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Security audit

news-briefing-research

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

This skill is a scoped news-research helper that sends user-directed public-news queries to Crawlora and does not show hidden persistence, mutation, or destructive behavior.

Install only if you are comfortable sending news search terms, source filters, and article URLs to Crawlora using your CRAWLORA_API_KEY. Avoid using it for confidential investigations or regulated private data unless that third-party processing is acceptable for your use case.

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
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
  • MCP Least PrivilegeUnderdeclared Capability, Wildcard Permission, Missing Permission Declaration
  • Prompt InjectionInstruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands
  • Supply ChainUnpinned Dependencies, External Script Fetching, Obfuscated Code
Findings (8)

Lp3

Medium
Category
MCP Least Privilege
Confidence
90% confidence
Finding
The skill demonstrates shell-based execution via example commands but does not declare any tool restrictions such as allowed-tools or permissions. That creates an unnecessary trust gap: a caller or agent may permit broader shell access than intended, increasing the risk of command execution, data access, or misuse if the skill is modified or invoked unsafely.

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Confidence
93% confidence
Finding
The file explicitly documents that the skill sends data to remote endpoints and requires an API key, but provides no user-facing warning about network transmission, third-party processing, or credential use. In a skill context, this can lead users to unknowingly transmit prompts, queries, URLs, and potentially sensitive research terms to an external service.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
Endpoints this skill uses, grouped by platform. Call them via `scripts/crawlora.sh` (see SKILL.md).

All paths are relative to the API base `https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1` and require the header `x-api-key: $CRAWLORA_API_KEY`. Path params like `{id}` are substituted into the URL; `GET` params go in the query string; `POST` params go in a JSON body.

**28 endpoints across 5 platform group(s).**
Confidence
96% confidence
Finding
This is a true external-transmission finding: the skill is designed to send requests to https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1 using an API key header. While external access is core to the skill's purpose, it still creates confidentiality and privacy risk because user-supplied topics, article URLs, and other inputs are transmitted off-platform to a third party.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Crawlora REST helper — minimal, dependency-free (curl only).
# Calls https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1 with your Crawlora API key.
# Get a free key (2,000 credits/mo, no card) at https://crawlora.net?utm_source=github&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crawlora-skills.
#
Confidence
70% 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
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Crawlora REST helper — minimal, dependency-free (curl only).
# Calls https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1 with your Crawlora API key.
# Get a free key (2,000 credits/mo, no card) at https://crawlora.net?utm_source=github&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crawlora-skills.
#
# Usage:
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
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Crawlora REST helper — minimal, dependency-free (curl only).
# Calls https://api.crawlora.net/api/v1 with your Crawlora API key.
# Get a free key (2,000 credits/mo, no card) at https://crawlora.net?utm_source=github&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crawlora-skills.
#
# Usage:
Confidence
60% confidence
Finding
Data is being sent to an external URL. This could be legitimate telemetry or data exfiltration. Manual review is recommended.

Sudo/Root Execution

Medium
Category
Privilege Escalation
Content
# Keep the API key out of the curl process command line. A private temporary
# config supplies the header and is removed automatically on exit.
curl_config="$(mktemp "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/crawlora-curl.XXXXXX")"
chmod 600 "$curl_config"
trap 'rm -f "$curl_config"' EXIT
printf 'header = "x-api-key: %s"\n' "$CRAWLORA_API_KEY" >"$curl_config"
auth=(--config "$curl_config")
Confidence
80% confidence
Finding
Commands invoke sudo or root privileges. Verify this elevated access is necessary and justified.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
[ -n "$body" ] || body='{}'
  # Stream the body on stdin so curl never interprets a user value as its
  # @file shorthand (and cannot read local files supplied in a request body).
  printf '%s' "$body" | curl -q -fsS -X "$method" "${auth[@]}" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data-binary @- "${base}${path}"
fi
Confidence
70% confidence
Finding
Data is being sent to an external URL. This could be legitimate telemetry or data exfiltration. Manual review is recommended.

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.