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Security audit

tavily-search

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

This skill is a straightforward Tavily search and URL extraction wrapper that sends user-provided queries or URLs to Tavily using the user's API key.

Install this only if you are comfortable sending search queries and provided URLs to Tavily under your Tavily API key. Avoid passing private intranet links, token-bearing URLs, or confidential research targets unless Tavily is an approved service for that data.

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
  • MCP Least PrivilegeUnderdeclared Capability, Wildcard Permission, Missing Permission Declaration
  • MCP Tool PoisoningHidden Instructions, Unicode Deception, Parameter Description Injection
  • Prompt InjectionInstruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
Findings (7)

Undeclared Tool Scope

Medium
Category
MCP Least Privilege
Confidence
90% confidence
Finding

The skill invokes Node.js scripts that require both environment variable access (TAVILY_API_KEY) and outbound network access, but the manifest does not declare any explicit tool scope such as permissions or allowed-tools. This creates an authorization gap: a host agent may grant broader capabilities than intended, and reviewers cannot easily verify the minimum required privileges from the skill declaration alone.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Confidence
87% confidence
Finding

The script transmits user-provided URLs and the API key to an external third-party service, which is a real data egress boundary. In the context of an agent skill, arbitrary URLs may contain sensitive internal links, tokens in query strings, or private research targets, so sending them off-platform can leak information even if the service is legitimate.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/extract.mjs (reported line 24)May include surrounding context.

js
process.exit(1);
}

const resp = await fetch("https://api.tavily.com/extract", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Confidence
87% confidence
Finding

The script transmits user-provided URLs and the API key to an external third-party service, which is a real data egress boundary. In the context of an agent skill, arbitrary URLs may contain sensitive internal links, tokens in query strings, or private research targets, so sending them off-platform can leak information even if the service is legitimate.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/extract.mjs (reported line 24)May include surrounding context.

js
process.exit(1);
}

const resp = await fetch("https://api.tavily.com/extract", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",

Description-Behavior Mismatch

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding

The skill metadata says it provides web search, but this script submits arbitrary user-supplied URLs to Tavily's extract endpoint and retrieves raw page content. That mismatch matters because extraction can be used to pull and relay full content from arbitrary sites, which is materially more powerful than concise search and can expose sensitive browsing targets or unexpectedly process untrusted content.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
92% confidence
Finding

This code builds a request body containing the user's query and the API credential, then sends it to api.tavily.com. While the network call is visible in code, there is no user-facing disclosure, confirmation, or explanatory comment warning that user-provided input will be sent to a third-party service.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Confidence
60% confidence
Finding

Data is being sent to an external URL. This could be legitimate telemetry or data exfiltration. Manual review is recommended.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/search.mjs (reported line 62)May include surrounding context.

js
body.days = days;
}

const resp = await fetch("https://api.tavily.com/search", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Confidence
50% confidence
Finding

Data is being sent to an external URL. This could be legitimate telemetry or data exfiltration. Manual review is recommended.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/search.mjs (reported line 62)May include surrounding context.

js
body.days = days;
}

const resp = await fetch("https://api.tavily.com/search", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.