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Security audit

Chinese

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

This Chinese writing skill stays local and has a clear purpose, but it automatically records people, work context, writing history, and outcomes in persistent shared notes without asking first.

Install only if you want a Chinese-writing assistant that keeps local long-term notes about your recipients, channels, templates, and work context. Before using it with private workplace, client, HR, legal, or personal documents, review the files under ~/Clawic/data/ and consider disabling or manually controlling memory writes, especially shared contacts and projects.

Vulnerability Patterns
  • Unauthorized Access and Privilege EscalationObtains permissions beyond the task's legitimate needs
  • 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
Findings (1)

T05 · Unauthorized Access and Privilege Escalation

Warning
Location
memory-template.md:8
Finding

Automatic Persistent Collection and Modification of User and Shared Context Without Explicit Consent

Content
View full analysis
.md` | Append-only, cut by year | | A recipient, native reviewer, client, editor or contact | `~/Clawic/data/contacts/contacts.md` (**shared**) | One row per person, every skill's contacts in one file | | **Anything durable this table does not name** | `~/Clawic/data/chinese/.md`, or `artifacts/.md` if it is a long text read whole | Name the file after what it holds, never after when it was made; add its `## Boxes` line in the same turn | No permission needed; every write is announced in one line that names the file. Writes and deletions stay inside the paths declared in this skill's `configPaths`. ``` Related mandatory behavior in `SKILL.md` includes: ```markdown At the start of every session, read `~/Clawic/data/chinese/config.yaml` and `~/Clawic/data/chinese/memory.md`. Write before the session ends whenever it produced something durable. People and ongoing work go to the shared boxes, not here. ``` ### Technical Analysis The skill directs the agent to read persistent profile and memory files at the beginning of every session and to write durable information before the session ends. It explicitly states that no permission is required for these writes. The persisted information can include: - Name ...[truncated 3401 chars]
Remediation
View remediation
Vulnerability Patterns
  • Prompt InjectionInstruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands
  • Data ExfiltrationExternal Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
  • Excessive AgencyUnrestricted Tool Access, Autonomous Decision Making, Scope Creep
  • MCP Tool PoisoningHidden Instructions, Unicode Deception, Parameter Description Injection
Findings (37)

Natural-Language Policy Violations

High
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
96% confidence
Finding

The file is explicitly scoped as 'Chinese' and the instructions consistently require Chinese-specific handling, variant choices, and storage conventions without indicating user choice or opt-in. This creates a language/locale policy concern because the skill behavior appears to impose a language context rather than offering or confirming it with the user.

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 · memory-template.md (reported line 63)May include surrounding context.

md
When the user pastes something to save — a platform API config, a group's invite text with a login in it, an account handover note — replace each secret value before writing and leave the pointer visible: `app_secret: <env:WECHAT_APP_SECRET>`. Say in one line that you did it.

In this domain — **not secrets, keep them**: names, Chinese renderings of names, titles (王总, 李工), public account names and handles, group chat names, city and 省 names, post URLs, follower counts, word counts, prices with their currency, invoice numbers. **Secrets, strip them**: platform app secrets and access tokens, account passwords, verification codes, 支付 keys, ID numbers (身份证号), full bank card numbers, private phone numbers the user has not asked to keep, anything inside a pasted config or `.env`.

One rule that is not about credentials: **a piece of writing often carries someone else's private business** — a resignation letter names a grievance, a 请假条 names an illness. Keep the template and the register decision, not the personal detail; if a full text must be kept as a reference, strip the names and the reason and say so.

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding

The skill instructs the agent to automatically read, write, update, delete, and move files in multiple local paths, including shared contact and project notes, with no clear requirement for an upfront per-session user warning or explicit consent before side effects occur. Even though the scope is local and the text says nothing leaves the machine, silent persistence can expose private data, create unintended records, or modify shared notes in ways the user did not expect.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding

The instruction says 'Produce the Chinese first; explain in English only when asked,' which imposes a specific language choice for explanations. This is a natural-language locale policy issue because it defaults to English rather than offering the user a language choice or documenting a justified constraint.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Autonomous Decision Making

Medium
Category
Excessive Agency
Confidence
75% 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 · SKILL.md (reported line 199)May include surrounding context.

md
| 二个, 二点钟 | Before a measure word the number is 两 | 两个, 两点钟 (Rule 3) |
| Overusing 您 with a peer | Reads as sarcasm or as putting distance in on purpose | 你 for peers; 您 only up the ladder or on first contact (Rule 1) |
| 亲 as a friendly opener | It is Taobao seller voice; outside e-commerce it reads as a sales script | The person's name, or nothing |
| Adding 哥/姐 to a name without checking | 哥 attached to some given names collides with a product or a meme — 伟哥 is the brand name of Viagra | Use 姓 + 哥/姐 (王哥), or the title (`numbers-and-names.md`) |
| Stacking 成语 to sound educated | Three in a paragraph reads as 公文 filler or as a student showing off | One per paragraph at most, and only where a plain phrase would be longer (`idioms.md`) |
| Reaching for slang to sound young | A dead meme dates the writer more precisely than plain language ever could | Date the term first (Rule 9) |
| Half-width ,.?! inside Chinese text | The most visible non-native mark, and it survives every style edit | Full-width throughout (Rule 8) |

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
93% confidence
Finding

The metadata identifies the skill as "chinese" / "Chinese", which indicates a language-specific constraint. In this file there is no accompanying indication that the user can opt into that language or that the restriction is justified by a region-specific purpose, which can violate language/locale policy requirements.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
92% confidence
Finding

This markdown skill gives prescriptive guidance such as 'Natural Chinese varies violently in sentence length' and treats Chinese-native style as the required output mode. Because it does not indicate that this behavior is optional, user-selected, or limited to Chinese-language tasks, it risks forcing a specific language/locale convention without opt-in.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
85% confidence
Finding

Line L114 explicitly references 'mainland office writing' as the target norm, and the file elsewhere assumes Chinese-platform and Chinese-register conventions as defaults. That is a locale-specific policy choice, but the document does not frame it as optional or justified for a region-specific tool.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding

The file frames the skill as producing 'Client Chinese' and immediately instructs the agent on how to write to colleagues and clients in Chinese. This natural-language guidance forces a specific language/locale behavior without any stated user opt-in or alternative, which matches the policy category for language or locale violations.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Description-Behavior Mismatch

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding

This instruction expands the skill from pure Chinese writing assistance into reading persistent local memory and artifact files tied to prior recipients and templates. That creates unnecessary access to stored contextual data and can expose or over-collect sensitive business contact, relationship, or communication-history information beyond the user’s immediate request.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Description-Behavior Mismatch

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
97% confidence
Finding

The skill directs creation and updating of persistent templates, recipient records, glossary terms, and negative interaction history, which is stateful behavior outside the declared writing/editing role. Persistent writes can accumulate sensitive workplace metadata, create privacy risks, and let prompt-driven content poison future outputs through stored artifacts.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
89% confidence
Finding

The document prescribes a specific language and locale behavior set for WeChat, mainland/Taiwan chat norms, simplified/traditional script handling, and Chinese social conventions throughout. Because it enforces these locale-specific communication rules without any opt-in or explicit scope limitation in the file, it risks violating language/locale choice policy.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Context-Inappropriate Capability

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding

The skill explicitly instructs reading recipient and channel rows from memory.md before drafting messages, which relies on persistent per-person and per-group behavioral data beyond simple Chinese writing assistance. This expands the skill into profile-based interaction tailoring, creating privacy and scope-creep risk if users have not clearly consented to such storage and reuse.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Context-Inappropriate Capability

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
98% confidence
Finding

These lines direct the agent to record named persons' address forms, particle usage, laughter length, group conventions, and communication failures into persistent memory files. That is behavioral profiling and durable record-keeping about third parties and social interactions, which exceeds the stated purpose of writing/editing Chinese and can expose sensitive interpersonal metadata.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
97% confidence
Finding

The skill tells the agent to store personal communication traits and social missteps such as misread jokes or accidental 呵呵 in memory without any visible privacy warning or consent mechanism. Recording this kind of reputational and relational data can harm user trust and create unnecessary sensitive history if later surfaced, reused, or leaked.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Context-Inappropriate Capability

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
93% confidence
Finding

The skill tells the agent to read from local memory/artifact files before drafting documents, introducing cross-session access to prior user content not clearly required by the skill's stated editing role. This broadens the skill from language assistance into persistent profile/memory handling, increasing the chance of unnecessary reuse or exposure of historical personal documents.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
84% confidence
Finding

The file frames formal document production as inherently Chinese and instructs use of Chinese document structures and conventions throughout, without indicating that the user can opt into another language or locale. This can violate language/locale policy when the skill is used in broader contexts where user choice is required.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Ssd 3

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
92% confidence
Finding

The instruction to consult prior user-produced documents and accepted versions encourages reuse of historical user data across tasks. In this skill context, prior documents may contain highly sensitive personal, employment, legal, or institutional information, so automatic retrieval materially raises privacy and data-separation risk.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Context-Inappropriate Capability

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding

The file explicitly instructs persistent storage of accepted document templates, recipient/outcome metadata, institutional conventions, and rejection reasons. For a Chinese-writing skill, retaining user-specific history and institutional details exceeds what is necessary for one-off text editing and creates avoidable privacy and data-minimization risk, especially because formal documents may contain employment, leave, HR, or administrative details.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
94% confidence
Finding

The instructions direct storing accepted document skeletons, recipients, and outcomes without any visible privacy notice, consent step, or retention constraint. Because the surrounding examples include resumes, leave notes, resignation letters, proofs, and applications, the stored material can reveal sensitive employment and personal context even if full IDs are sometimes excluded.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Ssd 3

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
96% confidence
Finding

The file plainly instructs persistent logging of user document details and outcomes into memory and artifact files. Logging this kind of workflow history creates a durable record of sensitive personal and organizational activity that could later be reused, leaked, or accessed out of context.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Ssd 3

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding

Storing accepted document skeletons along with who accepted them and what needed adjustment preserves sensitive contextual metadata about the user's employer, reviewers, and internal approval practices. That information is not necessary for general Chinese writing assistance and could enable profiling or disclosure of workplace processes.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
93% confidence
Finding

The skill explicitly instructs users to record named individuals' sensitivities, dislikes, and expectations in persistent notes without any guidance on consent, minimization, or access controls. That creates a privacy risk because it encourages collection of personal preference and behavioral data that could be misused, over-retained, or stored inappropriately in workplace or customer-facing contexts.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
91% confidence
Finding

The text makes normative statements about what reads as 'careless' in Chinese writing, which is acceptable for a Chinese-grammar guide, but later sections prescribe writing conventions and corrections as defaults for users without stating that this applies only when the user wants Chinese output. Because the skill content is framed as operational guidance and repeatedly directs how the user's text should be rewritten, it effectively forces a specific language/locale behavior without an explicit opt-in.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
96% confidence
Finding

The document instructs the system to persist user-specific writing errors, native-reader feedback, and house conventions into a glossary/config across sessions. That creates a privacy and data-retention risk because it records behavioral patterns and preferences without any visible user consent, retention limits, or minimization rules. In a writing assistant context, these stored patterns could reveal identity, profession, dialect preference, or other sensitive traits over time.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.