MITRE ATT&CK

mitre-mcp: MITRE ATT&CK MCP Server

Production-ready Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes the MITRE ATT&CK® framework to LLMs, AI assistants, and automation workflows. Built with the official MCP Python SDK and mitreattack-python library for secure, high-performance access to adversary tactics, techniques, groups, software, and mitigations.

Available in the [MCP Registry](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io) (search for io.github.luongnv89/mitre-mcp).

Highlights

• LLM-native experience – Seamless integration with Claude, Windsurf, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible client
• Secure-by-default – Validated inputs, TLS verification, disk-space checks, and structured error handling
• High performance – O(1) technique lookups using pre-built indices (80-95% faster than scanning)
• Flexible deployment – stdio for local clients or HTTP server for web-based integrations

Table of Contents

• Features
• Available MCP Tools
• Quick Start
• Web Frontend
• Documentation
• Configuration
• Performance
• Programmatic API
• Development
• Troubleshooting
• FAQ
• License

Features

• Comprehensive MITRE ATT&CK Coverage - All techniques, tactics, groups, software, and mitigations
• Multi-Domain Support - Enterprise, Mobile, and ICS ATT&CK domains
• Intelligent Caching - Atomic, per-user caching with conditional refreshes, stale-serve with background refresh, and configurable expiry (default: 14 days)
• Fast Startup - Enterprise loads eagerly; mobile and ICS domains lazy-load on first use
• Performance Optimized - O(1) lookups using pre-built indices (80-95% faster)
• Dual Transport Modes - stdio for local clients, HTTP for web integrations
• CORS-Enabled HTTP Server - Async notifications and cross-origin request support
• Comprehensive Testing - pytest suite with an enforced coverage gate
• Pre-commit Quality Checks - Automated formatting, linting, type checking, and security scanning
• Input Validation - Secure-by-default with validated inputs and sanitized responses
• Programmatic API - Python and Node.js clients (see API-INTEGRATION.md)

Available MCP Tools

All list and relationship tools accept limit/offset paging parameters (default page size 20, maximum 200 — see MITRE_DEFAULT_PAGE_SIZE and MITRE_MAX_PAGE_SIZE in CONTRIBUTING.md) and return a pagination block (total, offset, limit, has_more).

Quick Start

Installation

1. Create and activate a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv .venv

source .venv/bin/activate # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate.bat

1. Install from PyPI:

pip install mitre-mcp

1. Verify installation:

mitre-mcp --help

HTTP Mode (Recommended)

Start the server:

mitre-mcp --http

Expected output:

2025-11-17 22:40:10,991 - mitre_mcp.mitre_mcp_server - INFO - Starting MITRE ATT&CK MCP Server (HTTP mode on localhost:8000)

====================================================================== MITRE ATT&CK MCP Server is ready (Streamable HTTP mode) Server URL: http://localhost:8000 MCP Endpoint: http://localhost:8000/mcp

Add this to your MCP client configuration: { "mcpServers": { "mitreattack": { "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp" } } } ======================================================================

Configure your MCP client:

Add this JSON to your client's configuration file:

{

"mcpServers": { "mitreattack": { "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp" } } }

Configuration file locations:

• macOS (Claude Desktop): ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows (Claude Desktop): %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux (Claude Desktop): ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• VSCode: Configure in your MCP extension settings

Custom host and port:

mitre-mcp --http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

Then use http://your-server-ip:8080/mcp in your client configuration.

Security — a non-loopback bind is unauthenticated by default.

Binding --host 0.0.0.0 (or any non-loopback address) exposes the MCP

endpoint to the whole network: the data is public, but the endpoint is

an open CPU and memory amplifier. Either set MITRE_HTTP_AUTH_TOKEN

so every request must carry Authorization: Bearer :

`bash

MITRE_HTTP_AUTH_TOKEN=$(openssl rand -hex 32) mitre-mcp --http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

`

or place an authenticating reverse proxy in front of a loopback-only

server — nginx example (TLS + basic auth → 127.0.0.1:8000):

`nginx

server {

listen 443 ssl;

server_name mcp.example.com;

ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/certs/mcp.example.com.pem;

ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/certs/mcp.example.com.key;

location / {

auth_basic "mitre-mcp";

auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;

proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;

proxy_set_header Host $host;

}

}

`

The server logs a warning at startup whenever it binds a non-loopback

host without MITRE_HTTP_AUTH_TOKEN set.

Why HTTP mode?

• Multiple clients can connect simultaneously
• Better concurrency and async support
• Easier debugging with HTTP tools
• CORS support for web-based clients
• No path configuration needed

stdio Mode (Alternative)

For local-only clients that require stdio transport:

mitre-mcp

Client configuration:

{

"mcpServers": { "mitreattack": { "command": "/absolute/path/to/.venv/bin/python", "args": ["-m", "mitre_mcp.mitre_mcp_server"] } } }

Note: Use absolute paths. HTTP mode is recommended for most use cases.

Force Data Download

Force a fresh download of MITRE ATT&CK data:

mitre-mcp --http --force-download

Example Screenshots

VSCode Configuration:

Tool Invocation:

Results:

Web Frontend

A React chat UI lives in frontend/. A hosted copy is at https://montimage.github.io/mitre-mcp/. That public HTTPS page can call cloud LLM providers (Gemini, OpenRouter). It cannot reach anything on this machine — mitre-mcp on localhost:8000, Ollama, LM Studio, or any other loopback endpoint. The browser blocks public sites from the loopback address space (net::ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR if it upgrades the MCP URL to https://localhost:8000/mcp, CORS / private-network errors for http://localhost:…/v1/models).

Use the local UI whenever the MCP server or the LLM runs on your computer.

Local setup (MCP server + chat UI)

Two terminals, from a clone of this repository.

1. Install and start the MCP server (Python >= 3.11):

uv sync --locked --extra dev

source .venv/bin/activate mitre-mcp --http

Wait for MCP Endpoint: http://localhost:8000/mcp. The first start downloads ATT&CK data into ~/.cache/mitre-mcp.

2. Start the chat UI (Node 24):

cd frontend

npm ci npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173/ — not the GitHub Pages URL.

3. Settings (gear in the chat header):

For a local OpenAI-compatible server (LM Studio, llama.cpp, vLLM, …):

• Provider: OpenAI-compatible
• Endpoint URL: http://localhost: /v1 (example: http://localhost:20128/v1)
• Model: an id the endpoint lists at /v1/models
• API key: leave empty unless that server requires one

The endpoint must allow CORS from http://localhost:5173. If Ollama is not running, do not leave Ollama selected — the default probe hits localhost:11434 and Vite logs http proxy error: /api/tags.

For more details, see frontend/README.md.

Documentation

We provide three comprehensive guides tailored to different use cases:

1. Beginner's Guide

[Beginner-Playbook.md](Beginner-Playbook.md) - For those new to MITRE ATT&CK or cybersecurity

Ideal for:

• Non-technical users
• Security awareness training
• Basic threat intelligence
• General cybersecurity education

2. Advanced Playbook

[Playbook.md](Playbook.md) - For security professionals using MCP clients

Ideal for:

• Security analysts
• Threat hunters
• Incident responders
• Security engineers

Includes 10 ready-to-use scenarios:

• Threat Intelligence
• Detection Engineering
• Threat Hunting
• Red Teaming
• Security Assessment
• Incident Response
• Security Operations
• Security Training
• Vendor Evaluation
• Risk Management

3. API Integration Guide

[API-INTEGRATION.md](API-INTEGRATION.md) - Fo