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Security audit

TikTok Creator Brief Stills

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

Review is warranted because this still-image skill requests unrelated account permissions and an uninstall flaw can disconnect other Beatra skills when installation records are malformed.

Prefer a version with narrower authorization and corrected uninstall checks. This version shares broad Beatra account access across packages and reports installation metadata. Approve each paid stage, upload only intended assets, and check other Beatra installations before uninstalling. Access can be revoked through the Beatra Console.

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
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
  • Excessive AgencyUnrestricted Tool Access, Autonomous Decision Making, Scope Creep
  • Output HandlingUnvalidated Output Injection, Cross-Context Output, Unbounded Output
  • Rogue AgentSelf-Modification, Session Persistence
  • MCP Least PrivilegeUnderdeclared Capability, Wildcard Permission, Missing Permission Declaration
Findings (33)

Description-Behavior Mismatch

High
Category
MCP Tool Poisoning
Confidence
99% confidence
Finding

The reported video, music, speech, and voice-management authorization exceeds the still-image workflow and creates a least-privilege violation. If the shared credential is compromised or misused, those permissions could enable unrelated paid operations or voice-resource changes; the documented approval cards are behavioral safeguards, not credential-level restrictions. Spending authorization and user-requested task cancellation are themselves consistent with the documented paid workflow.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Description-Behavior Mismatch

High
Category
MCP Tool Poisoning
Confidence
97% confidence
Finding

The supplied chunk has a materially different primary purpose from the declared creator-brief workflow. Its access to shared authentication state, remote credential revocation, and local state deletion are substantive lifecycle capabilities not disclosed in the description, rather than ordinary details of reading profiles or rendering brief cards. The implementation includes safeguards to preserve connections used by other skills and supports dry runs; these reduce operational risk but do not resolve the description–behavior mismatch. This assessment applies to the supplied uninstall script, not to unseen portions of the skill.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Description-Behavior Mismatch

High
Category
MCP Tool Poisoning
Confidence
96% confidence
Finding

The reported automatic transmission of a persistent installation identifier and runtime metadata creates a privacy and cross-installation correlation risk if it occurs without meaningful disclosure or consent. A generic tool dispatcher also weakens isolation when combined with the reported excessive credential scopes, although its existence alone is not an exploit. Local image upload is explicitly documented in SKILL.md, so caller-selected uploads are not independently evidence of unauthorized exfiltration.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Description-Behavior Mismatch

High
Category
MCP Tool Poisoning
Confidence
90% confidence
Finding

The supplied chunk only requests a model listing. Although model discovery could support a larger rendering workflow, no such connection or workflow is present here. As supplied, the code’s observable operation differs materially from the declared TikTok brief-production purpose.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · manifest.json (reported line 53)May include surrounding context.

json
},
  "mcp": {
    "authentication": "device-bearer",
    "credential_file": "~/.beatra/credentials.json",
    "name": "beatra",
    "transport": "streamable-http",
    "url": "https://mcp.beatra.ai/mcp"

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/authorize.py (reported line 432)May include surrounding context.

python
def _existing_credential(state_dir: Path) -> Path | None:
    path = state_dir / "credentials.json"
    try:
        path_stat = os.lstat(path)
        if not stat.S_ISREG(path_stat.st_mode):

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/authorize.py (reported line 1008)May include surrounding context.

python
scope = _required_string(polled, "scope")
    if set(scope.split()) != set(SCOPE.split()):
        raise RuntimeError("Beatra authorization returned an unsupported scope")
    credential_path = state_dir / "credentials.json"
    with _SIGNALS.deferred():
        _atomic_json(
            credential_path,

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/mcp_client.py (reported line 1183)May include surrounding context.

python
def _credentials(state_dir: Path) -> tuple[str, str]:
    state_dir = state_dir.expanduser()
    path = state_dir / "credentials.json"
    if not path.is_file():
        # Not connected yet (or the file is gone): the caller may still find
        # an approval waiting to be collected.

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/uninstall.py (reported line 132)May include surrounding context.

python
def _device_token(state_dir: Path) -> str | None:
    path = state_dir / "credentials.json"
    try:
        value = json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
    except (OSError, ValueError):

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · references/installation-and-auth.md (reported line 14)May include surrounding context.

md
- `~/.beatra/installation.json` contains one stable, non-secret installation
  reference.
- `~/.beatra/credentials.json` contains the single Device Token.

On POSIX systems the directory must be mode `0700` and both files mode `0600`.
On Windows the current user must be the only principal granted access through

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · references/installation-and-auth.md (reported line 53)May include surrounding context.

md
and keeps checking through brief network failures. One run waits up to
   about 15 minutes; an approval page stays open for up to an hour;
5. atomically saves the returned Device Token to
   `~/.beatra/credentials.json` without printing an HTTP response body;
6. validates the new credential with the same non-billable MCP request and
   prints `Beatra is ready` only after it succeeds.

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · references/updates-and-security.md (reported line 32)May include surrounding context.

md
These files are written under `~/.beatra/`. On POSIX that directory is mode
0700. Nothing is written inside the installed Skill directory.

- `credentials.json` (POSIX mode 0600), written by `scripts/authorize.py`: the device credential.
- `installation.json` (POSIX mode 0600), written by `scripts/authorize.py`: the stable installation reference.
- `host.json` (POSIX mode 0600), written by `scripts/authorize.py`: the agent environment, and a device name when one is known.
- `network.json` (POSIX mode 0600), written by `scripts/mcp_client.py`: this computer's network route.

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · references/updates-and-security.md (reported line 56)May include surrounding context.

md
When `scripts/uninstall.py` decides this is the last Beatra skill on the
computer, it first asks Beatra to revoke the device credential when one is
stored. If Beatra refuses, it changes nothing so the run can be repeated.
Otherwise it unlinks exactly these names in `~/.beatra/`: `credentials.json`,
`installation.json`, `host.json`, `skills.json`, `registrations.json`,
`network.json`, `balance-holds.json`, `pending_authorization.json`, and
`.authorize.lock`. It also unlinks `state.json`, `registration.json`, and

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · references/installation-and-auth.md (reported line 21)May include surrounding context.

md
the file ACL. Never copy the Device Token into conversation context, stdout,
stderr, a command argument, an environment variable, a log, a backup, a diff,
or another file. A completed authorization leaves the token only in
`~/.beatra/credentials.json`.

## Ensure Beatra is ready

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/uninstall.py (reported line 42)May include surrounding context.

python
#: is empty — the script never recursively deletes a directory it does not
#: fully understand.
_STATE_FILES = (
    "credentials.json",
    "installation.json",
    "host.json",
    "skills.json",

Credential Access

High
Category
Privilege Escalation
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.

Content

Scanner excerpt · references/mcp-connection.md (reported line 12)May include surrounding context.

md
The host follows this computer's network route, described below.

They share the one full-scope Device Token stored in
`~/.beatra/credentials.json`. Installing or switching packages must not trigger
another authorization when that credential is already valid. Do not add,
enable, trust, or configure a host Beatra Connector. Never print or move the
token into command arguments, environment variables, logs, chat, or another

Self-Modification

High
Category
Rogue Agent
Confidence
90% confidence
Finding

Skill modifies its own code, configuration, or behavior at runtime. Self-modification enables an agent to escalate privileges, disable safety constraints, or install persistent backdoors.

Content

Scanner excerpt · references/updates-and-security.md (reported line 3)May include surrounding context.

md
# Updates and security

Since the October 2026 releases, Beatra Skill packages contain no self-updater.
Earlier releases could replace their own files from Beatra's CDN; that code has
been removed. Updates now come only from the store or tool you installed the
Skill from.

Malformed inventory entries are silently discarded, contradicting the documented fail-safe rule for shared credentials.

High
Category
Excessive Agency
Confidence
98% confidence
Finding

_load_inventory silently drops non-dictionary entries and returns an "ok" inventory, allowing malformed records to be treated as evidence that no other skills remain. If records for still-installed skills are corrupted into these discarded forms, uninstall can revoke the shared device token and delete shared state, disrupting other skills; exploitation requires inventory corruption or modification rather than merely invoking uninstall.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Skill declares no tool scope ('permissions' or 'allowed-tools') but code capabilities were detected: env, file_read, file_write, network, shell.

Medium
Category
MCP Least Privilege
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

Without declared permissions the skill's intent is opaque and cannot be validated.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

The lookup workflow sends user-supplied profile identifiers to an external service without an explicit privacy disclosure.

Medium
Category
Output Handling
Confidence
88% confidence
Finding

The workflow instructs the agent to execute a Beatra lookup using arguments derived from the user's handle, profile URL, or display name (lines 46–50). Although it discloses lookup charges, it does not warn that these supplied identifiers will be transmitted to the external lookup provider; their public availability does not disclose that transmission.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Autonomous Decision Making

Medium
Category
Excessive Agency
Confidence
80% confidence
Finding

Skill enables autonomous high-impact decisions without human-in-the-loop verification. Critical operations (destructive commands, financial transactions, data deletion) should require explicit user confirmation.

Content

Scanner excerpt · references/installation-and-auth.md (reported line 106)May include surrounding context.

md
- say prominently that a signed-out browser lands on Beatra sign-in first:
  the user signs in or creates their account there, and the approval page
  continues automatically after sign-in;
- say once that the connection continues automatically after Allow — never
  ask the user to confirm in chat that they approved.
- on the mainland China network, follow the sign-in and console-link guidance
  in [MCP connection](mcp-connection.md#network-route).

Installation-source information inferred from the conversation is recorded without a user-facing privacy disclosure.

Medium
Category
Output Handling
Confidence
88% confidence
Finding

The instructions direct the agent to infer installation provenance from conversation history and record it without a user-facing disclosure. This is a limited privacy concern involving secondary use of conversation-derived information, although the fixed source categories constrain exposure and the provided file does not establish whether the information leaves the device.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Autonomous Decision Making

Medium
Category
Excessive Agency
Confidence
80% confidence
Finding

Skill enables autonomous high-impact decisions without human-in-the-loop verification. Critical operations (destructive commands, financial transactions, data deletion) should require explicit user confirmation.

Content

Scanner excerpt · references/installation-and-auth.md (reported line 132)May include surrounding context.

md
Use one of `website`, `github`, `skillhub`, `skillatlas`, `modelscope`,
`workbuddy`, `clawhub`, or `other`. If the conversation does not show it,
skip this and do not ask the user. If the command is not recognized, skip it.

## Use the bundled MCP client

The documented client reports installation and runtime telemetry unrelated to creating TikTok collaboration brief stills.

Medium
Category
Excessive Agency
Confidence
96% confidence
Finding

The documented client automatically transmits a stable installation reference, installation-source and network-route metadata, and runtime characteristics without documenting prior consent or an opt-out. These fields enable recurring installation-level tracking unrelated to producing TikTok collaboration briefs. Explicit disclosure and the stated exclusion of sensitive content reduce the risk, but do not establish user authorization; the supplied documentation alone cannot verify the implementation or its data exclusions.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

MCP server referenced without pinned version: 'npx skills'.

Medium
Category
MCP Rug Pull
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding

npx commands without a version suffix (e.g. @1.0.0) create a rug-pull risk if the upstream server is compromised and publishes a malicious update.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.