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Security audit

thesis-review

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

This skill is a disclosed Chinese thesis-review template that reads thesis content, searches literature context, and generates review comments plus a Word document.

Before installing, consider whether your thesis content is confidential, because the workflow may search the web with topic keywords and create a Word review file in the working directory. If you only want chat feedback or another language, ask the agent explicitly before using the skill.

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
  • Prompt InjectionInstruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands
  • Trigger AbuseOverly Broad Trigger, Shadow Command Trigger, Keyword Baiting Trigger
  • Data ExfiltrationExternal Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
  • Supply ChainUnpinned Dependencies, External Script Fetching, Obfuscated Code
Findings (5)

Hidden Instructions

High
Category
Prompt Injection
Confidence
60% confidence
Finding

Hidden instructions were detected in comments or invisible text. These could contain malicious directives. Manual review is recommended.

Content

Scanner excerpt · SKILL.md (reported line 1)May include surrounding context.

md
---
name: thesis-review
version: 2.1.0
description: "Review academic degree theses with structured evaluation framework supporting bachelor/master/PhD..."

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
93% confidence
Finding

The skill instructs the agent to automatically generate and save a .docx file in the working directory as a mandatory step, but it provides no requirement to obtain explicit user confirmation, disclose the destination, or warn about filesystem side effects. In an agent environment, silent file creation can lead to unexpected local writes, overwriting of existing files, or abuse in chained workflows where the user only asked for analysis text output.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Vague Triggers

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
92% confidence
Finding

The trigger list is broad and maps to very common academic phrases such as '论文评审' and '毕业论文', which can cause the skill to activate for general thesis-help requests rather than only explicit review tasks. In an academic assistant context, this creates scope ambiguity and may unexpectedly route unrelated user prompts into this skill, increasing the chance of inappropriate behavior or misleading outputs.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
96% confidence
Finding

This markdown file is written as a skill reference entirely in Chinese from the title onward, with no indication that users may choose another language or that the skill is intentionally limited to a Chinese-language context. Under the policy, forcing a specific language without user opt-in is a natural-language policy violation.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Low
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
91% confidence
Finding

The entire template is written in Chinese and provides no indication that other languages or locales are supported. Under the stated policy, forcing a specific language without user opt-in can be a natural-language policy violation unless the locale constraint is explicitly documented and justified.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.