mks

MKS — Kali Tool Server Preference

Step 0: Resolve MKS URL

Run once at phase start and store as MKS_URL:

MKS_URL=$(cat .pentest-mks.json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '.url // empty')

• Non-empty: MKS is active — use the REST endpoints below instead of local Bash tool invocations.
• Empty: MKS not configured — skip all MKS calls and use local Bash commands as documented in the agent workflow.

Step 0.5: Capability probe (do this once before the first tool call)

Some server builds have a defect where the structured /api/tools/* endpoints (and /health) crash when the command is constructed as an argv list — every structured tool call returns an error like CommandExecutor expects a string, but got list, and the tools appear unusable even though they are installed. The generic POST /api/command endpoint (raw command string) is unaffected.

Probe once and set MKS_TOOLS_MODE:

PROBE=$(curl -s -m 20 -X POST "$MKS_URL/api/tools/nmap" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"target\":\"127.0.0.1\",\"scan_type\":\"-sn\",\"additional_args\":\"-Pn\"}")
if echo "$PROBE" | grep -qiE 'got list|expects a string|TypeError|Internal Server Error|got a list'; then
  MKS_TOOLS_MODE="command"   # structured endpoints are broken on this server → route via /api/command
else
  MKS_TOOLS_MODE="structured" # structured endpoints work → use /api/tools/* as documented
fi

• MKS_TOOLS_MODE="structured" → use the /api/tools/{tool} endpoints in the Endpoints section.
• MKS_TOOLS_MODE="command" → use the /api/command fallback (see that section) for every tool.

Log the result: {"action":"mks-capability-probe","tools_mode":"<structured|command>"}.

Security note for command mode: /api/command runs the string in a shell (shell=True-style), so it is injection-prone if any target/argument is attacker-controlled. In a pentest the target and args are operator-controlled against the operator's own Kali host, so this is an acceptable bridge — but never interpolate untrusted scan output back into an /api/command string. The structured endpoints are the safer design; prefer them whenever the probe says they work.