nyx/README.md

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**Fast, cross-language cli vulnerability scanner.**

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---

## What is Nyx?

**Nyx** is a lightweight, lightning-fast Rust-native command-line tool that detects security vulnerabilities across 10 programming languages. It combines [`tree-sitter`](https://tree-sitter.github.io/) parsing, intra-procedural control-flow graphs, and cross-file taint analysis with an optional SQLite-backed index to deliver deep, repeatable scans on projects of any size.

---

## Key Capabilities

| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Multi-language support | Rust, C, C++, Java, Go, PHP, Python, Ruby, TypeScript, JavaScript |
| AST-level pattern matching | Language-specific queries written against precise parse trees |
| Control-flow graph analysis | Auth gaps, unguarded sinks, unreachable security code, resource leaks, error fallthrough |
| Cross-file taint tracking | BFS taint propagation from sources through sanitizers to sinks with function summaries |
| Cross-language interop | Taint flows across language boundaries via explicit interop edges |
| Two-pass architecture | Pass 1 extracts function summaries; Pass 2 runs taint with full cross-file context |
| Incremental indexing | SQLite database stores file hashes, summaries, and findings to skip unchanged files |
| Parallel execution | File walking and analysis run concurrently via Rayon; scales with available CPU cores |
| Configurable scan parameters | Exclude directories, set maximum file size, tune worker threads, limit output, and more |
| Multiple output formats | Human-readable console view (default) and machine-readable JSON |

---

## Why choose Nyx?

| Advantage | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| **Pure-Rust, single binary** | No JVM, Python, or server to install; drop the `nyx` executable into your `$PATH` and go. |
| **Massively parallel** | Uses Rayon and a thread-pool walker; scales to all CPU cores. Scanning the entire **rust-lang/rust** codebase (~53,000 files) on an M2 MacBook Pro takes **~1 s**. |
| **Deep analysis** | Real CFG construction and taint propagation, not just regex matching. Cross-file function summaries, capability-based sanitizer tracking, and scored findings. |
| **Index-aware** | An optional SQLite index stores file hashes and findings; subsequent scans touch *only* changed files, slashing CI times. |
| **Offline & privacy-friendly** | Requires no login, cloud account, or telemetry. Perfect for air-gapped environments and strict compliance policies. |
| **Tree-sitter precision** | Parses real language grammars, not regexes, giving far fewer false positives than line-based scanners. |
| **Extensible** | Add new patterns with concise `tree-sitter` queries; no SaaS lock-in. |

---

## Installation

### Install crate
```bash
$ cargo install nyx-scanner
```

### Install Github release
1. Navigate to the [Releases](https://github.com/ecpeter23/nyx/releases) page of the repository.
2. Download the appropriate binary for your system:

    ```nyx-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.zip``` for Linux

    ```nyx-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip``` for Windows

    ```nyx-x86_64-apple-darwin.zip``` or ```nyx-aarch64-apple-darwin.zip``` for macOS (Intel or Apple Silicon)

3. Unzip the file and move the executable to a directory in your system PATH:
    ```bash
    # Example for Unix systems
    unzip nyx-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.zip
    chmod +x nyx
    sudo mv nyx /usr/local/bin/
    ```
    ```bash
    # Example for Windows in PowerShell
    Expand-Archive -Path nyx-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip -DestinationPath .
    Move-Item -Path .\nyx.exe -Destination "C:\Program Files\Nyx\"  # Add to PATH manually if needed
    ```

4. Verify the installation:
     ```bash
    nyx --version
    ```
### Build from source

```bash
$ git clone https://github.com/ecpeter23/nyx.git
$ cd nyx
$ cargo build --release
# optional – copy the binary into PATH
$ cargo install --path .
```

Nyx targets **stable Rust 1.85 or later**.

---

## Quick Start

```bash
# Scan the current directory (creates/uses an index automatically)
$ nyx scan

# Scan a specific path and emit JSON
$ nyx scan ./server --format json

# Perform an ad-hoc scan without touching the index
$ nyx scan --no-index

# Restrict results to high-severity findings
$ nyx scan --high-only

# AST pattern matching only (fastest, no CFG/taint)
$ nyx scan --ast-only

# CFG + taint analysis only (skip AST pattern rules)
$ nyx scan --cfg-only
```

### Index Management

```bash
# Create or rebuild an index
$ nyx index build [PATH] [--force]

# Display index metadata (size, modified date, etc.)
$ nyx index status [PATH]

# List all indexed projects (add -v for detailed view)
$ nyx list [-v]

# Remove a single project or purge all indexes
$ nyx clean <PROJECT_NAME>
$ nyx clean --all
```

---

## Analysis Modes

Nyx supports three analysis modes, selectable via the `scanner.mode` config option or CLI flags:

| Mode | CLI flag | What runs |
|---|---|---|
| **Full** (default) | — | AST pattern matching + CFG construction + taint analysis |
| **AST-only** | `--ast-only` | AST pattern matching only; skips CFG and taint entirely |
| **Taint-only** | `--cfg-only` | CFG + taint analysis only; filters out AST pattern findings |

### What the CFG + taint engine detects

| Finding | Rule ID | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Tainted data flow | `taint-*` | Untrusted data (env vars, user input, file reads) flowing to dangerous sinks (shell exec, SQL, file write) without matching sanitization |
| Unguarded sink | `cfg-unguarded-sink` | Sink calls not dominated by a guard or sanitizer on the control-flow path |
| Auth gap | `cfg-auth-gap` | Web handler functions that reach privileged sinks without an auth check |
| Unreachable security code | `cfg-unreachable-*` | Sanitizers, guards, or sinks in dead code branches |
| Error fallthrough | `cfg-error-fallthrough` | Error-handling branches that don't terminate, allowing execution to fall through to dangerous operations |
| Resource leak | `cfg-resource-leak` | Resources acquired but not released on all exit paths (malloc/free, fopen/fclose, Lock/Unlock) |

Findings are scored and ranked by severity, proximity to entry point, path complexity, and taint confirmation.

---

## Supported Languages

All 10 languages have full AST pattern matching and CFG/taint analysis. Resource leak detection is available where language-specific acquire/release pairs are defined.

| Language | AST Patterns | CFG + Taint | Resource Leaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rust | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| C | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| C++ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Java | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Go | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PHP | Yes | Yes | — |
| Python | Yes | Yes | — |
| Ruby | Yes | Yes | — |
| TypeScript | Yes | Yes | — |
| JavaScript | Yes | Yes | — |

---

## Configuration Overview

Nyx merges a default configuration file (`nyx.conf`) with user overrides (`nyx.local`). Both live in the platform-specific configuration directory shown below.

| Platform | Directory |
|---|---|
| Linux | `~/.config/nyx/` |
| macOS | `~/Library/Application Support/dev.ecpeter23.nyx/` |
| Windows | `%APPDATA%\ecpeter23\nyx\config\` |

Minimal example (`nyx.local`):

```toml
[scanner]
mode                = "full"       # full | ast | taint
min_severity        = "Medium"
follow_symlinks     = true
excluded_extensions = ["mp3", "mp4"]

[output]
default_format = "json"
max_results    = 200

[performance]
worker_threads     = 8  # 0 = auto-detect
batch_size         = 200
channel_multiplier = 2
```

A fully documented `nyx.conf` is generated automatically on first run.

---

## Architecture in Brief

Nyx uses a **two-pass architecture** to enable cross-file analysis without sacrificing parallelism:

1. **File enumeration** -- A parallel walker (Rayon + `ignore` crate) applies gitignore rules, size limits, and user exclusions.
2. **Pass 1 -- Summary extraction** -- Each file is parsed via tree-sitter, an intra-procedural CFG is built (petgraph), and a `FuncSummary` is exported per function capturing source/sanitizer/sink capabilities (bitflags), taint propagation behavior, and callee lists. Summaries are persisted to SQLite.
3. **Summary merge** -- All per-file summaries are merged into a `GlobalSummaries` map with conservative conflict resolution (union caps, OR booleans).
4. **Pass 2 -- Analysis** -- Files are re-parsed and analyzed with the full cross-file context: BFS taint propagation resolves callees against local and global summaries, CFG analysis checks for auth gaps, unguarded sinks, resource leaks, and more.
5. **Reporting** -- Findings are scored, ranked, deduplicated, and emitted to the console or serialized as JSON.

With indexing enabled, Pass 1 skips files whose blake3 content hash is unchanged, and cached findings are served directly for AST-only results.

---

## Roadmap

### Phase 1 -- Deep Static Engine

| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Interprocedural call graph | Precise symbol resolution via `FuncKey`, language-scoped namespaces, cross-module linking. No name-collision merging -- full call graph with topological analysis. |
| Path-sensitive analysis | Track path predicates and conditional constraints. Detect infeasible paths and validation-only-in-one-branch patterns. Dramatically reduces false positives. |
| Dataflow & state modeling | Resource state machines (init -> use -> close), auth state transitions, privilege level tracking. Semantic analysis beyond pattern matching. |
| Attack surface ranking | Score entry points by distance-to-sink, guard strength, path complexity, and privilege escalation potential. Deterministic attack surface scoring. |

### Phase 2 -- Dynamic Capability

| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Controlled dynamic execution | Local sandbox: identify entry points, spin up test harnesses, inject payloads, detect runtime crashes and command execution. Deterministic automated exploit validation -- static finds `exec(user_input)`, dynamic confirms it with `; id`. |
| Fuzzing integration | libFuzzer (C/C++), cargo-fuzz (Rust), go-fuzz, HTTP fuzzing harness. Static engine identifies interesting functions, fuzzer targets only those. |

### Phase 3 -- Intelligent Reasoning Layer

| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Semantic similarity | Embeddings for finding similar vulnerability patterns across codebases. |
| LLM reasoning | AI-assisted detection of non-obvious logic bugs. |
| Exploit refinement | Automated loops to refine and validate exploit chains. |

### Other planned improvements

| Area | Details |
|---|---|
| Output formats | SARIF 2.1.0, JUnit XML, HTML report generator |
| Language coverage | Expanded taint rules per language, resource leak pairs for Python/Ruby/PHP/JS/TS |
| Rule updates | Remote rule feed with signature verification |
| UX | Progress bar, smart file-watch re-scan |

Community feedback shapes priorities -- please [open an issue](https://github.com/ecpeter23/nyx/issues) to discuss proposed changes.

---

## Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. To contribute:

1. Fork the repository and create a feature branch.
2. Adhere to `rustfmt` and ensure `cargo clippy --all -- -D warnings` passes.
3. Add unit and/or integration tests where applicable (`cargo test` should remain green).
4. Submit a concise, well-documented pull request.

Please open an issue for any crash, panic, or suspicious result -- attach the minimal code snippet and mention the Nyx version.

See `CONTRIBUTING.md` for full guidelines.

---

## License

Nyx is licensed under the **GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0)**.

This ensures that all modified versions of the scanner remain free and open-source, protecting the integrity and transparency of security tools.

See [LICENSE](./LICENSE) for full details.