fix(3.6.8): better Ollama error messages, empty-evidence findings go to needs-review, single-model vote warning

- models.rs: detect connection-refused and timeout on local providers
  (ollama/litellm/llamacpp), show actionable error instead of raw reqwest
- pipeline.rs: findings with empty evidence skip adversarial vote (which
  always rejects per 'default to rejected' prompt) and go straight to
  needs-review for human triage
- pipeline.rs: warn when single-model panel + vote_n=1 (same model
  validates its own findings = weaker validation)
- Bump version 3.6.7 → 3.6.8

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_011739wMqPJJPttTLLX6YoQH

.gitignore

@@ -108,3 +108,4 @@ data/repl_history.txt
 # Cloned source repos (whitebox/greybox from a git URL)
 repos/
 neurosploit-rs/repos/
+target/

RELEASE.md

@@ -1,11 +1,26 @@
-# NeuroSploit v3.6.7 — Release Notes
+# NeuroSploit v3.6.8 — Release Notes
 
 **Release Date:** August 2026
 **Codename:** Chain & Exploit
 **License:** MIT
 **Credits:** Joas A Santos & Red Team Leaders
 
-## Highlights
+## v3.6.8 — Bugfix: Ollama error handling, empty-evidence validation, single-model warnings
+
+- **Better Ollama/local provider error messages.** Connection-refused and timeout
+  errors now name the provider, URL, and suggest checking if the server is running.
+  Previously showed raw reqwest errors.
+- **Empty-evidence findings skip the vote and go straight to `needs-review`.**
+  Findings with no evidence are unverifiable by the adversarial validator (which
+  always rejects "no evidence" per its system prompt). Now they bypass the vote
+  and are flagged for human review instead of being silently dropped.
+- **Single-model + vote_n=1 warning.** When only one model is configured and
+  vote_n is 1, the pipeline emits a warning that validation is weaker (same model
+  validates its own findings).
+
+---
+
+## v3.6.7 Highlights
 
 - **CVE exploitation pipeline — 4 new agents.** `cve_version_fingerprint` (pin
   exact versions) → `cve_research_analyst` (map to NVD/GHSA, judge reachability) →

neurosploit-rs/Cargo.lock

@@ -871,7 +871,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "neurosploit"
-version = "3.6.7"
+version = "3.6.8"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "clap",
@@ -888,7 +888,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "neurosploit-harness"
-version = "3.6.7"
+version = "3.6.8"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "futures",

neurosploit-rs/Cargo.toml

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ members = ["crates/harness", "app"]
 resolver = "2"
 
 [workspace.package]
-version = "3.6.7"
+version = "3.6.8"
 edition = "2021"
 license = "MIT"
 repository = "https://github.com/JoasASantos/NeuroSploit"

neurosploit-rs/app/src/main.rs

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-//! NeuroSploit v3.6.7 — interactive harness + CLI (`run` / `whitebox` / `agents` / `models`).
+//! NeuroSploit v3.6.8 — interactive harness + CLI (`run` / `whitebox` / `agents` / `models`).
 
 mod repl;
 mod tui;
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 #[command(
     name = "neurosploit",
     version,
-    about = "NeuroSploit v3.6.7 — multi-model autonomous pentest harness",
-    long_about = "NeuroSploit v3.6.7 — a Rust multi-model harness that drives a pool of LLMs \
+    about = "NeuroSploit v3.6.8 — multi-model autonomous pentest harness",
+    long_about = "NeuroSploit v3.6.8 — a Rust multi-model harness that drives a pool of LLMs \
 (API key or local subscription: Claude/Codex/Gemini/Grok) to autonomously test a target. \
 After recon it INTELLIGENTLY selects only the agents matching the discovered surface, runs \
 them in parallel, then validates every finding by cross-model voting before reporting.\n\n\
@@ -765,7 +765,7 @@ pub(crate) fn spawn_engagement(base: &Path, mut cfg: RunConfig, mcp: bool, mode:
     println!("  │  ua     : {ua}");
     write_status(&workdir, "running", &format!("\"target\":{:?}", cfg.target));
 
-    println!("  ┌─ NeuroSploit v3.6.7  ·  by Joas A Santos & Red Team Leaders");
+    println!("  ┌─ NeuroSploit v3.6.8  ·  by Joas A Santos & Red Team Leaders");
     println!("  │  run id : {run_id}");
     println!("  │  target : {}", cfg.target);
     println!("  │  models : {}", cfg.models.join(", "));

neurosploit-rs/app/src/repl.rs

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-//! NeuroSploit v3.6.7 — interactive session (Claude-Code / Codex / Cursor-CLI style).
+//! NeuroSploit v3.6.8 — interactive session (Claude-Code / Codex / Cursor-CLI style).
 //!
 //! Launched when `neurosploit` runs with no subcommand. A persistent REPL with
 //! real line editing (arrow-key history recall, Ctrl-A/E/K, paste), model
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ pub async fn repl(base: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let backends = harness::installed_cli_backends();
     println!("\x1b[1m");
     println!("  ███╗   ██╗███████╗██╗   ██╗██████╗  ██████╗");
-    println!("  ████╗  ██║██╔════╝██║   ██║██╔══██╗██╔═══██╗   NeuroSploit v3.6.7");
+    println!("  ████╗  ██║██╔════╝██║   ██║██╔══██╗██╔═══██╗   NeuroSploit v3.6.8");
     println!("  ██╔██╗ ██║█████╗  ██║   ██║██████╔╝██║   ██║   interactive harness");
     println!("  ██║╚██╗██║██╔══╝  ██║   ██║██╔══██╗██║   ██║   by Joas A Santos");
     println!("  ██║ ╚████║███████╗╚██████╔╝██║  ██║╚██████╔╝   & Red Team Leaders");

neurosploit-rs/app/src/tui.rs

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-//! NeuroSploit v3.6.7 — TUI "Mission Control" mode.
+//! NeuroSploit v3.6.8 — TUI "Mission Control" mode.
 //!
 //! Concurrent panels that update live while the engagement runs in the
 //! background, with a composer input that stays active during execution:

neurosploit-rs/crates/harness/src/models.rs

@@ -163,7 +163,20 @@ impl ChatClient {
         if !key.is_empty() {
             if azure { req = req.header("api-key", &key); } else { req = req.bearer_auth(&key); }
         }
-        let resp = req.send().await?;
+        let resp = req.send().await.map_err(|e| {
+            if e.is_connect() {
+                let local = matches!(p.key, "ollama" | "litellm" | "llamacpp");
+                if local {
+                    anyhow!("{} connection refused at {} — is the server running? ({})", p.key, url, e)
+                } else {
+                    anyhow!("{} connection error: {}", p.key, e)
+                }
+            } else if e.is_timeout() {
+                anyhow!("{} request timed out (120s) for model '{}' — model may be too large for available memory", p.key, m.model)
+            } else {
+                anyhow!("{} request error: {}", p.key, e)
+            }
+        })?;
         let status = resp.status();
         let text = resp.text().await.unwrap_or_default();
         if !status.is_success() {

neurosploit-rs/crates/harness/src/pipeline.rs

@@ -619,6 +619,9 @@ pub async fn run(cfg: RunConfig, lib: &Library, pool: &ModelPool, tx: Sender<Str
     let transcript = transcript_of(&raw);
     let candidates = dedup_findings(raw.iter().flat_map(|(_, _, f)| f.clone()).collect());
     let _ = tx.send(format!("{} candidate finding(s) (deduped) — validating by {}-model vote", candidates.len(), cfg.vote_n)).await;
+    if pool.candidates.len() == 1 && cfg.vote_n <= 1 {
+        let _ = tx.send("⚠ single-model panel with vote_n=1 — validation is weaker (same model validates its own findings). Consider --vote-n 2 or adding a second model for cross-validation.".into()).await;
+    }
 
     // ---- 4. Validate by N-model voting ---------------------------------
     let mut findings = validate(candidates, pool, VOTE_SYS, cfg.vote_n, &tx).await;
@@ -1148,9 +1151,26 @@ fn heuristic_select(ranked: &[Agent], recon: &str, focus: &str, cap: usize) -> V
 }
 
 async fn validate(candidates: Vec<Finding>, pool: &ModelPool, sys: &str, vote_n: usize, tx: &Sender<String>) -> Vec<Finding> {
+    // Fast-track: findings with no evidence are unverifiable — skip the vote
+    // and flag for human review instead of wasting a validator call that will
+    // always reject ("default to rejected when uncertain" + empty evidence).
+    let (have_evidence, no_evidence): (Vec<_>, Vec<_>) = candidates.into_iter().partition(|f| {
+        let e = f.evidence.trim();
+        !e.is_empty() && e != "N/A" && e != "n/a" && e != "none" && e != "-"
+    });
+    let mut flagged: Vec<Finding> = no_evidence.into_iter().map(|mut f| {
+        f.validated = false;
+        f.review_status = "needs-review".into();
+        f.review_reason = "no concrete evidence provided by agent — manual verification required".into();
+        f.votes = "0/0".into();
+        f
+    }).collect();
+    for f in &flagged {
+        let _ = tx.send(format!("vote {} → needs-review (no evidence)", f.title)).await;
+    }
     // Prefer a model other than the primary (likely finder) to adjudicate.
     let finder = pool.candidates.first().map(|m| m.label());
-    let validated: Vec<Finding> = stream::iter(candidates)
+    let validated: Vec<Finding> = stream::iter(have_evidence)
         .map(|mut f| {
             let txc = tx.clone();
             let finder = finder.clone();
@@ -1184,7 +1204,9 @@ async fn validate(candidates: Vec<Finding>, pool: &ModelPool, sys: &str, vote_n:
         .collect()
         .await;
     // Keep confirmed AND needs-review (human decides); drop only zero-support noise.
-    validated.into_iter().filter(|f| f.validated || f.review_status == "needs-review").collect()
+    // Include no-evidence flagged findings so the human loop sees them.
+    flagged.extend(validated.into_iter().filter(|f| f.validated || f.review_status == "needs-review"));
+    flagged
 }
 
 /// Adversarial refutation pass: every confirmed **High/Critical** finding is