rust-ectf-tools

Drop-in replacement for MITRE's uvx ectf CLI, rewritten in Rust with reliable serial I/O. Uses raw termios instead of pyserial to avoid macOS CDC-ACM data corruption bugs.

Install

brew install taciturnaxolotl/tap/ectf-tools

Or build from source:

cargo build --release

Usage

HSM Host Tools

# List files on the HSM
ectf-tools tools /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX list 1a2b3c

# Write a file
ectf-tools tools /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX write 1a2b3c 0 0x4321 myfile.bin

# Read a file
ectf-tools tools /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX read 1a2b3c 1 ./output/

# Interrogate a connected HSM
ectf-tools tools /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX interrogate 1a2b3c

# Listen for another HSM
ectf-tools tools /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX listen

# Receive a file from another HSM
ectf-tools tools /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX receive 1a2b3c 0 1

# Run the hardware test suite
ectf-tools tools /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX test 1a2b3c 0x4321 /dev/tty.usbmodemYYY

# Run tests without a second HSM
ectf-tools tools /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX test 1a2b3c 0x4321 --no-transfer

# Output test results as JSON (for CI)
ectf-tools tools /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX test 1a2b3c 0x4321 --no-transfer --json

API Commands

# Configure your API credentials
ectf-tools config --token <TOKEN> --git-url <GIT_URL>

# Submit a design for testing
ectf-tools api test submit <COMMIT_HASH>

# List recent test flows
ectf-tools api test ls

# Get details on a specific flow
ectf-tools api test info <FLOW_ID>

# Download job output
ectf-tools api test get <JOB_ID> output.tar.gz

# Submit to handoff
ectf-tools api submit <COMMIT_HASH>

# List and download attack packages
ectf-tools api list
ectf-tools api get <PACKAGE_NAME>

Environment Variables

For CI environments, you can configure the tool entirely via environment variables instead of the config file:

Variable	Description	Required
ECTF_TOKEN	API bearer token	Yes (with ECTF_GIT_URL)
ECTF_GIT_URL	Git repository URL	Yes (with ECTF_TOKEN)
ECTF_API_URL	API base URL (default: https://api.ectf.mitre.org)	No

If both ECTF_TOKEN and ECTF_GIT_URL are set, no config file is needed. If a config file exists, env vars override individual fields.

JSON Output (--json)

Most commands support --json for machine-readable output. The process exit code is still non-zero on failure.

tools test --json

{
  "total": 15,
  "passed": 14,
  "failed": 1,
  "tests": [
    {
      "name": "list_empty",
      "passed": true,
      "duration_secs": 0.123
    },
    {
      "name": "bad_pin",
      "passed": false,
      "duration_secs": 1.234,
      "error": "Expected bad pin to fail, but it succeeded"
    }
  ]
}

api test submit --json / api clone submit --json / api submit --json

{
  "flow": "test",
  "id": "abc12345-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc"
}

api test ls --json / api clone ls --json / api remote ls --json

{
  "flows": [
    {
      "id": "abc12345-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc",
      "submitted": "2026-02-11T22:05:47.000000Z",
      "status": "succeeded",
      "completed": true
    }
  ]
}

api test info --json / api clone info --json / api remote info --json

{
  "flow": "test",
  "id": "abc12345-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc",
  "submitted": "2026-02-11T22:05:47.000000Z",
  "status": "succeeded",
  "completed": true,
  "params": {
    "git_url": "https://github.com/example/repo.git",
    "commit_hash": "abc1234"
  },
  "jobs": [
    {
      "name": "build",
      "id": "def12345-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc",
      "status": "succeeded",
      "has_artifacts": true,
      "private": false
    }
  ]
}

Hardware Bootloader Tools (MSPM0L2228)

# Check bootloader version and status
ectf-tools hw /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX status

# Erase the current design
ectf-tools hw /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX erase

# Flash an image (name auto-derived from filename for unprotected images)
ectf-tools hw /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX flash design.bin
ectf-tools hw /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX flash design.bin --name mydesign

# Start the flashed design
ectf-tools hw /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX start

# Erase + flash + start in one step (file or directory with hsm.bin)
ectf-tools hw /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX reflash ./build/
ectf-tools hw /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX reflash engineer.hsm/hsm.bin

# Get a file digest from the secure bootloader
ectf-tools hw /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX digest 0

Hardware Bootloader Tools (MAX78000FTHR)

# Flash a design
ectf-tools hw /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX flash-fthr /dev/tty.usbmodemYYY image.bin

# Permanently unlock the secure bootloader (irreversible!)
ectf-tools hw /dev/tty.usbmodemXXX unlock-fthr /dev/tty.usbmodemYYY secrets.json --force --force

Verbosity

• -v — protocol-level debug (headers, ACKs, chunk sizes)
• -vv — raw byte-level trace with xxd-style hexdump

Why not pyserial?

pyserial has known data corruption issues on macOS with CDC-ACM devices (like the MAX78000). This tool opens the serial port directly with proper termios configuration, flushes the input buffer on open, and uses O_NONBLOCK to avoid blocking on carrier detect.

© 2026-present Kieran Klukas