smtp-penetration-testing

smtp-penetration-testing is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from zebbern/claude-code-guide. It costs 66 tokens per session (3,293 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A guide to testing SMTP, the protocol mail servers use to send and receive email, for security weaknesses. It covers checking for open relays, discovering valid email accounts, testing authentication, and reviewing server settings.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it for authorized assessments of mail servers, including service discovery, user enumeration, relay testing, credential testing, vulnerability reporting, and remediation advice.
Why use it?
It helps identify mail servers that may allow unauthorized sending, reveal user accounts, accept weak credentials, or use unsafe configurations.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

About the project

Claude Code Guide is a reference collection for configuring and using Claude Code, Anthropic’s command-line coding agent. Developers use it to learn commands, skills, agents, MCP, automation, security, integrations, and troubleshooting. Its catalogue add-ons provide many of the documented skills and agents.

zebbern/claude-code-guide · 4,600 stars · on GitHub

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/zebbern/claude-code-guide/smtp-penetration-testing
Any agent
npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill smtp-penetration-testing
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for smtp-penetration-testing

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/zebbern/claude-code-guide/smtp-penetration-testing.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/zebbern/claude-code-guide/smtp-penetration-testing)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/zebbern/claude-code-guide/smtp-penetration-testing"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/zebbern/claude-code-guide/smtp-penetration-testing.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 66 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 3,293 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 1 finding. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00066 $0.03293
Opus 5 $0.00033 $0.01647
Sonnet 5 $0.00013 $0.00659
Haiku 4.5 $0.00007 $0.00329

Measured yesterday against content hash 1f2a1ca7b95f, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

smtp-penetration-testing scanned grade A with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured yesterday.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Asks for rootlowPrivilege escalation

A mod that escalates privileges can change anything on the machine, not only the project.

sudo apt-get install nmap

Downgraded: this mod is about security review, or the phrase is quoted, so it is likely naming the pattern rather than instructing it.

skills/smtp-penetration-testing/SKILL.md · 501 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 501 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

SMTP Penetration Testing

Purpose

Conduct comprehensive security assessments of SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) servers to identify vulnerabilities including open relays, user enumeration, weak authentication, and misconfiguration. This skill covers banner grabbing, user enumeration techniques, relay testing, brute force attacks, and security hardening recommendations.

Prerequisites

Required Tools

# Nmap with SMTP scripts
sudo apt-get install nmap

# Netcat
sudo apt-get install netcat

# Hydra for brute force
sudo apt-get install hydra

# SMTP user enumeration tool
sudo apt-get install smtp-user-enum

# Metasploit Framework
msfconsole

Required Knowledge

  • SMTP protocol fundamentals
  • Email architecture (MTA, MDA, MUA)
  • DNS and MX records
  • Network protocols

Required Access

  • Target SMTP server IP/hostname
  • Written authorization for testing
  • Wordlists for enumeration and brute force

Outputs and Deliverables

  1. SMTP Security Assessment Report - Comprehensive vulnerability findings
  2. User Enumeration Results - Valid email addresses discovered
  3. Relay Test Results - Open relay status and exploitation potential
  4. Remediation Recommendations - Security hardening guidance

Core Workflow

Phase 1: SMTP Architecture Understanding

Components: MTA (transfer) → MDA (delivery) → MUA (client)

Ports: 25 (SMTP), 465 (SMTPS), 587 (submission), 2525 (alternative)

Workflow: Sender MUA → Sender MTA → DNS/MX → Recipient MTA → MDA → Recipient MUA

Phase 2: SMTP Service Discovery

Identify SMTP servers and versions:

# Discover SMTP ports
nmap -p 25,465,587,2525 -sV TARGET_IP

# Aggressive service detection
nmap -sV -sC -p 25 TARGET_IP

# SMTP-specific scripts
nmap --script=smtp-* -p 25 TARGET_IP

# Discover MX records for domain
dig MX target.com
nslookup -type=mx target.com
host -t mx target.com

Phase 3: Banner Grabbing

Retrieve SMTP server information:

# Using Telnet
telnet TARGET_IP 25
# Response: 220 mail.target.com ESMTP Postfix

# Using Netcat
nc TARGET_IP 25
# Response: 220 mail.target.com ESMTP

# Using Nmap
nmap -sV -p 25 TARGET_IP
# Version detection extracts banner info

# Manual SMTP commands
EHLO test
# Response reveals supported extensions

Read the full file on GitHub · 501 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. yesterday First seen · 501 lines · 66 tokens per session scan A 1f2a1ca7b95f

Subscribe to this mod's changes

smtp-penetration-testing is a skill published in the GitHub repository zebbern/claude-code-guide (4,600 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It adds 66 tokens to every session and 3,293 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 1 finding (asks for root). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-03.