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MCP ZAP Server

MCP ZAP Server

by dtkmn

397 downloads

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About

A Spring Boot application exposing OWASP ZAP as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. It lets any MCP‑compatible AI agent (e.g., Claude Desktop, Cursor) orchestrate ZAP actions—spider, active scan, import OpenAPI specs, and generate reports.

Details

Author: dtkmn
Downloads: 397
Categories: Developer Tools, AI

Setting up with Highlight

This MCP is not yet compatible with Highlight’s one-click setup. However, you can still use it with Highlight by following these steps:

Download and install Highlight from highlightai.com/download
Navigate to the plugins tab and select "Add Custom Plugin"
Configure the plugin with the settings below

Plugin Name MCP ZAP Server

Command (node, npx, python, etc.)

Please refer to the README for specific instructions on how to obtain API keys or other required environment variables.
Enable "Start Automatically" if you want the plugin to start when Highlight launches

Setting up with Cursor

Open Cursor's settings
Navigate to the MCP section
Click "Add new Global MCP server"
Copy and paste the configuration below based on your operating system

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Claude Desktop

Open Claude Desktop's settings
Go to the Integrations tab
Click "Add MCP Server"
Use the configuration below based on your operating system

Note: Make sure Claude Desktop is running before attempting to connect.

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Windsurf

Open Windsurf's preferences
Go to the Integrations section
Click "Add MCP Integration"
Use the configuration below based on your operating system

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Cline

Open Cline's settings
Navigate to the Integrations section
Click "Add MCP Server"
Copy and paste the configuration below based on your operating system

Note: Make sure to restart Cline after adding the configuration.

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Goose

Open Goose's preferences
Go to the Integrations tab
Select "MCP Servers"
Click "Add New Server"
Use the configuration below based on your operating system

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

From the repository

Clone the repository, set the environment variable LOCAL_ZAP_WORKPLACE_FOLDER, and run docker-compose up -d. Open http://localhost:3000 for the Open Web-UI interface. Alternatively, configure it with Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf by adding a JSON definition using either STDIO or SSE transport mode.

Claude Desktop / Cursor

Paste into your MCP client config file to install this server.

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

McpServers

{
    "zap-mcp-server": {
        "type": "http",
        "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
    }
}

Give AI agents a safe, self-hosted OWASP ZAP operator for guided web security scans, findings, reports, and production guardrails.

NoteThis project is not affiliated with or endorsed by OWASP or the OWASP ZAP project. It is an independent implementation.

mcp-zap-serverexposes OWASP ZAP through MCP over streamable HTTP so agentic tools can run operator-controlled security workflows without brittle glue scripts or unsafe scanner access.

- safe agentic scanningwith guided defaults for spider, active scan, passive scan, API imports, findings, and reports
- operator controlthrough API-key or JWT auth, tool scopes, runtime policy bundles, rate limits, and audit events
- self-hosted deploymentwith Docker Compose for local adoption and Helm for Kubernetes
- expert ZAP accesswhen you intentionally need lower-level ZAP context, user, scan, and report controls

Full documentation:danieltse.org/mcp-zap-server

- Docker 20.10+
- Docker Compose v2 (docker compose)
- an MCP-capable client, or the bundled Open WebUI client

git clone https://github.com/dtkmn/mcp-zap-server.git cd mcp-zap-server ./bin/bootstrap-local.sh ./dev.sh ./bin/self-serve-doctor.sh

Those scripts are the supported local happy path, not hidden magic:

- bootstrap-local.shcreates.env, generates local API keys, and prepares the ZAP workspace.
- dev.shstarts the Docker Compose stack with the faster JVM image.
- self-serve-doctor.shchecks Docker, auth, MCP initialize,tools/list, guided tools, and a harmless tool call.

The JVM image remains Java 25 end to end: source compilation, bytecode, and runtime all target Java 25. Its final runtime is distroless, so it intentionally contains no shell, package manager, orcurl. A small built-in HTTP probe keeps the normal Docker Compose health status;docker compose psstill reports the MCP service as(healthy)after startup.

- Open WebUI:http://localhost:3000
- MCP endpoint for host-side clients:http://localhost:7456/mcp
- Cursor config example:examples/cursor/mcp.json

When scanning the bundled demo targets, use the container URLs that ZAP can reach from inside Compose:

- Juice Shop scan target:http://juice-shop:3000
- Petstore scan target:http://petstore:8080

The default Compose stack publishes host ports on127.0.0.1only. SetMCP_ZAP_BIND_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0only when you intentionally expose the stack behind trusted network controls.

- Self-Serve First Run
- MCP Access Authentication
- MCP Client Configuration
- Optional Target Form-Login
- Tool Surfaces
- Agent install notes

There are two independent authentication layers. The API key or JWT lets Cursor call MCP ZAP Server. An optional target-auth profile lets ZAP log in to an application you are authorized to scan. Most first runs need only the MCP API key; never put a target website password in Cursor or an MCP prompt.

This repository includes MCP Registry metadata in .mcp/server.json. Thev0.11.0Docker images are labeled with the MCP server name expected by registry and catalog tooling.

Docker Compose remains the easiest installation path because the MCP server is designed to operate with an OWASP ZAP sidecar and explicit auth keys. The OCI package metadata is for advanced standalone installs where OWASP ZAP is already running and reachable from the MCP container.

- Guided scans: intent-first tools for spider, active scan, passive scan, API imports, findings, reports, and scan history.
- Expert ZAP control: optional lower-level tools for advanced ZAP context, user, scan, and report workflows.
- Authentication: API key mode by default, optional JWT mode with refresh and revocation support.
- Runtime policy bundles: dry-run and enforcement support throughzap_policy_dry_runand policy-mode configuration.
- Scan queue and history: queued active, spider, and AJAX Spider jobs with claim-based recovery, durable Postgres state, and evidence export.
- Extension contracts: experimental policy, protection, evidence metadata, and extension metadata APIs with sample extension packaging.
- Operational guardrails: request body limits, rate limits, workspace quotas, tool-scope authorization, structured logs, metrics, and audit events.
- Deployment paths: local Docker Compose, published JVM container images, and Helm charts for Kubernetes.

v0.11.0modernizes the runtime and container supply chain without changing MCP tool names or input schemas:

- gateway-core and its WebFlux adapter move to0.8.0, with application data binding migrated to Jackson 3 and managed by the Jackson3.2.1BOM
- the final Java 25 image is built on a Cosign-verified, digest-pinned distroless runtime with a shell-free HTTP health probe
- the unsupported native-image deployment facade is removed; use the versioned JVM image or Helm
- main CI no longer publishes rollingmainorsha-*images; stable AMD64 and ARM64 images are published only from GitHub immutable-release events
- no database migration or authentication configuration change is required; the container remains UID/GID1000, now stated explicitly in Helm

The default posture is intentionally conservative:

- api-keymode is the base runtime default.
- nonemode is for explicit local dev/test only.
- Docker Compose binds published ports to loopback by default.
- The Java 25 JVM image uses a digest-pinned distroless runtime with no shell or package manager; debug it through logs, metrics, and external diagnostic containers rather than installing tools into the application container.
- URL validation blocks localhost, private networks, and link-local targets by default.
- Target authentication is optional and profiles default to an empty list. When enabled, guided auth binds an exact server-side credential reference and login settings to one approved origin; callers provide onlyprofileIdandtargetUrl.
- Public auth exchange endpoints are rate-limited.
- MCP request bodies have a hard early size cap.

Production and shared deployments should review:

- Security Modes
- JWT Authentication
- Optional Target Form-Login
- Authenticated Scanning Reference
- Abuse Protection
- Production Readiness Checklist
- Security Policy

flowchart LR Client["Open WebUI / MCP Client"] -->|"MCP over Streamable HTTP"| MCP["MCP ZAP Server"] MCP -->|"ZAP API"| ZAP["OWASP ZAP"] ZAP -->|"scan"| Target["Authorized target app"] MCP -->|"reports / findings / history"| Evidence["Evidence + reports"]

For multi-replica queueing, durable Postgres state, claim recovery, and ingress affinity, use the operations docs instead of this README:

…

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Install

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp zap server": {
            "zap-mcp-server": {
                "type": "http",
                "url": "http://localhost:7456/sse"
            }
        }
    }
}

About

Details

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Setting up with Highlight

From the repository

Claude Desktop / Cursor

McpServers

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