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SPECIFICTION
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CAPE Sandbox

capesandbox.com

Free plan Open source WebWindowsLinuxAPISelf-hosted
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Spec score 9.0 #3 of 27 in Malware Analysis Sandboxes

What it is

CAPE Sandbox is an open-source malware analysis tool that runs suspicious files in isolated virtual machines, monitors their behavior, and collects forensic artifacts. It can record execution activity, files created or changed, network traffic in PCAP format, screenshots, and memory dumps. CAPE also performs dynamic malware unpacking, applies YARA classification to unpacked payloads, and extracts malware configurations through static and dynamic analysis.

Documented analysis targets include Windows executables and DLLs, PDFs, Office files, URLs, HTML, scripts, ZIP files, and Java JARs. A debugger can use YARA signatures for custom unpacking and configuration extractors, anti-sandbox countermeasures, and instruction traces. The Django web interface supports submissions, report browsing, and searching results; a REST API and Python functions support automated file and URL analysis. Setup requires host and guest machines, with each analysis run in a fresh virtual machine. GNU/Linux, preferably Ubuntu LTS, is the recommended host, and Windows 10 or Windows 11 23H2 the recommended guest. CAPE is free and self-hosted, and is distributed without warranty.

Spec sheet

What it does
CAPE executes suspicious files in isolated virtual machines, instruments behavior, and collects forensic artifacts.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Purpose
CAPE is an open-source malware sandbox that runs suspicious files in an isolated environment while monitoring behavior and collecting forensic artifacts.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Deployment
The documented architecture runs each analysis in a fresh isolated virtual machine; GNU/Linux, preferably Ubuntu LTS, is the recommended host, with Windows 10 or Windows 11 23H2 as the recommended guest.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Integrations
The documentation covers integrations with Box-js, LibreNMS, and Suricata, and describes CAPE's modular design for integrating external services.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Support
The project points users to its FAQ, community discussion, and GitHub issue tracker, and says beta or development builds generally do not receive support.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Founded
2016Read 28 Sep 2026 · capesandbox.com
AI clients
The CAPE MCP server connects CAPE instances with MCP-compliant clients, with examples for Claude Desktop, Gemini CLI, and Antigravity.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
API authentication
The API supports token authentication through the api-token-auth endpoint and Authorization headers.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
API throttling
The documented default API throttle is five requests per minute and can be changed in api.conf.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Architecture
A Linux host manages isolated Windows guest virtual machines for each analysis.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Automation
CAPE offers a REST API and Python submission functions for automating file and URL analysis.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Behavior monitoring
Windows analysis uses API-hook instrumentation and behavioral signatures.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Company origin
The project history identifies Kevin O’Reilly at Context Information Security as the original CAPE developer.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Configuration extraction
Static and dynamic malware configuration extraction is built in, with optional RATDecoders, DC3-MWCP, MalDuck, and MaCo frameworks.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Debugger
The debugger supports YARA-triggered breakpoints, instruction traces, memory dumping, and control-flow changes to counter evasion.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Distributed deployment
Master and worker nodes can be distributed through a REST API on port 9003 with X-API-Token authentication.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Documentation depth
The documentation covers installation, guests, networking, cloud deployment, API usage, customization, distributed mode, and troubleshooting, while warning that some material may be outdated.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Dynamic analysis
It captures behavioral activity, files created or changed during execution, network traffic in PCAP format, screenshots, and memory dumps.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Dynamic unpacking
CAPE automatically extracts payloads from techniques including process injection, hollowing, doppelgänging, and in-memory decompression.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
File artifacts
Analyses record files created, modified, or deleted during execution.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Hypervisor extensibility
Custom Python machinery modules can add unsupported virtualization backends; documented options include QEMU/KVM, LXC, Xen, OpenVZ, and VMware.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Independent listing
AlternativeTo describes CAPE as free and open source and reported no user comments or reviews on its listing.Read 15 Oct 2026 · alternativeto.net
Input types
Documented analysis targets include Windows executables, DLLs, PDFs, Office files, URLs, HTML, scripts, ZIP files, and Java JARs.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Licence
The Cuckoo-derived code is distributed under GNU GPL version 3; bundled components may use other licences.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Limit: configuration extraction
A SURICON paper reports that configuration extraction does not work every time and can produce inconsistent results across parser frameworks.Read 15 Oct 2026 · suricon.net
Limit: deployment complexity
WorldMetrics says setup and orchestration require platform and infrastructure knowledge, with noisy results unless analysts filter them.Read 15 Oct 2026 · worldmetrics.org
Limit: integrations
WorldMetrics notes that detection mapping is limited out of the box and some integrations require external tooling.Read 15 Oct 2026 · worldmetrics.org
Limit: network setup
A practitioner discussion highlights confusion around host/guest architecture and says network communication configuration is critical.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com
Limits and setup
CAPE requires a host and guest machines, and its installation guide cautions that changing packages installed by its setup script can break the KVM/libvirt/CAPE installation.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
MCP integration
An MCP server lets AI clients submit samples and query CAPE through configurable stdio, SSE, or HTTP transports.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Memory dumps
Full memory dumps and per-process dumps are available as analysis artifacts.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Network capture
CAPE captures network traffic as PCAP and can classify it with Suricata rules.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Notable news: 2026 support
The project changelog records support additions for all Windows 10 versions and Windows 11 23H2 during 2026.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Notable news: CAPEv2
The Python 3 rewrite, CAPEv2, was released in October 2019.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Notable news: launch
CAPE was publicly launched at 44CON in September 2016 as an open-source project for automated payload and configuration extraction.Read 15 Oct 2026 · 44con.com
Praise: artifacts and coverage
WorldMetrics credits CAPE with automated behavioral capture, broad malware-file coverage, rich per-sample artifacts, and practical run management.Read 15 Oct 2026 · worldmetrics.org
Praise: executable analysis
A Reddit practitioner reported that CAPE worked very well for malicious executable files.Read 15 Oct 2026 · reddit.com
Python requirements
The guest agent was tested with 32-bit Python 3.7.2/3.8, while hosts were tested with Python 3.10 and 3.12.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Rating on WorldMetrics
6.3 out of 10 from an editorial ranking; review count was not stated.Read 15 Oct 2026 · worldmetrics.org
REST API
CAPE exposes Django REST Framework endpoints for submissions, tasks, reports, screenshots, files, PCAPs, machines, and status.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Screenshots
The sandbox takes desktop screenshots during malware execution.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
SDK and package
The cape-mcp package is installable with pip, requires Python 3.9 or newer, and exposes configurable CAPE tools through environment variables.Read 15 Oct 2026 · pypi.org
Security controls
The MCP documentation recommends token authentication, submission-directory restrictions, and disabling dangerous tools through api.conf.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Self-hosting
Installation scripts provision CAPE services, web UI, processor, rooter, and systemd units on a Linux host.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Signature extensibility
Python signatures support severity, confidence, malware families, references, MITRE ATT&CK IDs, and Malware Behavior Catalog IDs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Supported inputs
Documented inputs include Windows executables, DLLs, PDFs, Office files, URLs, HTML, PHP, CPL, VB, ZIP, JAR, and Python files.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
System requirements
The project recommends Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on the host, Windows 10 or Windows 11 23H2 guests, and KVM virtualization.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Unpacking and extraction
CAPE adds automated dynamic malware unpacking, YARA-based classification of unpacked payloads, and static and dynamic malware configuration extraction.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Warranty
CAPE is distributed without warranty, and the documentation says use of the tool is the user's responsibility.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Web interface
The Django web interface supports submitting files, browsing reports, and searching analysis results.Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
YARA classification
YARA rules can classify unpacked payloads and program debugger behavior.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Plans and prices

CAPE Sandbox Free Open-source software · self-hosted setup Read 2 Oct 2026 · capev2.readthedocs.io
Public demonstration instance Free Free online demonstration · account activation via CAPE Sandbox social account Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Every CAPE Sandbox plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Captures PCAP traffic, screenshots, and memory dumps.
  • Dynamically unpacks malware and classifies payloads with YARA.
  • Supports file and URL analysis automation.
  • Web interface supports submissions, reports, and searches.

Limits

  • Setup requires host and guest machines.
  • Distributed without warranty; use is the user's responsibility.
  • Changing setup-script packages can break the installation.
  • Beta or development builds generally receive no support.

Who it suits

CAPE suits malware analysts and security teams able to set up and maintain host and guest machines. Its API and Python submission functions also suit teams automating file or URL analysis.

Verdict

CAPE offers extensive analysis and automation capabilities as free, self-hosted software. Its virtual-machine setup and lack of warranty are important considerations.

Where Specifiction places it

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