Black-box service discovery, classification, and adaptive scan routing

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Driftmux is a black-box auditing tool focused on service discovery, classification, and adaptive scan routing.

It starts by probing a target surface, identifies exposed services and technologies, and then routes each finding to the most suitable scanner. Instead of treating every host the same way, Driftmux adapts its scanning workflow based on what it discovers.

For example:

• generic network discovery with Nmap
• web and exposed service vulnerability checks with Nuclei
• WordPress-specific assessment with Plecost

Driftmux is designed as an orchestrator, not as a monolithic scanner.

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Features

• Black-box service discovery
• Technology-aware scan routing
• Structured output for automation and CI
• Multiple output formats
• Modular scanner integration
• Lightweight CLI workflow
• Extensible architecture for new service detectors and scanners

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Why driftmux?

Many security tools are powerful but noisy. driftmux focuses on orchestration and correlation: it uses existing tools, normalizes their output and decides what should run next.

Feature	driftmux	Raw Nmap	Raw Nuclei	Full scanners
Service discovery	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Version/CPE parsing	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Vulnerability enrichment	Yes	No	Template-based	Yes
Targeted Nuclei execution	Yes	No	Manual	Varies
Scan planning	Yes	No	No	Varies
Lower-noise profiles	Yes	Manual	Manual	Varies
Structured final report	Yes	XML/text	JSONL/text	Varies
Lightweight and scriptable	Yes	Yes	Yes	Often heavier

driftmux is not a replacement for Nmap, Nuclei or dedicated scanners. It is a thin coordination layer that makes them easier to combine.

How it works

Driftmux follows a simple pipeline:

1. Discover exposed ports and services
2. Classify detected applications and technologies
3. Route targets to specialized scanners
4. Aggregate findings into a common data model
5. Render results as console output, JSON, CSV, or Markdown

Example routing logic:

• WordPress detected → Plecost
• HTTP/HTTPS services detected → Nuclei
• Generic open ports detected → Nmap fingerprints

Installation

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• nmap
• nuclei
• plecost

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/<your-user>/driftmux.git
cd driftmux

Install the Python package

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

External tools

Depending on the features you use, install Nmap:

sudo apt install nmap

Nuclei and Plecost are optional, but required for their respective checks.

go install -v github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei/v3/cmd/nuclei@latest
pip install plecost

Usage

Basic scan:

driftmux --host example.org

Scan a specific IP:

driftmux --host 205.87.65.183

Scan known ports:

driftmux --host example.org --ports 80,443,8443

Run with NVD enrichment:

driftmux --host example.org \
  --vuln-backend nvd \
  --min-cvss 7.0

Run a fast profile:

driftmux --host example.org --profile fast

Run a passive profile:

driftmux --host example.org --profile passive

Example output

$ driftmux --host 205.87.65.183  --profile passive   --vuln-backend nvd   --min-cvss 7.0
[205.87.65.183]
Services: 1 | Findings: 4 | Errors: 1
  - 22/tcp     ssh          OpenSSH 9.6p1 Ubuntu 3ubuntu13.16 [ssh]
  * CRITICAL nvd: CVE-2008-3844 affects OpenSSH
  * HIGH nvd: CVE-2024-6387 affects OpenSSH
  * HIGH nvd: CVE-2026-35385 affects OpenSSH
  * HIGH nvd: CVE-2023-51767 affects OpenSSH

Saved report to reports/driftmux-report.json

When Nmap can identify product, version or CPE information, driftmux can use that evidence to enrich findings through vulnerability backends such as NVD.

If a service is reported as tcpwrapped, driftmux can still report the exposed port, but it may not have enough evidence to map it to a specific vulnerable product.

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Scan profiles

Profile	Purpose	Active checks
passive	Conservative discovery and enrichment	No
passive + NVD	Conservative discovery and enrichment	Yes
fast	Practical day-to-day checks	Limited
deep	Broader authorized assessment	More extensive

Use passive for low-noise review, fast for regular checks and deep only when you have explicit authorization for a more complete assessment.

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Roadmap

Planned or possible improvements:

• OS detection support from Nmap XML;
• clearer handling of tcpwrapped services;
• improved Nuclei target planning;
• richer JSON and HTML reports;
• optional SARIF export;
• better test coverage for planners and scanners.

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Disclaimer

driftmux is provided for defensive and authorized security work only. You are responsible for complying with all applicable laws, regulations and rules of engagement.