Security audit

Smartlib Citation Checker

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

This citation-checking skill has a coherent purpose, but it needs review because it ships a live-looking service secret, stores the user's email across skills, and can relay remote messages and links verbatim.

Review before installing. Use it only if you are comfortable sending citations, manuscript excerpts, and an email address to the SmartLib/VIPSmart service and sharing quota state with global-biblio-base. The publisher should remove and rotate the packaged gateway secret, ask for explicit consent before external submission and email persistence, and sanitize remote notifications instead of relaying links verbatim.

A.I.G

Vulnerability Patterns

Skill Instruction HijackingAlters the agent's session goals or safety constraints when the skill loads
Unauthorized Access and Privilege EscalationObtains permissions beyond the task's legitimate needs
Insecure Skill Coding PracticesFinds exploitable flaws such as hardcoded secrets or command injection
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

Findings (3)

T01 · Skill Instruction Hijacking

Error

Location: SKILL.md:654
Finding: Externally Controlled Notifications Are Relayed Verbatim to Users
Content: View full analysis
Remediation: View remediation

T09 · Insecure Skill Coding Practices

Error

Location: config.json:2
Finding: Production Gateway Bearer Secret Is Hardcoded in Distributed Configuration
Content: View full analysis
`. 4. The attacker invokes any gateway endpoint authorized for that shared credential, potentially including registration, quota, consumption, or proxied search operations. 5. The attacker consumes shared service resources or exer ...[truncated 678 chars]
Remediation: View remediation

T05 · Unauthorized Access and Privilege Escalation

Warning

Location: SKILL.md:25
Finding: Mandatory Email Collection and Cross-Skill Configuration Modification Exceed Least Privilege
Content: View full analysis
Remediation: View remediation

SkillSpector

Vulnerability Patterns

Prompt InjectionInstruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands
Data ExfiltrationExternal Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
System Prompt LeakageDirect Leakage, Indirect Extraction, Tool-Based Exfiltration
Trigger AbuseOverly Broad Trigger, Shadow Command Trigger, Keyword Baiting Trigger
MCP Tool PoisoningHidden Instructions, Unicode Deception, Parameter Description Injection

Findings (74)

Direct Prompt Extraction

High

Category: System Prompt Leakage
Confidence: 85% confidence
Finding: Skill contains instructions that could directly expose system prompts, internal rules, or hidden instructions to users or external parties.
Content: Scanner excerpt · README.md (reported line 105)May include surrounding context.
md
Shares credentials and quota with [smartlib-literature-search](../smartlib-literature-search). Auto-registration with 100 free checks/month. | Status | Display Rule | |--------|-------------| | Quota available | Full report (diff markers, verification links, analytics) | | Quota exhausted | Gateway returns 429, **service denied**, recharge prompt |

Ae1

High

Category: analysis-evasion
Confidence: 100% confidence
Finding: Referenced artifact was not completely inspected
Content: Scanner excerpt · SKILL.md (reported line 570)May include surrounding context.
md
以一篇 2026 年最新发表的 EACFM 期刊论文为例，展示完整 5 步流程。完整报告见 `examples/citation_check_paper_draft_sample.html`。

Ae1

High

Category: analysis-evasion
Confidence: 100% confidence
Finding: Referenced artifact was not completely inspected
Content: Scanner excerpt · SKILL.md (reported line 572)May include surrounding context.
md
以一篇 2026 年最新发表的 EACFM 期刊论文为例，展示完整 5 步流程。完整报告见 `examples/citation_check_paper_draft_sample.html`。

Intent-Code Divergence

High

Category: Not specified by scanner
Confidence: 97% confidence
Finding: The skill states that uploaded content is used only for the current verification and not stored, yet elsewhere instructs persisting the user's email into a shared config file and explicitly sharing credentials/quota across skills. That is a material privacy and transparency mismatch: users are told one thing while the implementation describes durable storage and cross-skill reuse of identity-linked data.
Content: No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Hidden Instructions

High

Category: Prompt Injection
Confidence: 70% confidence
Finding: Hidden instructions were detected in comments or invisible text. These could contain malicious directives. Manual review is recommended.
Content: Scanner excerpt · examples/citation_check_paper_draft_sample.html (reported line 444)May include surrounding context.
html
<div class="container">  <div class="header"> <h1>参考文献核查报告</h1> <div class="meta">

Hidden Instructions

High

Category: Prompt Injection
Confidence: 70% confidence
Finding: Hidden instructions were detected in comments or invisible text. These could contain malicious directives. Manual review is recommended.
Content: Scanner excerpt · examples/citation_check_paper_draft_sample.html (reported line 444)May include surrounding context.
html
<div class="container">  <div class="header"> <h1>参考文献核查报告</h1> <div class="meta">

Hidden Instructions

High

Category: Prompt Injection
Confidence: 70% confidence
Finding: Hidden instructions were detected in comments or invisible text. These could contain malicious directives. Manual review is recommended.
Content: Scanner excerpt · examples/citation_check_paper_draft_sample.html (reported line 1028)May include surrounding context.
html
[46] Wei, P., & Yu, W. (2025). Improved Quantum Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm-Optimized Artificial Intelligence Models for Suspended Sediment Load Predicting. IEEE Access. [47] Zuo, Z., Shuai, B., Wang, G., Liu, X., Wang, X., Wang, B., & Chen, Y. (2015). Convolutional Recurrent Neural Networks: Learning Spatial Dependencies for Image Representation. 2015 IEEE CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER VISION AND PATTERN RECOGNITION WORKSHOPS (CVPRW).</div> </div>  <div class="section-block"> <h2>多格式参考文献</h2> <div class="tab-nav">

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Category: Not specified by scanner
Confidence: 95% confidence
Finding: The README states that first use triggers automatic credential registration and that references are live-verified through the SmartLib API, but it does not clearly warn users that submitted manuscript text or citation lists may be transmitted to an external service. This creates a privacy and consent risk, especially when users paste unpublished papers, proprietary drafts, or sensitive research content.
Content: No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Vague Triggers

Medium

Category: Not specified by scanner
Confidence: 90% confidence
Finding: The trigger phrases are broad enough to activate on generic requests like checking references or verifying citations, increasing the chance the skill runs in contexts the user did not explicitly intend. In a skill that performs live external verification and produces reports, unintended activation can cause unnecessary data transmission and unexpected use of shared quota/credentials.
Content: No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Vague Triggers

Medium

Category: Not specified by scanner
Confidence: 96% confidence
Finding: The trigger list includes broad everyday phrases such as '检查引用'/'查引用' and similar generic wording, increasing the chance of accidental invocation in contexts where the user did not intend to send manuscript or reference data to this external service. Unintended activation can lead to surprise data transmission, unnecessary quota consumption, and confusing or privacy-impacting behavior.
Content: No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Category: Not specified by scanner
Confidence: 95% confidence
Finding: The skill description emphasizes verification features but does not clearly warn users that submitted manuscript/reference content will be transmitted to external SmartLib services for processing. For academic drafts and bibliographies, this omission matters because users may unknowingly disclose unpublished or sensitive research content to a third party.
Content: No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Missing User Warnings

Medium

Category: Not specified by scanner
Confidence: 98% confidence
Finding: The workflow describes automatically writing the user's email into another skill's shared config and reusing it across skills, but it does not present a clear user-facing warning about persistent storage, retention, or cross-skill sharing. Persisting identity data without explicit disclosure and consent creates privacy risk and breaks user expectations about scope of use.
Content: No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Intent-Code Divergence

Medium

Category: Not specified by scanner
Confidence: 87% confidence
Finding: L529 says the skill does not proactively access external sites such as Google Scholar or ResearchGate, implying no broader outbound retrieval behavior. Yet L177 and L535-L543 describe using external free APIs like Unpaywall and a multi-channel OA PDF acquisition workflow for foreign literature, which is an external network retrieval capability beyond the plain-language prohibition.
Content: No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Ssd 3

Medium

Category: Not specified by scanner
Confidence: 93% confidence
Finding: Forwarding gateway notifications verbatim gives an external service a trusted path to inject arbitrary text and links into the assistant's user-facing output. Even if intended for announcements, this can be abused for phishing, manipulative upgrade prompts, disclosure requests, or policy-bypassing instructions relayed under the assistant's authority.
Content: No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Ae4

Medium

Category: analysis-evasion
Confidence: 80% confidence
Finding: Suspicious Unicode normalization or mixed-script content
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 · examples/citation_check_ai_hallucination_sample.html (reported line 122)May include surrounding context.
html
<td class="col-corrected"><div class="corrected-text">[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.</div> <button class="dl-single-btn" onclick="dlSingle(1, "[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.")" title="下载此条">⬇</button></td> <td class="col-diff"><div class="diff-item"><span class="diff-field">作者：</span><span class="diff-del">[删除]陈金春</span> → <span class="diff-add">[新增]陈劲春（数据库：陈劲春）</span></div></td> <td class="col-verify"><a href="https://data.smart.vipslib.com/articlesearch/web_searchingDetail?id=203103232645" target="_blank" class="verify-btn">🔗 验证</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="col-num">2</td>

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 · examples/citation_check_ai_hallucination_sample.html (reported line 131)May include surrounding context.
html
<td class="col-corrected"><div class="corrected-text">[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.</div> <button class="dl-single-btn" onclick="dlSingle(1, "[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.")" title="下载此条">⬇</button></td> <td class="col-diff"><div class="diff-item"><span class="diff-field">作者：</span><span class="diff-del">[删除]陈金春</span> → <span class="diff-add">[新增]陈劲春（数据库：陈劲春）</span></div></td> <td class="col-verify"><a href="https://data.smart.vipslib.com/articlesearch/web_searchingDetail?id=203103232645" target="_blank" class="verify-btn">🔗 验证</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="col-num">2</td>

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 · examples/citation_check_ai_hallucination_sample.html (reported line 204)May include surrounding context.
html
<td class="col-corrected"><div class="corrected-text">[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.</div> <button class="dl-single-btn" onclick="dlSingle(1, "[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.")" title="下载此条">⬇</button></td> <td class="col-diff"><div class="diff-item"><span class="diff-field">作者：</span><span class="diff-del">[删除]陈金春</span> → <span class="diff-add">[新增]陈劲春（数据库：陈劲春）</span></div></td> <td class="col-verify"><a href="https://data.smart.vipslib.com/articlesearch/web_searchingDetail?id=203103232645" target="_blank" class="verify-btn">🔗 验证</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="col-num">2</td>

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 · examples/citation_check_ai_hallucination_sample.html (reported line 213)May include surrounding context.
html
<td class="col-corrected"><div class="corrected-text">[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.</div> <button class="dl-single-btn" onclick="dlSingle(1, "[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.")" title="下载此条">⬇</button></td> <td class="col-diff"><div class="diff-item"><span class="diff-field">作者：</span><span class="diff-del">[删除]陈金春</span> → <span class="diff-add">[新增]陈劲春（数据库：陈劲春）</span></div></td> <td class="col-verify"><a href="https://data.smart.vipslib.com/articlesearch/web_searchingDetail?id=203103232645" target="_blank" class="verify-btn">🔗 验证</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="col-num">2</td>

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 · examples/citation_check_ai_hallucination_sample.html (reported line 222)May include surrounding context.
html
<td class="col-corrected"><div class="corrected-text">[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.</div> <button class="dl-single-btn" onclick="dlSingle(1, "[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.")" title="下载此条">⬇</button></td> <td class="col-diff"><div class="diff-item"><span class="diff-field">作者：</span><span class="diff-del">[删除]陈金春</span> → <span class="diff-add">[新增]陈劲春（数据库：陈劲春）</span></div></td> <td class="col-verify"><a href="https://data.smart.vipslib.com/articlesearch/web_searchingDetail?id=203103232645" target="_blank" class="verify-btn">🔗 验证</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="col-num">2</td>

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 · examples/citation_check_ai_hallucination_sample.html (reported line 239)May include surrounding context.
html
<td class="col-corrected"><div class="corrected-text">[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.</div> <button class="dl-single-btn" onclick="dlSingle(1, "[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.")" title="下载此条">⬇</button></td> <td class="col-diff"><div class="diff-item"><span class="diff-field">作者：</span><span class="diff-del">[删除]陈金春</span> → <span class="diff-add">[新增]陈劲春（数据库：陈劲春）</span></div></td> <td class="col-verify"><a href="https://data.smart.vipslib.com/articlesearch/web_searchingDetail?id=203103232645" target="_blank" class="verify-btn">🔗 验证</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="col-num">2</td>

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 · examples/citation_check_ai_hallucination_sample.html (reported line 248)May include surrounding context.
html
<td class="col-corrected"><div class="corrected-text">[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.</div> <button class="dl-single-btn" onclick="dlSingle(1, "[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.")" title="下载此条">⬇</button></td> <td class="col-diff"><div class="diff-item"><span class="diff-field">作者：</span><span class="diff-del">[删除]陈金春</span> → <span class="diff-add">[新增]陈劲春（数据库：陈劲春）</span></div></td> <td class="col-verify"><a href="https://data.smart.vipslib.com/articlesearch/web_searchingDetail?id=203103232645" target="_blank" class="verify-btn">🔗 验证</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="col-num">2</td>

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 · examples/citation_check_ai_hallucination_sample.html (reported line 265)May include surrounding context.
html
<td class="col-corrected"><div class="corrected-text">[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.</div> <button class="dl-single-btn" onclick="dlSingle(1, "[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.")" title="下载此条">⬇</button></td> <td class="col-diff"><div class="diff-item"><span class="diff-field">作者：</span><span class="diff-del">[删除]陈金春</span> → <span class="diff-add">[新增]陈劲春（数据库：陈劲春）</span></div></td> <td class="col-verify"><a href="https://data.smart.vipslib.com/articlesearch/web_searchingDetail?id=203103232645" target="_blank" class="verify-btn">🔗 验证</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="col-num">2</td>

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 · examples/citation_check_ai_hallucination_sample.html (reported line 274)May include surrounding context.
html
<td class="col-corrected"><div class="corrected-text">[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.</div> <button class="dl-single-btn" onclick="dlSingle(1, "[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.")" title="下载此条">⬇</button></td> <td class="col-diff"><div class="diff-item"><span class="diff-field">作者：</span><span class="diff-del">[删除]陈金春</span> → <span class="diff-add">[新增]陈劲春（数据库：陈劲春）</span></div></td> <td class="col-verify"><a href="https://data.smart.vipslib.com/articlesearch/web_searchingDetail?id=203103232645" target="_blank" class="verify-btn">🔗 验证</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="col-num">2</td>

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 · examples/citation_check_ai_hallucination_sample.html (reported line 283)May include surrounding context.
html
<td class="col-corrected"><div class="corrected-text">[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.</div> <button class="dl-single-btn" onclick="dlSingle(1, "[1]董鹏,陈劲春,冷雪.表达胰岛素的毕赤酵母生长动力学及诱导策略[J].北京化工大学学报（自然科学版）,2006,33(3):37-41.")" title="下载此条">⬇</button></td> <td class="col-diff"><div class="diff-item"><span class="diff-field">作者：</span><span class="diff-del">[删除]陈金春</span> → <span class="diff-add">[新增]陈劲春（数据库：陈劲春）</span></div></td> <td class="col-verify"><a href="https://data.smart.vipslib.com/articlesearch/web_searchingDetail?id=203103232645" target="_blank" class="verify-btn">🔗 验证</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="col-num">2</td>

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.