# buffer/thug

Python low-interaction honeyclient

Repository: https://github.com/buffer/thug
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/thug
Language: Python
License: GPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: honeyclient, client-honeypot, python, security-tools, shellcode, virustotal, low-interaction
Last push: 2026-08-24T19:33:47+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 87/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 65, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5308, "days_push": 9, "days_rel": 152, "gap_med": 30.5, "n_releases_24m": 13}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1041, forks 204 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:20.561510+00:00)

## What it is
Thug is a Python low-interaction honeyclient that mimics the behavior of a web browser to detect and emulate malicious web content. It complements traditional honeypots by enabling research into client-side attacks.

## Use cases
- analyze malicious URLs for drive-by download attacks
- emulate a vulnerable web browser to study client-side exploits
- detect malicious web content and shellcode
- research client-side attack techniques safely
- integrate VirusTotal lookups into malware analysis workflows

## When to choose
- you need to safely study client-side attacks and exploit kits
- you want a scriptable, low-interaction alternative to full browser honeypots
- you are doing malware analysis of web-based threats

## When to avoid
- you need high-interaction analysis in a real browser environment
- you need a general-purpose web scraper rather than a security analysis tool

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: security, web-scraping, testing
- domain: security, developer-tools
- platform: python, cli
- tags: honeyclient, client-honeypot, malware-analysis, shellcode-detection, browser-emulation, virustotal, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- buffer/thug (main) score 87

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:20.561510+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:02:53.483601+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/buffer/thug (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:20.561510+00:00, sha ba28dc340e7e)
  - registry_pypi: https://pypi.org/pypi/thug/json (fetched 2026-08-29T13:04:14.036711+00:00, sha 35c77b678c24)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.