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Security audit

instagram-scraper

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

This skill clearly uses Apify to scrape Instagram, but it enables broad collection of follower, following, and public-email data without privacy or lawful-use guardrails.

Install only if you are comfortable using a paid Apify service to collect Instagram data and you have a lawful, policy-compliant reason to gather profile, follower/following, comment, location, or public-email data. Avoid using it for bulk profiling, unsolicited contact, or collection beyond what you actually need.

Vulnerability Patterns
  • Data ExfiltrationExternal Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
  • Prompt InjectionInstruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
  • Supply ChainUnpinned Dependencies, External Script Fetching, Obfuscated Code
  • Excessive AgencyUnrestricted Tool Access, Autonomous Decision Making, Scope Creep
Findings (7)

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
Returns dataset items directly. Replace `ACTOR_ID` with the relevant actor ID above.

```bash
curl -s -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ACTOR_ID/run-sync-get-dataset-items?timeout=120" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
Confidence
60% confidence
Finding
Data is being sent to an external URL. This could be legitimate telemetry or data exfiltration. Manual review is recommended.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
```bash
curl -s -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ACTOR_ID/run-sync-get-dataset-items?timeout=120" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/"],"maxItems":50,"skill":true}'
Confidence
50% confidence
Finding
Data is being sent to an external URL. This could be legitimate telemetry or data exfiltration. Manual review is recommended.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
```bash
curl -s -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ACTOR_ID/run-sync-get-dataset-items?timeout=120" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/"],"maxItems":50,"skill":true}'
Confidence
50% confidence
Finding
Data is being sent to an external URL. This could be legitimate telemetry or data exfiltration. Manual review is recommended.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
```bash
curl -s -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ACTOR_ID/run-sync-get-dataset-items?timeout=120" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/"],"maxItems":50,"skill":true}'
Confidence
50% confidence
Finding
Data is being sent to an external URL. This could be legitimate telemetry or data exfiltration. Manual review is recommended.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
```bash
curl -s -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ACTOR_ID/run-sync-get-dataset-items?timeout=120" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"startUrls":["https://www.instagram.com/nike/"],"maxItems":50,"skill":true}'
Confidence
50% confidence
Finding
Data is being sent to an external URL. This could be legitimate telemetry or data exfiltration. Manual review is recommended.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
done

# 3. Fetch results
curl -s \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-runs/$RUN_ID/dataset/items?clean=true&limit=100" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN"
```
Confidence
60% confidence
Finding
Data is being sent to an external URL. This could be legitimate telemetry or data exfiltration. Manual review is recommended.

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Confidence
93% confidence
Finding
The skill explicitly supports scraping follower/following lists and public emails, which are privacy-sensitive data categories, but provides no warning, minimization guidance, or compliance constraints. This increases the risk of misuse for profiling, unsolicited contact, or large-scale collection of personal data from third-party accounts.

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.