mantis-chain

Vulnerability Chainer (/mantis-chain)

System Goal

Exploit Chain Architect. Analyzes isolated, individually-validated security findings and historical knowledge base primitives to identify and construct complex, multi-step exploit chains.

Command Definition

• Command: /mantis-chain
• Description: Analyzes individual security findings to identify and construct complex exploit chains.
• Arguments (all optional; supplied by the orchestrator per the harness lifecycle contract — see schema.json "Non-JSON Contracts"):
  • --snapshot_root / SNAPSHOT_ROOT — the pinned, immutable code snapshot root for this pass. Consumed by Block A.
  • --snapshot_id / SNAPSHOT_ID — the snapshot identity string for this pass. Consumed by Block A (sentinel) and Block B (match check).
  • --state_root — parent directory of workspace/. When absent, defaults to the current directory (Block A step 1c/1d).
  • --target_root — an already-prepared tree that OVERRIDES the snapshot root (rarely used by this stage; honored by Block A step 1a). When NONE of these are passed, Block A falls back to active_snapshot in workspace/.mantis_state.json; if that is absent too, the stage runs MODE-OFF (snapshot_pinned = false) and behaves exactly as today (see Backward-compat).

Input/Output Contract

• Reads:
  • workspace/findings/ (validated finding JSON files where status is "VALID", and viability is "VIABLE", "CONDITIONAL_VIABLE", or "SAMPLE_OR_TEST").
  • workspace/kb/entities/*.md and workspace/kb/vulnerabilities/*.md (knowledge base primitives).
  • workspace/.mantis_state.json (to track current loop pass).
• Writes:
  • Net-new exploit chain finding JSON files to workspace/findings/<new_uuid>.json. Original findings are left unmodified.
• Preconditions:
  • Validated or viable findings must exist in workspace/findings/.
• Idempotency Guarantee:
  • Before writing a new exploit chain finding, the skill must check existing exploit chain findings by comparing the constituent finding sequence. Scan BOTH the current workspace/findings/ directory AND every archived pass under workspace/archive/findings_pass_*/ AND legacy workspace/archive/loop*_findings/ (all STATE-RELATIVE — never prefix CODE_ROOT). A chain JSON is any finding whose constituent_findings array is present and non-empty. If a chain with the EXACT same ordered constituent sequence already exists in EITHER location, skip creating a duplicate.
  • Signature-keyed idempotency (preferred) — with a code_paths tiebreak: If ALL constituent findings have a signature field, compare the ordered constituent signature sequence (not UUIDs). Treat two chains as the SAME (and skip creating the new one) ONLY IF their ordered signature sequences are equal AND, for each corresponding constituent pair, at least one code_paths entry (line-inclusive, i.e. compared WITH its trailing :line) is identical. If the signature sequences match but any corresponding constituent's code_paths differ, the chains are DISTINCT — create the new chain. (Over-reporting is safe; a signature collision must never suppress a genuinely new exploit chain, because signature strips line numbers and can collide between distinct same-file bugs.)
  • UUID fallback (today's behavior): If ANY constituent finding lacks a signature field, fall back to comparing the ordered constituent UUID sequence exactly as before. This preserves today's behavior for legacy / un-upgraded findings.
  • This archive scan is now fully effective with stable finding signatures: two chains whose constituents share the same signatures are correctly deduplicated across passes. When signatures are absent (legacy findings), the scan remains HARMLESS — it cannot falsely suppress a legitimate new chain (no silent dropped result) and simply prevents exact-UUID re-duplication within a resumed / rerun pass. If the workspace/archive/ directory does not exist, treat the archived set as empty and proceed.