Security audit

ecovacs-skills-pet-control

Security checks across malware telemetry and agentic risk

Overview

This is a legitimate Ecovacs pet-robot control skill, but it needs review because it can change privacy-sensitive robot settings and may turn on the camera automatically before motion commands.

Install only if you trust the publisher and are comfortable giving the assistant control over the named Ecovacs pet robot. Treat camera, microphone, wake-word/nickname, sleep, reset, and repeated routine commands as sensitive actions; prefer explicit confirmations before running them, avoid putting the AK in URLs or shell history, and remove or protect ~/.ecovacs_session.json when no longer needed.

SkillSpector

By NVIDIA

Vulnerability Patterns

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

Findings (5)

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 86% confidence
Finding: The README documents commands that can change privacy- and behavior-sensitive settings such as microphone, camera, wake word/nickname, gender, sleep state, and scheduled routines, but it does not prominently warn users or integrators about the consequences of these actions or recommend confirmation for sensitive operations. In an agent-driven context, this increases the risk of unintended surveillance changes, device disruption, or persistent nuisance behavior through ambiguous or manipulated prompts.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 86% confidence
Finding: The README explicitly documents control over the robot's microphone and camera but does not provide any user-facing privacy warning, consent requirement, or guidance on safe use. In a consumer robot skill, exposing remote audio/video controls without clear disclosure can lead to unexpected surveillance or privacy-invasive operation, especially if the assistant is used by someone other than the primary device owner.

Missing User Warnings

High

Confidence: 95% confidence
Finding: The README states that before visible actions, the script may automatically wake the device by turning on the camera and switching modes, but it does not clearly warn users that camera activation can occur as a side effect of unrelated motion commands. This is more dangerous than ordinary device control because a user may request a harmless action like nodding or dancing while unintentionally enabling video capture capability, creating a covert or surprising privacy impact.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Confidence: 96% confidence
Finding: The skill states that before display actions it may automatically call setCamera{"enable":1} to wake the pet and then proceed with motion. That is a meaningful privacy and safety-affecting side effect, but the user guidance does not present it as a prominent warning before control actions are attempted.

Missing User Warnings

Low

Confidence: 88% confidence
Finding: The HTTP examples show the Access Key being sent directly to Ecovacs cloud endpoints, including one example that places the key in the URL query string. Without a prominent warning, users may expose credentials in shell history, logs, proxies, browser history, or monitoring systems.

VirusTotal

64/64 vendors flagged this skill as clean.

View on VirusTotal

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.