Back to skill

Security audit

Academic Research Skills 606a56

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

This is a simple academic research guidance skill with overly broad activation phrases but no evidence of unsafe code, data access, persistence, or hidden behavior.

This appears safe to install for academic research assistance. The main thing to review is whether you want such broad triggers enabled; narrowing them to the exact skill name would reduce accidental activation.

Vulnerability Patterns
  • Skill Instruction HijackingAlters the agent's session goals or safety constraints when the skill loads
  • Agent Memory PoisoningWrites attacker-controlled rules into memory that affect later sessions
  • Remote Payload Retrieval and ExecutionFetches external code whose behavior can change after review
  • Embedded Malicious CodeShips malicious scripts inside the skill and executes them locally
  • Unauthorized Access and Privilege EscalationObtains permissions beyond the task's legitimate needs
Vulnerability Patterns
  • Trigger AbuseOverly Broad Trigger, Shadow Command Trigger, Keyword Baiting Trigger
  • Prompt InjectionInstruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands
  • Data ExfiltrationExternal Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
  • Supply ChainUnpinned Dependencies, External Script Fetching, Obfuscated Code
Findings (2)

Vague Triggers

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding

The trigger field includes very broad terms such as "Academic," "Research," and especially "Skills," which are common words likely to appear in many unrelated conversations. This can cause unintended invocation of the skill, leading the agent to activate outside the user's actual intent and potentially override more appropriate routing or context-specific safeguards.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Vague Triggers

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
92% confidence
Finding

The natural-language trigger scenarios are overly broad, including generic phrases like users saying "Academic" or needing related help, which can match many benign requests unrelated to this skill. In a routing system, this increases the chance of accidental activation, misclassification of user intent, and inappropriate handling of requests that should be served by other skills or general assistance.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.