cpe_search

March 30, 2026 · View on GitHub

Search for Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) strings using software names and titles.

About

cpe_search can be used to search for Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) strings using software names and titles. For example, if some tool discovered a web server running Apache 2.4.39, you can use this tool to easily and quickly retrieve the corresponding CPE 2.3 string cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.4.39:*:*:*:*:*:*:*. Thereafter, the retrieved CPE string can be used to accurately search for vulnerabilities, e.g. via the Online NVD or the search_vulns tool.

Installation

You can install cpe_search via pip directly:

pip3 install cpe_search

You can also clone this repository and run:

pip3 install .

Note that to use cpe_search, a local database containing all available CPEs is required. You can download a prebuilt version from cpe_search's GitHub releases, which also happens automatically during the first use:

cpe_search -d

You can also have cpe_search build the database itself, based on all available CPEs from the NVD's official API:

cpe_search -u -k "<YOUR_NVD_API_KEY>"

An NVD API key is optional, but speeds up the building process - and it's free. Building the database yourself typically takes a couple of minutes, since data for subsequent searches is precomputed as well and put into the local database. You can also set up and provide a configuration file, see config.json.

Usage

cpe_search's usage information is shown in the following:

usage: cpe_search [-h] [-u] [-k API_KEY] [-n NUMBER] [-q QUERY] [-v] [-V] [-d] [-c CONFIG]

Search for CPEs using software names and titles -- Created by Dustin Born (ra1nb0rn)

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -u, --update          Update the local CPE database
  -k API_KEY, --api-key API_KEY
                        NVD API key to use for updating the local CPE dictionary
  -n NUMBER, --number NUMBER
                        The number of CPEs to show in the similarity overview (default: 3)
  -q QUERY, --query QUERY
                        A query, i.e. textual software name / title like 'Apache 2.4.39' or 'Wordpress 5.7.2'
  -v, --verbose         Be verbose and print status information
  -V, --version         Print the version of cpe_search
  -d, --download-database
                        Download cpe_search database from latest GitHub release
  -c CONFIG, --config CONFIG
                        A config file to use (default: config.json)
  --no-progress         Do not show progress bar when updating

Note that when querying software with -q you have to put the software information in quotes if it contains any spaces. Also, you can use -q multiple times to make multiple queries at once. Moreover, the output can be piped to be directly useable with other tools. Here are some examples:

Query Sudo 1.8.2 to retrieve its CPE 2.3 string:

$ cpe_search -q "Sudo 1.8.2"
cpe:2.3:a:sudo_project:sudo:1.8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
[('cpe:2.3:a:sudo_project:sudo:1.8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*', 0.8660254037844385),
 ('cpe:2.3:a:sudo_project:sudo:1.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*', 0.5773502691896256),
 ('cpe:2.3:a:cryptography.io:cryptography:1.8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*',
  0.4714045207910316)]

Make a query and pipe the retrieved CPE to another tool:

$ cpe_search -q "Windows 10 1809" | xargs echo
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1809:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Make two queries at once:

$ cpe_search -q "Apache 2.4.39" -q "Wordpress 5.7.2"
cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.4.39:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
[('cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.4.39:*:*:*:*:*:*:*', 0.6666664603674289),
('cpe:2.3:a:apache:apache-airflow-providers-apache-spark:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*',
  0.600000153741923),
('cpe:2.3:a:apache:apache-airflow-providers-apache-hive:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*',
  0.600000153741923)]

cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:5.7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
[('cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:5.7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*', 0.9805804786431419),
('cpe:2.3:a:wordpress:wordpress:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*', 0.7071067811865475),
('cpe:2.3:a:adenion:blog2social:5.7.2:*:*:*:*:wordpress:*:*',
  0.6859944446591075)]

Using cpe_search as a Library

You can also use cpe_search as a library, primarily via its search_cpes function:

import json
from cpe_search.cpe_search import search_cpes
print(json.dumps(search_cpes("dell omsa 9.4.0.2"), indent=4))

This will return a dict similar to the following:

{
    "cpes": [...],
    "pot_cpes": [
        [
            "cpe:2.3:a:dell:openmanage_server_administrator:9.4.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            -0.7648908973691578
        ],
        [
            "cpe:2.3:a:dell:openmanage_server_administrator:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            0.7648908973691578
        ],
        [
            "cpe:2.3:a:dell:openmanage_server_administrator:5.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            0.7496154837764638
        ],
        [
            "cpe:2.3:a:dell:openmanage_server_administrator_installer:9.4.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            -0.6684871824798747
        ],
        [...]
    ]

cpes and pot_cpes each contains a list of CPEs and their match/similarity score. The lists are sorted by the (absolute) score. cpes contains only existing CPEs that are determined to be a valid match.

In difference, pot_cpes contains CPEs that are similar to the query but may not match it. It also contains CPEs that were automatically created by cpe_search, based on the official NVD dictionary. This is cpe_search's attempt to compensate for the NVD's dictionary occasionally being out of date regarding product versions. Such created CPEs are denoted by a negative similarity score, whose absolute value is identical to the CPE it was created from. The above query, dell omsa 9.4.0.2, is a good example of this, since there is no official CPE for that specific version of Dell OMSA.

License

cpe_search is licensed under the MIT license, see here.