AI Pentesting ToolsThree categories hiding behind one label.
Vendors describe wildly different products with the same phrase.
Here is what separates them, and the questions that sort a shortlist quickly.
Trusted by security teams at
What counts as an AI pentesting tool?
The three categories
Knowing which one you are looking at answers most of the evaluation questions early.
Autonomous agents
A model plans and executes the attack, adapting as the target responds. Output is a proven exploit. Strix, XBOW, and RunSybil live here.
AI-assisted scanners
A conventional engine finds the candidates and a model cleans up severity and wording. Fast and cheap, though the underlying coverage stays the same as before the model showed up.
Managed AI pentests
The vendor runs agents in its own cloud on a schedule and delivers a report. Less setup for you, but more expensive and less frequent.
Questions that separate them
Ask these during a trial and the differences show up within an hour.
Does it hand me a working exploit?
Ask for the request and response behind a finding. Tools without them are asking you to do the triage.
What happens to my source code?
Find out where the code sits during a test and how long it stays there. Some teams cannot answer that in a way legal accepts.
Does it run on a pull request?
A tool that only runs on a schedule will always be late to code that shipped yesterday.
Does the fix come with it?
A finding plus a patch closes the loop. A finding on its own creates a ticket.
Can I choose the model?
Model choice controls both your bill and whether the tool can run inside a regulated network.
Can I watch it work?
A live agent graph shows every agent, the action it is taking, and the requests it sends, so you can follow the whole test in real time.
Autonomous agents vs AI-assisted scanners
The two categories teams most often confuse during a bake-off.
Autonomous agent (Strix)
AI-assisted scanner
Autonomous agent (Strix)
AI-assisted scanner
Autonomous agent (Strix)
AI-assisted scanner
Autonomous agent (Strix)
AI-assisted scanner
Autonomous agent (Strix)
AI-assisted scanner
Autonomous agent (Strix)
AI-assisted scanner
Autonomous agent (Strix)
AI-assisted scanner
Autonomous agent (Strix)
AI-assisted scanner
From issue to fix in seconds
Find critical issues, auto-validate, and auto-fix with merge-ready PRs.
SSRF via URL Parameter in /api/proxy
TL;DR
The /api/proxy endpoint accepts a user-supplied URL without validation. An attacker can access internal services, read cloud metadata, and exfiltrate credentials.
Impact
Access to cloud metadata at 169.254.169.254, potential credential theft, and internal network scanning.
Location
acme/api · proxy-handler.ts:23Severity
CVSS
8.6Fix Effort
LowDiscovered
2h agoDiscover & Validate
Pentests your entire attack surface continuously. Reproduces each finding, confirms exploitability with proof, and prioritizes by real impact.
How do I fix it?
Validate and restrict the target URL using an allowlist of permitted hostnames. Reject private/internal IP ranges and enforce HTTPS-only.
| 23 | 23 | const targetUrl = req.query.url; |
| 24 | const resp = await fetch(targetUrl); | |
| 24 | const parsed = new URL(targetUrl); | |
| 25 | if (!ALLOWED_HOSTS.has(parsed.hostname)) { | |
| 26 | throw new ForbiddenError("blocked"); | |
| 27 | } | |
| 28 | const resp = await fetch(parsed.href); | |
| 25 | 29 | return res.json(await resp.json()); |
Auto-Fix
Generates a fix, retests to confirm the vulnerability is gone, and delivers a merge-ready PR. Review, merge, done.
Frequently asked questions
What buyers ask while shortlisting.
Try one on your own stack
The open source agent runs locally. The hosted platform starts free.