧 Contact: contact@para-zero.dev

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Para-Zero v2.0 | Production Ready | January 2026