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Security audit

企业专利年报

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

The patent-report workflow fits its purpose, but its handling of permanent API keys creates exposure risks that warrant review.

Review these credential safeguards before connecting a paid account. Keep permanent keys out of chat, use a restricted credential, and require HTTPS with approved destinations and safe redirects. Set a spending limit for each task, and send PatentMax only company names and search details you authorize it to receive.

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
  • Data ExfiltrationExternal Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
  • Output HandlingUnvalidated Output Injection, Cross-Context Output, Unbounded Output
  • Taint TrackingDirect Taint Flow, Variable-Mediated Taint Flow, Credential Exfiltration Chain
  • MCP Least PrivilegeUnderdeclared Capability, Wildcard Permission, Missing Permission Declaration
  • MCP Tool PoisoningHidden Instructions, Unicode Deception, Parameter Description Injection
Findings (30)

Tainted flow: 'req' from os.environ.get (line 138, credential/environment) → urllib.request.urlopen (network output)

Critical
Category
Data Flow
Confidence
90% confidence
Finding

Credentials or environment variables flow to a network sink. This is a high-confidence indicator of credential exfiltration.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/patentmax_client.py (reported line 142)May include surrounding context.

python
req.add_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
    req.add_header("Accept", "application/json")
    try:
        with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=30) as response:
            payload = json.loads(response.read().decode("utf-8"))
    except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc:
        message = _server_message(exc.read().decode("utf-8", "replace"))

Tainted flow: 'req' from os.environ.get (line 333, credential/environment) → urllib.request.urlopen (network output)

Critical
Category
Data Flow
Confidence
92% confidence
Finding

Authenticated requests attach the loaded API key to an unrestricted configurable base URL, including HTTP URLs. In addition, the default urllib redirect handling can forward the explicitly supplied Authorization header to a different origin, so a malicious endpoint configuration or cross-origin redirect can expose the key; normal transmission to the default HTTPS API is expected, not malicious.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/patentmax_client.py (reported line 344)May include surrounding context.

python
req.add_header(key, value)

    try:
        with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=TIMEOUT) as response:
            payload = response.read()
            # 服务端每个响应都回本次实扣和扣完后的余额。记下来,供 _spent/_balance 输出。
            # 拿服务端的真值,而不是在本地累加估价:跨进程累加迟早算岔,

Description-Behavior Mismatch

High
Category
MCP Tool Poisoning
Confidence
99% confidence
Finding

The supplied command exposes part of an API key rather than retrieving or analyzing patent data or producing a report. Although using an API credential could support patent reporting, printing its contents is not necessary for authentication and is not represented by the declared purpose. The chunk shows no external transmission, but it does disclose credential material in its output.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Description-Behavior Mismatch

High
Category
MCP Tool Poisoning
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding

The supplied workflow is oriented toward finding prior art relevant to a technical proposal. It does not show company or reporting-year filters, annual status aggregation, year-over-year comparisons, or report generation. Patent search could support an annual report, but the explicit proposal-to-closest-patent workflow serves a materially different purpose. The client implementation is not supplied, so no additional access or data-transfer behavior is inferred.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Description-Behavior Mismatch

High
Category
MCP Tool Poisoning
Confidence
89% confidence
Finding

Patent retrieval, statistics, caching, and table export are reasonable supporting functions for the declared reporting task and are not mismatches by themselves. The material discrepancy is the additional service-onboarding and payment workflow: ensure_api_key() can automatically POST to /api/v1/trial-keys and save the resulting credential, while request() uses credentials for API operations that may incur charges. The automatically created task session has limit=0.0, which disables monetary blocking unless a budget is explicitly configured. Error responses also emit instructions asking the assistant to solicit and save a formal API key. These account, credential, and financial behaviors are not disclosed by the report-only description. The absence of report generation in this helper chunk alone would not establish a mismatch for the entire skill.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Code capability 'env' detected in scripts/patentmax_client.py but not covered by declared permissions.

High
Category
MCP Least Privilege
Confidence
75% confidence
Finding

The skill uses 'env' capability that is not covered by the declared 'allowed-tools' preapproval. Review the host runtime's actual enforcement policy; runtime permissions are unknown unless separately verified, and this declaration alone does not establish a permission ceiling.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Code capability 'network' detected in scripts/patentmax_client.py but not covered by declared permissions.

High
Category
MCP Least Privilege
Confidence
75% confidence
Finding

The skill uses 'network' capability that is not covered by the declared 'allowed-tools' preapproval. Review the host runtime's actual enforcement policy; runtime permissions are unknown unless separately verified, and this declaration alone does not establish a permission ceiling.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

The workflow sends user-provided company names to PatentMax without explicitly disclosing that transmission.

Medium
Category
Output Handling
Confidence
86% confidence
Finding

The workflow uses company and subsidiary names collected from the user in searches and statistical queries against the third-party PatentMax service. Although the skill identifies its data source and discloses costs, it does not tell users that their supplied names and search criteria will be transmitted to that service.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

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 · references/api-reference.md (reported line 16)May include surrounding context.

bash
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $PATENTMAX_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.ip930.com/api/patent?pn=CN109761224A"

服务端自己完成内部寻址,这些前置调用不进用户账单。

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 · references/api-reference.md (reported line 48)May include surrounding context.

服务端直接返回上次的结果、不再扣费;同一个键换了参数会被拒(400);上一次还在处理中返回 409。

bash
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $PATENTMAX_API_KEY" -H "Idempotency-Key: task42-search-1"   "https://api.ip930.com/api/search?q=%E6%B5%B8%E6%B2%A1%E5%BC%8F%E6%B6%B2%E5%86%B7&ds=cn&size=20"

网络超时、不确定上一次有没有成功时,用同一个键重发,不要换键。

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 · references/api-reference.md (reported line 89)May include surrounding context.

bash
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $PATENTMAX_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.ip930.com/api/patent?pn=CN109761224A"

某一块上游取不到时,该字段为 null 并在 unavailable 里列出,其余照常返回;

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 · references/api-reference.md (reported line 114)May include surrounding context.

bash
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $PATENTMAX_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.ip930.com/api/claims?pn=CN109761224A"

只要同时需要两块以上,就用 /api/patent——它一口价,拆开单买反而贵。

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 · references/faq.md (reported line 35)May include surrounding context.

md
- **密钥复制不全。** 前后有没有多余空格、有没有漏掉尾部字符
- **少了 `Bearer ` 前缀。** 用 curl 时 header 必须是 `Authorization: Bearer pm_live_xxx`,只写密钥不行
- **密钥被撤销了。** 到 [控制台](https://api.ip930.com/features/api-platform)看状态

> 还有个容易踩的:如果请求里带了 `Authorization` 头,URL 上的 `?apikey=` 就不会被读取。两种方式选一种,别混用——带了一个格式错误的 header,正确的 URL 参数也会被忽略。

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 · references/api-reference.md (reported line 73)May include surrounding context.

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $PATENTMAX_API_KEY"
--data-urlencode 'q=(固态电池 OR 全固态电池) AND 电解质'
--data-urlencode 'ds=all' --data-urlencode 'size=20'
-G "https://api.ip930.com/api/search"

text

> 检索式里有中文和括号,一定用 `--data-urlencode -G`,别手工拼 URL。

The workflow sends invention-derived search queries to a patent search service without warning about disclosure of confidential technical details.

Medium
Category
Output Handling
Confidence
90% confidence
Finding

The workflow instructs the agent to build external patent-service queries from the user's technical mechanisms and distinguishing features without first checking whether those details are confidential or authorized for disclosure. Queries could therefore expose unpublished invention details or internal R&D priorities to the service and its logs; the annual-report context usually involves public patent information and reduces the likelihood, but this reference explicitly extends to invention-focused searches.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

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 · references/tools.md (reported line 668)May include surrounding context.

试用用完、过期,或想用其他功能(查新、交底书等)时,命令会返回带 "free_trial": true 的错误,message 里写着下一步怎么办(注册 PatentMax 再送 ¥50 体验额度),原样转告用户,不要自己换写法重试。

用户有自己的密钥时用环境变量传,避免写进命令历史;设了就一律用它,不会领试用。密钥在 api.ip930.com 控制台创建:

bash
export PATENTMAX_API_KEY="pm_live_你的密钥"

Requires Chinese-language error messages to be relayed verbatim without a user language choice.

Medium
Category
Output Handling
Confidence
93% confidence
Finding

L701 identifies the service's user-facing error messages as Chinese, and L703–L705 require the agent to relay those messages verbatim. This mandates Chinese output even for users communicating in another language, without offering language selection or justifying a Chinese-only requirement.

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 · references/api-reference.md (reported line 124)May include surrounding context.

健康检查

bash
curl -s "https://api.ip930.com/api/v1/health"

不需要密钥,用来确认网络通不通。

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 · references/faq.md (reported line 41)May include surrounding context.

md
## 402 余额不足

到[控制台](https://api.ip930.com/features/api-platform)充值。

新账户的体验额度分两笔:注册送 ¥10,第一次调用成功后再送 ¥40。如果第二笔一直没到,确认第一次调用确实返回了 200——失败的调用不算。

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 · references/faq.md (reported line 119)May include surrounding context.

md
## 花了多少钱

脚本每次返回都带 `_spent`(本次实扣)和 `_balance`(余额),**这两个数来自服务端,是真值**。
准确的流水到[控制台](https://api.ip930.com/features/api-platform)查。

| 调用 | 单价 |
| --- | --- |

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/patentmax_client.py (reported line 102)May include surrounding context.

python
# 设了 PATENTMAX_API_KEY 就一律用它,不会去领试用。
TRIAL_SOURCE = "patent-search-cn"
TRIAL_GROUP = "patent-search"
TRIAL_REGISTER_URL = "https://api.ip930.com/features/api-platform"
KEY_FROM_TRIAL = False

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/patentmax_client.py (reported line 296)May include surrounding context.

python
if _billing["balance_cents"] < 500 and not KEY_FROM_TRIAL:  # 试用用户不提醒,用完时服务端会给注册指引
            out["_balance_warning"] = (
                "余额不足 ¥5,继续批量检索会很快耗尽。"
                "请先提醒用户到 https://api.ip930.com/features/api-platform 充值。"
            )
    if _billing["free_quota"]:
        left = max(0, _billing["free_quota"] - (_billing["free_used"] or 0))

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/patentmax_client.py (reported line 357)May include surrounding context.

python
hint = {
            400: "参数有问题,检查必填项和取值范围。",
            401: "密钥无效或已撤销。确认 PATENTMAX_API_KEY 是 pm_live_ 或 pm_test_ 开头的完整密钥。",
            402: "余额不足。到 https://api.ip930.com/features/api-platform 充值。",
            403: "该密钥没有此接口的权限。",
            404: "没找到这篇专利。确认公开号正确且带国别代码,如 CN109761224A。",
            409: "同一个请求上一次还在处理中。等几秒重跑同一条命令即可,不会重复扣费。",

Tainted flow: 'path' from os.environ.get (line 154, credential/environment) → open (file write)

Medium
Category
Data Flow
Confidence
65% confidence
Finding

Data from a source is assigned to a variable that is later passed to a sink, creating a variable-mediated taint flow.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/patentmax_client.py (reported line 157)May include surrounding context.

python
path = _trial_key_path()
    try:
        os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(path), exist_ok=True)
        with open(path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
            json.dump({
                "api_key": key,
                "expires_at": data.get("expires_at"),

Tainted flow: '_ledger_path()' from os.environ.get (line 461, credential/environment) → open (file write)

Medium
Category
Data Flow
Confidence
65% confidence
Finding

Data from a source is assigned to a variable that is later passed to a sink, creating a variable-mediated taint flow.

Content

Scanner excerpt · scripts/patentmax_client.py (reported line 477)May include surrounding context.

python
def _save_ledger(ledger):
    try:
        with open(_ledger_path(), "w", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
            json.dump(ledger, fh, ensure_ascii=False)
    except OSError:
        pass