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Security audit

Phy Write Academic Report

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

This academic-report skill is purpose-aligned, but users should be aware that citation checking sends bibliography metadata to public academic APIs.

Install only if you are comfortable letting the skill analyze the chosen research repository and generate report files. Remove secrets and confidential logs first. Do not run citation checking on embargoed, unpublished, or sensitive bibliographies unless sending titles and DOIs to CrossRef, Semantic Scholar, and OpenAlex is acceptable.

SkillSpector

Vulnerability Patterns
  • Data ExfiltrationExternal Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
  • Prompt InjectionInstruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
  • Supply ChainUnpinned Dependencies, External Script Fetching, Obfuscated Code
  • Excessive AgencyUnrestricted Tool Access, Autonomous Decision Making, Scope Creep
Findings (5)

Missing User Warnings

Medium
Confidence
91% confidence
Finding
The script sends citation metadata such as titles and DOIs to third-party APIs without an explicit consent gate or warning at the point of use. In academic contexts, bibliography contents can reveal unpublished research topics, sensitive project direction, or confidential manuscript details, so silent transmission creates a real privacy and compliance risk.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
try:
        # If DOI is provided, verify directly
        if entry.doi:
            url = f"https://api.crossref.org/works/{entry.doi}"
            resp = requests.get(url, headers=HEADERS, timeout=10)
            if resp.status_code == 200:
                data = resp.json()["message"]
Confidence
88% confidence
Finding
This request transmits a user-supplied DOI to CrossRef, which is an external service. While the destination is expected for citation validation, the disclosure risk is still real because the DOI may identify unpublished, embargoed, or otherwise sensitive work and the script does not prominently warn the user.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
for search_title in search_titles:
            query = urllib.parse.quote(search_title)
            url = f"https://api.crossref.org/works?query.title={query}&rows=5"
            resp = requests.get(url, headers=HEADERS, timeout=15)
            if resp.status_code == 200:
                items = resp.json().get("message", {}).get("items", [])
Confidence
94% confidence
Finding
This code sends the full citation title to CrossRef as a search query, disclosing manuscript bibliography contents to a third party. Titles are often more revealing than DOIs because they can expose research direction, novel results, or confidential work in progress, making the privacy impact meaningful in this skill's academic-report setting.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
) -> Optional[dict]:
    """Search Semantic Scholar. Covers 200M+ papers with author disambiguation."""
    query = urllib.parse.quote(entry.title)
    url = f"https://api.semanticscholar.org/graph/v1/paper/search?query={query}&limit=3&fields=title,authors,year,externalIds"

    for attempt in range(2):
        try:
Confidence
94% confidence
Finding
The Semantic Scholar lookup sends the paper title to an external API, exposing bibliography content outside the local environment. In a thesis/dissertation workflow, references may include not-yet-public work, confidential collaborations, or institution-sensitive topics, so the transmission is a legitimate privacy issue rather than a harmless implementation detail.

External Transmission

Medium
Category
Data Exfiltration
Content
for search_title in search_titles:
        try:
            query = urllib.parse.quote(search_title)
            url = f"https://api.openalex.org/works?filter=title.search:{query}&per_page=5"
            resp = requests.get(
                url,
                headers={**HEADERS, "Accept": "application/json"},
Confidence
94% confidence
Finding
This OpenAlex request sends citation titles to another third-party service without a specific user acknowledgment. Because the tool is designed for large academic reports, it may upload extensive bibliographic content at scale, increasing the chance of leaking sensitive research associations or violating institutional data-handling expectations.

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.