Implementing TAXII Server with OpenTAXII

Overview

TAXII (Trusted Automated eXchange of Intelligence Information) is an OASIS standard protocol for exchanging cyber threat intelligence over HTTPS. OpenTAXII is an open-source TAXII server implementation by EclecticIQ that supports TAXII 1.x, while the OASIS cti-taxii-server provides a TAXII 2.1 reference implementation. This skill covers deploying a TAXII server, configuring collections for threat intelligence feeds, publishing STIX 2.1 bundles, and integrating with SIEM/SOAR platforms for automated indicator ingestion.

When to Use

• When deploying or configuring implementing taxii server with opentaxii capabilities in your environment
• When establishing security controls aligned to compliance requirements
• When building or improving security architecture for this domain
• When conducting security assessments that require this implementation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9+ with medallion, stix2, taxii2-client, opentaxii, cabby libraries
• Docker and Docker Compose for containerized deployment
• Understanding of STIX 2.1 objects (Indicator, Malware, Attack Pattern, Relationship)
• Familiarity with REST APIs and HTTPS configuration
• TLS certificates for production deployment

Key Concepts

TAXII 2.1 Architecture

TAXII 2.1 defines three services: Discovery (find available API roots), API Root (entry point for collections), and Collections (repositories of CTI objects). Collections support two access models: the Collection endpoint allows consumers to poll for objects, and the Status endpoint tracks the result of add operations. TAXII uses HTTP content negotiation with application/taxii+json;version=2.1.

Sharing Models

TAXII supports hub-and-spoke (central server distributes to consumers), peer-to-peer (bidirectional sharing between partners), and source-subscriber (producer publishes, consumers subscribe) models. Each collection can have read-only, write-only, or read-write access controls.

STIX 2.1 Content

TAXII transports STIX 2.1 bundles containing Structured Threat Information objects: Indicators (detection patterns), Observed Data, Malware, Attack Patterns, Threat Actors, Intrusion Sets, Campaigns, Relationships, and Sightings. Each object has a unique STIX ID, creation/modification timestamps, and optional TLP marking definitions.

Workflow

Step 1: Deploy TAXII 2.1 Server with Medallion

# Install medallion (OASIS reference implementation)
# pip install medallion

# medallion_config.json
import json

config = {
    "backend": {
        "module_class": "MemoryBackend",
        "filename": "taxii_data.json"
    },
    "users": {
        "admin": "admin_password_change_me",
        "analyst": "analyst_password_change_me",
        "readonly": "readonly_password_change_me"
    },
    "taxii": {
        "max_content_length": 10485760
    }
}

# Create initial data store
taxii_data = {
    "discovery": {
        "title": "Threat Intelligence TAXII Server",
        "description": "TAXII 2.1 server for sharing CTI indicators",
        "contact": "soc@organization.com",
        "default": "https://taxii.organization.com/api/",
        "api_roots": ["https://taxii.organization.com/api/"]
    },
    "api_roots": {
        "api": {
            "title": "Threat Intelligence API Root",
            "description": "Primary API root for threat intelligence sharing",
            "versions": ["application/taxii+json;version=2.1"],
            "max_content_length": 10485760,
            "collections": {
                "malware-iocs": {
                    "id": "91a7b528-80eb-42ed-a74d-c6fbd5a26116",
                    "title": "Malware IOCs",
                    "description": "Indicators of compromise from malware analysis",
                    "can_read": True,
                    "can_write": True,
                    "media_types": ["application/stix+json;version=2.1"]
                },
                "apt-intelligence": {
                    "id": "52892447-4d7e-4f70-b94a-5460e242dd23",
                    "title": "APT Intelligence",
                    "description": "Advanced persistent threat group intelligence",
                    "can_read": True,
                    "can_write": True,
                    "media_types": ["application/stix+json;version=2.1"]
                },
                "phishing-indicators": {
                    "id": "64993447-4d7e-4f70-b94a-5460e242ee34",

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