monitoring-instagram-hashtag-trends

• Outcome: Review
• Latest audit: Sep 3, 2026 · 6:39 AM UTC
• Version: 1.0.0

Overview

The skill is a disclosed Instagram hashtag analysis helper, but it needs review because it handles an Apify API token unsafely in a URL and documents broader scraping targets than its hashtag-focused purpose.

Review before installing. Use this only if you are comfortable sending Instagram scrape requests and results through Apify, keep APIFY_TOKEN in an environment variable or secrets manager, avoid the REST fallback token-in-URL form, set explicit maxItems and until limits, and keep usage to hashtag-specific targets unless you intentionally want broader Instagram scraping.

SkillSpector

Vulnerability Patterns

• Data Exfiltration: External Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
• MCP Tool Poisoning: Hidden Instructions, Unicode Deception, Parameter Description Injection
• Prompt Injection: Instruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands
• Privilege Escalation: Excessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
• Supply Chain: Unpinned Dependencies, External Script Fetching, Obfuscated Code

Findings (5)

Missing User Warnings

Medium

• Confidence: 93% confidence
• Finding: The skill requires use of `APIFY_TOKEN` but gives no guidance on safe handling, despite later examples placing the token in a URL query string. This increases the chance the credential will be exposed through shell history, logs, process listings, screenshots, or copied commands, leading to unauthorized use of the Apify account.

Description-Behavior Mismatch

Medium

• Confidence: 95% confidence
• Finding: The manifest says this skill monitors Instagram hashtag performance and trends, but the documented `startUrls` input explicitly accepts profiles, locations, audio pages, and reels, which are broader scraping targets than hashtag analysis. This expands the apparent behavior beyond the skill's claimed hashtag-focused scope.

External Transmission

Medium

• Category: Data Exfiltration

Content

**REST API fallback:**
```bash
curl -X POST   "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/apidojo~instagram-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN"   -H "Content-Type: application/json"   -d '{"keywords": ["#[hashtag1]", "#[hashtag2]"], "maxItems": 50}'
```

Run per hashtag (or in batch if MCP supports multiple hashtags in one run).

• Confidence: 96% confidence
• Finding: The REST fallback sends requests to an external service and embeds `APIFY_TOKEN` directly in the request URL. Query-string secrets are commonly captured by terminal history, proxy logs, browser history, monitoring systems, and server access logs, so compromise of those records can expose the token and allow misuse of the external account.

External Transmission

Medium

• Category: Data Exfiltration

Content

**REST API fallback:**
```bash
curl -X POST   "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/apidojo~instagram-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN"   -H "Content-Type: application/json"   -d '{"keywords": ["#[hashtag1]", "#[hashtag2]"], "maxItems": 50}'
```

Run per hashtag (or in batch if MCP supports multiple hashtags in one run).

• Confidence: 96% confidence
• Finding: The REST fallback sends requests to an external service and embeds `APIFY_TOKEN` directly in the request URL. Query-string secrets are commonly captured by terminal history, proxy logs, browser history, monitoring systems, and server access logs, so compromise of those records can expose the token and allow misuse of the external account.

Description-Behavior Mismatch

Low

• Confidence: 86% confidence
• Finding: The skill claims to return specific hashtag metrics and strategy outputs, but the main usage examples invoke the generic `apidojo~instagram-scraper` with placeholder input `{"param": "value"}` and file-saving examples. This presents the skill as a general Instagram scraping wrapper rather than a narrowly scoped hashtag-trend monitor.

VirusTotal

63/63 vendors flagged this skill as clean.

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.