pqaudit

Scan codebases for quantum-vulnerable cryptography. Get a clear picture of what needs to migrate before Q-Day.

pqaudit detects usage of RSA, ECDSA, Ed25519, ECDH, DH, and other algorithms broken by Shor's algorithm. It also identifies already-migrated PQC usage (ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA) so you can track migration progress. Output as human-readable text, JSON, CycloneDX CBOM, SARIF for GitHub Code Scanning, or a self-contained HTML report.

Why now

On March 31, 2026, Google published research showing that breaking ECDSA-256 requires 20x fewer qubits than previously estimated — roughly 1,200 logical qubits and under 500,000 physical qubits. NSA's CNSA 2.0 mandates PQC for new national security systems by 2027. The migration window is open but closing.

Install

npx pqaudit ./my-project

Or install globally:

npm install -g pqaudit
pqaudit ./my-project

Usage

# Scan current directory, human-readable output
pqaudit .

# Only show critical and high findings
pqaudit ./src --severity high

# Generate CycloneDX CBOM
pqaudit . --format cbom --output cbom.json

# Generate SARIF for GitHub Code Scanning
pqaudit . --format sarif --output results.sarif

# CI mode — exit code 1 if critical/high findings exist
pqaudit . --ci

# Show all findings including low-confidence comment matches
pqaudit . --min-confidence 0

# Show every occurrence instead of collapsing per file
pqaudit . --no-dedupe

# Skip dependency scanning
pqaudit . --no-deps

# Use custom rules
pqaudit . --rules ./my-rules.yaml

# Scan TLS/SSH endpoints for quantum-vulnerable crypto
pqaudit . --scan-endpoint api.example.com:443 --scan-endpoint git.example.com:22

# Scan endpoints only (no code scanning)
pqaudit --scan-endpoint example.com:443 --scan-endpoint example.com:22

All options

| Flag | Description | Default | |------|-------------|---------| | -f, --format <format> | Output format: text, json, cbom, sarif, html | text | | -o, --output <file> | Write output to file | stdout | | -s, --severity <level> | Minimum severity: critical, high, medium, low, safe | safe | | --min-confidence <0-100> | Filter findings below this confidence threshold | 50 | | --no-dedupe | Show all occurrences instead of collapsing per file | dedupe on | | --no-deps | Skip dependency scanning | scan deps | | --include <patterns...> | Glob patterns to include | all source files | | --exclude <patterns...> | Additional glob patterns to exclude | node_modules, dist, etc. | | --rules <path> | Path to custom rules YAML file | built-in rules | | --scan-endpoint <endpoints...> | TLS/SSH endpoints to probe (host:port) | none | | --network-timeout <ms> | Network connection timeout | 5000 | | --ci | Exit code 1 if critical or high findings exist | off |

Example output

  pqaudit — Post-Quantum Cryptography Readiness Scanner
  Scanned: ./my-project

  NOT PQC READY — Quantum-vulnerable cryptography detected

  Files scanned: 65  |  Findings: 12
  Critical: 7  High: 2  Medium: 1  Low: 0  Safe: 2

  --- CRITICAL (7) ---

  [!!] Ed25519 — Ed25519 signatures — vulnerable to Shor's algorithm (14 occurrences)
      src/crypto/signing.ts:14
      > import { sign, verify } from "@noble/ed25519";
      Fix: ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204) or hybrid Ed25519+ML-DSA-65
      Confidence: 98% | Effort: moderate | Via: ast

  [!!] RSA — RSA signature — vulnerable to quantum factoring (3 occurrences)
      src/auth/jwt.ts:42
      > jwt.sign(payload, key, { algorithm: "RS256" });
      Fix: ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204)
      Confidence: 96% | Effort: complex | Via: ast

  [!!] ECDSA — Certificate uses ECDSA 256-bit key — vulnerable to Shor's algorithm
      tls://api.example.com:443
      > ECDSA 256-bit key, TLSv1.3
      Fix: Post-quantum certificate algorithms when available
      Confidence: 100% | Effort: complex | Via: network
  ...

What it detects

Critical (quantum-vulnerable — must migrate)

| Algorithm | Threat | Replacement | |-----------|--------|-------------| | RSA (any key size) | Shor's algorithm | ML-KEM-768 / ML-DSA-65 | | ECDSA / Ed25519 | Shor's on elliptic curves | ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204) | | ECDH / X25519 / DH | Shor's on key exchange | ML-KEM-768 (FIPS 203) | | DSA | Shor's algorithm | ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204) |

High (weakened by quantum or outdated protocols)

| Algorithm | Threat | Replacement | |-----------|--------|-------------| | AES-128 | Grover reduces to 64-bit | AES-256 | | TLS 1.0/1.1, SSLv3 | Deprecated protocols | TLS 1.3 | | SSH (detected via network) | DH/ECDH key exchange | PQ hybrid key exchange |

Safe (already quantum-resistant)

ML-KEM (Kyber), ML-DSA (Dilithium), SLH-DSA (SPHINCS+), AES-256, ChaCha20-Poly1305, SHA-256, SHA-3

Output formats

CycloneDX CBOM

Generates a Cryptographic Bill of Materials conforming to CycloneDX 1.6. Each cryptographic finding becomes a crypto-asset component with cryptoProperties, NIST quantum security levels, and evidence locations.

pqaudit . --format cbom --output cbom.json

SARIF (GitHub Code Scanning)

Generates SARIF 2.1.0 output compatible with GitHub's code scanning. Upload via github/codeql-action/upload-sarif.

pqaudit . --format sarif --output results.sarif

HTML report

Self-contained HTML file with a visual dashboard — severity breakdown, PQC readiness score, and findings table. No external dependencies, works offline.

pqaudit . --format html --output report.html

GitHub Action

name: PQC Audit
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  pqaudit:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: "20"
      - run: npx pqaudit . --format sarif --output pqaudit.sarif --ci
      - uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
        if: always()
        with:
          sarif_file: pqaudit.sarif
          category: pqaudit

Dependency scanning

pqaudit checks manifest files for known cryptographic libraries across five ecosystems:

| Ecosystem | Manifest files | Example packages | |-----------|---------------|-----------------| | npm | package.json | @noble/ed25519, node-rsa, jsonwebtoken, ethers | | Rust | Cargo.toml | ed25519-dalek, rsa, ring, p256, pqcrypto | | Go | go.mod | golang.org/x/crypto, cloudflare/circl | | Python | requirements.txt, pyproject.toml | cryptography, pycryptodome, paramiko | | Java | build.gradle, pom.xml | BouncyCastle, Google Tink |

PQC-safe libraries (@noble/post-quantum, pqcrypto, cloudflare/circl) are flagged as safe for inventory tracking.

Custom rules

Rules are defined in YAML:

- id: MY_CUSTOM_RULE
  description: "Custom quantum-vulnerable pattern"
  severity: critical
  category: signature
  algorithm: MyAlgo
  replacement: ML-DSA-65
  effort: complex
  languages: ["javascript", "typescript"]
  patterns:
    - "myVulnerableFunction\\("
    - "import.*myVulnerableLib"

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full rule schema and how to submit new rules.

Protocol and config detection

pqaudit scans configuration files for quantum-vulnerable crypto settings:

• SSH: RSA/ECDSA key types, DH/ECDH key exchange in sshd_config/ssh_config
• TLS: deprecated protocols (1.0/1.1/SSLv3) and vulnerable cipher suites in nginx/apache/haproxy configs
• Kubernetes: TLS secrets and cert-manager RSA private keys
• Docker: crypto library installs in Dockerfiles

Extensionless config files (Dockerfile, sshd_config, ssh_config) are automatically detected and scanned.

Network scanning

Probe live TLS and SSH endpoints for quantum-vulnerable crypto configurations:

pqaudit --scan-endpoint api.example.com:443 --scan-endpoint git.example.com:22

TLS endpoints (any port, or specify tls://host:port):

• Negotiated protocol version (TLS 1.2 vs 1.3)
• Cipher suite key exchange (RSA static, ECDHE — both quantum-vulnerable)
• Certificate public key algorithm and size (RSA, ECDSA)

SSH endpoints (port 22 auto-detected, or specify ssh://host:port):

• Server banner detection (OpenSSH, etc.)
• Flags quantum-vulnerable DH/ECDH key exchange

Network findings have 100% confidence (observed facts, not pattern matches) and appear alongside code findings in all output formats.

Detection methods

pqaudit uses four detection methods:

• L0 (regex): Pattern matching across all supported languages and config files
• L1 (AST): Tree-sitter parsing for JS/TS — detects actual imports, function calls, API usage (0.95-0.98 confidence)
• Dependency: Manifest file scanning across npm, Cargo, Go, pip, and Gradle/Maven
• Network: Live TLS/SSH endpoint probing for cipher suites and certificate algorithms (100% confidence)

Planned:

• L2: Data flow / taint analysis for tracing cryptographic data through call chains

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on submitting rules, bug fixes, and new features.

References

• NIST FIPS 203 — ML-KEM
• NIST FIPS 204 — ML-DSA
• NIST FIPS 205 — SLH-DSA
• NSA CNSA 2.0 Timeline
• CycloneDX CBOM Specification
• Google PQC Migration Timeline (March 2026)
• Google Quantum Vulnerability Research (March 2026)

License

MIT