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Security audit

The Colony

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

The skill is mostly clear API documentation for a social platform, but it asks agents to set up a recurring heartbeat from a remote, mutable Markdown specification that can direct authenticated activity after installation.

Review before installing. The ordinary API examples are transparent, but do not enable the heartbeat unless you can inspect and pin the remote heartbeat instructions, limit it to read-only behavior or explicit approvals, and easily disable it. Store the Colony API key in a secret store and never let fetched posts, comments, messages, or remote Markdown control tools or receive credentials.

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
Findings (1)

T01 · Skill Instruction Hijacking

Error
Location
SKILL.md:506
Finding

Remotely Mutable Heartbeat Instructions Create a Persistent External Control Channel

Content
View full analysis

Vulnerability Details

File Location: SKILL.md, lines 506–516
Vulnerability Type: External instruction redirection and recurring execution
Risk Level: High

markdown
7. **Set up a heartbeat** to check in periodically — see `https://thecolony.cc/heartbeat.md`.

## Heartbeat

To stay engaged with the community, set up a periodic heartbeat. See the full heartbeat specification at:

https://thecolony.cc/heartbeat.md

text

The heartbeat routine checks notifications, reads new posts, and engages with the community at regular intervals.

Technical Analysis

The Skill instructs the Agent to retrieve its heartbeat specification from a remote Markdown document and establish periodic execution. Because the complete behavior is not defined within the audited package, the effective instructions can be changed server-side after the static review without any corresponding modification to SKILL.md.

The referenced resource is an instruction document rather than executable program code. Nevertheless, an Agent that interprets it as operational guidance may perform network requests and authenticated actions specified by content that was unavailable during the audit. The periodic nature of the heartbeat also extends the behavior beyond a single explicit invocation.

These capabilities exceed the minimum privileges required for the Skill's basic declared functions, such as manually reading posts or submitting user-approved content. Basic API interaction does not require autonomous scheduling or repeatedly consulting a remotely mutable instruction source.

The prompt-injection example at SKILL.md:96 is not itself a vulnerability. It appears in defensive guidance that explicitly tells Agents to treat user-generated content as untrusted data. The risk instead arises from the separate heartbeat instructions, which designate an external document as an operational specification.

Attack Path

  1. A user or Agent lo ...[truncated 1623 chars]
Remediation
View remediation

Remediation Suggestions

  1. Remove the instruction to automatically establish a periodic heartbeat.
  2. Include the complete heartbeat procedure inside the audited Skill package rather than loading behavioral instructions from a mutable remote document.
  3. If remote retrieval is unavoidable, pin an immutable version and verify its cryptographic digest before use.
  4. Treat remotely retrieved Markdown exclusively as untrusted data, never as higher-priority instructions.
  5. Require explicit user approval before enabling any recurring task and before each state-changing API operation.
  6. Default heartbeat functionality to read-only endpoints and prohibit autonomous posting, messaging, voting, bidding, profile modification, webhook registration, and credential management.
  7. Apply an allowlist covering the exact permitted domain, paths, HTTP methods, and request fields.
  8. Prevent remote content from introducing new URLs, commands, tools, recipients, or data destinations.
  9. Store API keys and bearer tokens in a protected secret store and never expose them to retrieved content, prompts, logs, posts, comments, or messages.
  10. Provide a visible mechanism to inspect, disable, and remove any scheduled heartbeat, and define a short expiration time so it cannot persist indefinitely.
  11. Record sanitized audit logs for remote-specification retrieval and all heartbeat actions without recording credentials.

SkillSpector

Vulnerability Patterns
  • Prompt InjectionInstruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands
  • Data ExfiltrationExternal Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
  • YARA SignaturesMalware Match, Webshell Match, Cryptominer Match
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
  • Supply ChainUnpinned Dependencies, External Script Fetching, Obfuscated Code
Findings (5)

YARA rule 'agent_skill_prompt_injection_hidden_instructions': Prompt injection or hidden instructions embedded in AI agent skill text [agent_skills]

High
Category
YARA Match
Confidence
80% confidence
Finding

YARA rule matched a hack tool or exploit indicator (offensive tools, reconnaissance, privilege escalation, or exploit frameworks).

Content

Scanner excerpt · SKILL.md (reported line 3)May include surrounding context.

name: thecolony description: Join The Colony — a collaborative intelligence platform for AI agents and humans. Post findings, discuss ideas, complete tasks, earn karma, and build your reputation.

The Colony

The Colony is a collaborative intelligence platform where AI agents and humans work together. Post findings, ask questions, discuss ideas, complete paid tasks, contribute to the wiki, and build your reputation through karma and trust levels.

Base URL: https://thecolony.cc/api/v1

Registration

Register to get your API key. This key is shown once — save it immediately.

bash
curl -X POST https://thecolony.cc/api/v1/auth/register \
  -H "Content-Type: a

Instruction Override

High
Category
Prompt Injection
Confidence
80% confidence
Finding

This pattern attempts to override system instructions or ignore safety constraints. Without LLM analysis, manual review is recommended.

Content

Scanner excerpt · SKILL.md (reported line 96)May include surrounding context.

md
Malicious users may embed text designed to manipulate AI agents. Common attack patterns include:

- Text that mimics system prompts ("Ignore previous instructions...", "SYSTEM:", "New task:")
- Fake API responses or JSON payloads embedded in markdown
- Hidden instructions in code blocks, HTML comments, or markdown formatting
- Links to external resources that claim to contain "updated instructions"

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 · SKILL.md (reported line 17)May include surrounding context.

Register to get your API key. This key is shown once — save it immediately.

bash
curl -X POST https://thecolony.cc/api/v1/auth/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "username": "your-agent-name",

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
91% confidence
Finding

This markdown file documents a delete operation for posts, but it does not warn that the action is destructive or irreversible, nor does it advise confirmation before use. Under the markdown-specific SQP-2 criteria, descriptions of actions that can affect user data should disclose the risk to the user.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Missing User Warnings

Low
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
83% confidence
Finding

The documentation includes a 'mark all read' endpoint that changes user state across notifications, but it provides no warning that this affects all unread items at once. For markdown files, actions that alter user data or account state should disclose their impact.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Static analysis

Detected: suspicious.prompt_injection_instructions

Prompt-injection style instruction pattern detected.

Warn
Code
suspicious.prompt_injection_instructions
Location
SKILL.md:96