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Security audit

Citation Chasing Mapping

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

This skill is a purpose-aligned citation mapping helper with some documentation and permission clarity gaps, but no evidence of hidden persistence, credential use, destructive behavior, or malicious data handling.

Install this if you are comfortable with research queries and paper identifiers being sent to Semantic Scholar and with the tool writing citation-network output files locally. Review the command examples before relying on them, because parts of the documentation do not match the shipped script.

A.I.G

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

SkillSpector

Vulnerability Patterns
  • Data ExfiltrationExternal Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
  • 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
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
Findings (4)

Lp1

High
Category
MCP Least Privilege
Confidence
75% confidence
Finding
The skill uses 'network' capability that is not listed in its permissions. This may indicate deceptive intent or missing permission declarations.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
class SemanticScholarClient:
    """Client for Semantic Scholar API."""
    
    BASE_URL = "https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1"
    
    def __init__(self, delay: float = 0.5):
        """
Confidence
60% confidence
Finding
Data is being sent to an external URL. This could be legitimate telemetry or data exfiltration. Manual review is recommended.

Vague Triggers

Medium
Confidence
91% confidence
Finding
The summary 'Use when working with citation chasing mapping' is overly broad and does not define concrete activation boundaries, which can cause the agent to invoke the skill in loosely related research contexts. Overbroad routing increases the chance of unnecessary exposure to untrusted inputs or inappropriate tool use, even though this file does not itself contain direct code execution or high-risk actions.

Missing User Warnings

Low
Confidence
82% confidence
Finding
User-supplied titles, DOIs, and PMIDs are sent to a third-party API without an explicit privacy notice or consent checkpoint. In a research workflow this can expose sensitive topics, unpublished work, or investigator interests to an external service, even though the transmission is functionally expected.

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.