Security audit

SEO DataForSEO

Security checks across malware telemetry and agentic risk

Overview

This is a coherent DataForSEO SEO research helper that uses expected API credentials, sends research queries to DataForSEO, and saves results locally as documented.

Install only if you are comfortable sending SEO queries, domains, location choices, and related research inputs to DataForSEO. Keep the .env credentials out of version control, expect API quota or billing impact, and delete or restrict access to results/ files if they contain client, competitor, or strategy-sensitive research.

SkillSpector

By NVIDIA

Vulnerability Patterns

Data ExfiltrationExternal Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
Supply ChainUnpinned Dependencies, External Script Fetching, Obfuscated Code
Trigger AbuseOverly Broad Trigger, Shadow Command Trigger, Keyword Baiting Trigger
MCP Least PrivilegeUnderdeclared Capability, Wildcard Permission, Missing Permission Declaration
Prompt InjectionInstruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands

Findings (17)

Lp3

Medium

Category: MCP Least Privilege
Confidence: 96% confidence
Finding: The skill clearly requires environment variables, reads and writes local files, and makes outbound network requests, but it does not declare permissions or prominently surface those capabilities as explicit operational constraints. This can mislead users or orchestration systems about what the skill will access, increasing the risk of unintended data exposure or filesystem modification.

Missing User Warnings

Low

Confidence: 90% confidence
Finding: The workflow states that all results are automatically saved to local timestamped JSON files, but this persistence behavior is not called out as a clear warning in the skill description or consent flow. Users may provide sensitive research terms or competitive intelligence without realizing it will be retained on disk.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 94% confidence
Finding: The skill instructs users to send research inputs to the external DataForSEO API but does not clearly warn about the privacy implications of transmitting potentially sensitive keywords, domains, or strategy data to a third party. In SEO and competitor analysis contexts, those inputs can reveal confidential business plans or client information.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 91% confidence
Finding: This function sends user-supplied keywords to a third-party API service, which is a real privacy and data-governance concern when users may not realize their inputs leave the local environment. In an SEO research skill this behavior is expected functionally, but the lack of explicit disclosure or consent means sensitive business terms, campaign ideas, or confidential research topics could be exposed to the external provider.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 93% confidence
Finding: Results are persisted by default, which can create unintended local data retention of keyword research outputs that may reveal strategy, customer intent, or competitive analysis. Because saving happens automatically unless the caller overrides it, users may not understand that potentially sensitive outputs are being written to disk.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 92% confidence
Finding: The function transmits a user-provided target domain to an external API without explicit disclosure, which can leak competitor research targets, client domains, or internal assessment interests to the provider. In this skill, external analysis is part of the intended behavior, but undisclosed transmission still creates a legitimate privacy and confidentiality risk.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 93% confidence
Finding: Saving site keyword analysis results by default creates local persistence of potentially sensitive competitive intelligence and client-related research data. This is especially relevant in SEO workflows, where stored outputs can reveal market strategy and targeting decisions even if the remote call itself is expected.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 91% confidence
Finding: This function sends user-provided keywords and bid-related campaign data to a third-party API without explicit user-facing disclosure. While necessary for ad traffic estimation, this may expose confidential marketing plans, commercial intent, and budget assumptions to the provider.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 93% confidence
Finding: Ad traffic estimation outputs are stored locally by default, creating unnecessary retention of potentially sensitive advertising strategy and forecasting data. Users may reasonably expect an API helper to return data in memory only, so silent persistence increases exposure if the host is shared or logs/files are later accessed.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 91% confidence
Finding: Seed keywords are transmitted to an external service for expansion without explicit disclosure, which can reveal private product ideas, campaign concepts, or customer acquisition strategy. The SEO context makes outbound transmission expected, but not informing the user still makes this a real privacy and confidentiality issue.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 93% confidence
Finding: Keyword expansion results are automatically written to storage, which can preserve sensitive strategic research data beyond the immediate task. Because this is the default behavior, it increases the risk of unintended disclosure through local file access, backups, or shared environments.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 74% confidence
Finding: Results from the third-party API are persisted locally by default via save_result(..., save=True), which can create unintended retention of potentially sensitive business queries, competitor targets, and research history. Even if the transmitted data is expected, default persistence without explicit opt-in increases exposure if local storage is later accessed by unauthorized users or included in logs/backups.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 76% confidence
Finding: The function stores API suggestion outputs by default, which may capture sensitive marketing strategy, internal research terms, or user-provided business intelligence without explicit consent. This expands the data exposure surface from transient API use to persistent local retention, increasing the chance of later disclosure through filesystem access, backups, or log collection.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 78% confidence
Finding: Persisting domain analysis output by default can expose sensitive competitor research, client targeting information, or internal investigative activity beyond the immediate API call. In a business intelligence context, retention of these artifacts may be operationally sensitive and could be abused if local storage is insufficiently protected.

Unpinned Dependencies

Low

Category: Supply Chain
Content: dataforseo-client>=1.0.34 python-dotenv>=1.0.0
Confidence: 94% confidence
Finding: dataforseo-client>=1.0.34

Unpinned Dependencies

Low

Category: Supply Chain
Content: dataforseo-client>=1.0.34 python-dotenv>=1.0.0
Confidence: 96% confidence
Finding: python-dotenv>=1.0.0

Known Vulnerable Dependency: python-dotenv==1.0.0 — 1 advisory(ies): CVE-2026-28684 (python-dotenv: Symlink following in set_key allows arbitrary file overwrite via )

Low

Category: Supply Chain
Confidence: 80% confidence
Finding: python-dotenv==1.0.0

VirusTotal

65/65 vendors flagged this skill as clean.

View on VirusTotal

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.