Cyber security

Mantis: The Comprehensive Command-Line Framework for Asset Discovery and Security Scanning

Mantis is a command-line framework designed to automate the workflow of asset discovery, reconnaissance, and scanning. It takes the top-level domains as input, then seamlessly progresses to discovering corresponding assets, including subdomains and certificates. The tool performs reconnaissance on active assets and concludes with a comprehensive scan for vulnerabilities, secrets, misconfigurations and phishing domains – all powered by a blend of open-source and custom tools.

Features

  • Automated Discovery, Recon & Scan
  • Distributed Scanning (split a single scan across multiple machines)
  • Super-Easy Scan Customisation
  • Dashboard Support
  • Vulnerability Management
  • Advanced Alerting
  • DNS Service Integration
  • Integrate new tool (existing and custom) in minutes

Click here to know more about the features in detail.

Modules

  • Discovery
    • Subdomains
    • Certificates
  • Recon
    • Open Ports
    • Technologies
    • CDN
    • WAF
    • Web Server
    • IP
    • ASN Information
    • Location
  • Scan
    • Domain Level Vulnerabilities and Misconfigurations
    • Secrets Scanning
    • Phishing Domains

Installation

Mantis supports multiple installation types. Installing Mantis via Docker would be a good start to get a hang of the framework.

Considering that Mantis also includes MongoDB and AppSmith, we have provided a shell script that installs all the components.

Minimum System Requirements (Single Machine Scan)

  • Supported OS: Ubuntu, macOS
  • RAM – 4GB
  • Cores – 2
  • Storage – 16GB

Docker

Setup Video – Click Here

Clone the Mantis repository

git clone https://github.com/PhonePe/mantis.git

cd into the Mantis directory

cd mantis/setup/docker

Run the respective docker setup file based on your OS

./docker-setup-macos.sh

./docker-setup-ubuntu.sh

For uninstalling Mantis (remove all the resources created by installation), run the following command in the same directory

docker compose down

Dashboard Setup

Once the docker setup is complete, please run a scan and follow the below instructions to setup the dashboard.

mantis onboard -o org_name -t example.in   
  • The dashboard is accessible at http://mantis.dashboard:1337
  • Once you access the dashboard, create an account on AppSmith.
  • Now go to base url
  • Click on 3 dots on right side of the home page and import the template from dashboard_templates folder
  • You will be asked to enter db information, enter the following information:
    • host – mantis.db
    • port – 27017
    • default db – mantis

Assets

Vulnerabilities

Command Line Options


  usage: 
        ONBOARD: (First time scan, Run this !!)

        mantis onboard -o example_org -t www.example.org
        mantis onboard -o example_org -f file.txt

        SCAN:

        mantis scan -o example_org
        mantis scan -o example_org -a example_app
            

options:
  -h, --help      list command line options

subparser:
  {onboard,scan}
    onboard       Onboard a target
    scan          Scan an org
usage: 
        ONBOARD: (First time scan, Run this !!)

        mantis onboard -o example_org -t example.tld
        mantis onboard -o example_org -f file.txt

            

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -t HOST, --host HOST  top level domain to scan
  -f FILE_NAME, --file_input FILE_NAME
                        path to file containing any combination of TLD, subdomain, IP-range, IP-CIDR
  -w WORKFLOW, --workflow WORKFLOW
                        workflow to be executed as specified in config file
  -o ORG, --org ORG     name of the organisation
  -a APP, --app APP     scan only subdomains that belong to an app
  -p, --passive         run passive port scan
  -s, --stale           mark domains as stale (domains purchased but not in use)
  -i, --ignore_stale    ignore stale domains during scan
  -tc THREAD_COUNT, --thread_count THREAD_COUNT
                        thread count, default 10
  -r, --use_ray         use ray framework for distributed scans
  -n NUM_ACTORS, --num_actors NUM_ACTORS
                        number of ray actors, default 10
  -d, --delete_logs     delete logs of previous scans
  -v, --verbose         print debug logs
  -aws AWS_PROFILES, --aws_profiles AWS_PROFILES
                        List of comma separated aws profiles for Route53

Run a scan

You want to onboard an org with its TLDs/IPs/IP-CIDRs/IP Range for the first time, use the onboard mode. This runs the scan on the default workflow.

TLD

mantis onboard -o org_name -t example.in   

IP

mantis onboard -o org_name -t 10.123.123.12

IP-Range

mantis onboard -o org_name -t 203.0.113.0-10

IP-CIDR

mantis onboard -o org_name -t 203.0.113.0/24

Onboard Known Assets and Scan

mantis onboard -o org_name -f input.txt

Scan on all assets belonging to an organisation

Now that you have onboarded, you just need to run scheduled scans for an org, you can just use the scan mode

mantis scan -o org_name

Scan on all assets belonging to an organisation and app

 mantis scan -o org_name -a app_name
Varshini

Varshini is a Cyber Security expert in Threat Analysis, Vulnerability Assessment, and Research. Passionate about staying ahead of emerging Threats and Technologies.

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