Exa Search (Rust)

PassAudited by ClawScan on May 10, 2026.

Overview

This looks like a normal Exa web-search integration, but it uses an Exa API key, returns untrusted web content, and has a minor install-path mismatch to verify.

This skill appears safe to use for Exa-powered web search if you trust Exa and the provided Rust build. Before installing, set a revocable EXA_API_KEY, confirm the installed binary path matches the commands the agent will run, and remember that fetched web pages are untrusted content.

Findings (3)

Artifact-based informational review of SKILL.md, metadata, install specs, static scan signals, and capability signals. ClawScan does not execute the skill or run runtime probes.

Note

ASI03: Identity and Privilege Abuse

What this means

Your Exa API key is used to make search/content requests against your Exa account, which may expose your queries/URLs to Exa and may incur provider usage costs.

Why it was flagged

The skill sends the EXA_API_KEY to Exa as the authentication header for the intended provider API.

Skill content

const EXA_BASE_URL: &str = "https://api.exa.ai"; ... headers.insert("x-api-key", api_key_val);

Recommendation

Only install if you trust this Exa integration, keep ~/.openclaw/workspace/.env private, and use the least-privileged or revocable Exa key available.

Note

ASI01: Agent Goal Hijack

What this means

Search results or fetched page text could contain instructions or links that should not override the user's request or the agent's safety rules.

Why it was flagged

The formatted output can include text fetched from external web pages, which may contain misleading content or prompt-injection-style instructions.

Skill content

The `formatted` field is ready-to-use markdown — you can send it directly to the user.

Recommendation

Treat returned web content as untrusted evidence: summarize or quote it carefully, cite sources, and do not follow instructions embedded in fetched pages.

Note

ASI04: Agentic Supply Chain Vulnerabilities

What this means

After installation, the documented command path may not point to the binary that was just built.

Why it was flagged

The installer places the binary under exa-search-rust, while the SKILL.md examples reference ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/exa-search/bin/exa-search. That path mismatch could cause failures or accidental use of a different existing binary.

Skill content

INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/.openclaw/workspace/skills/exa-search-rust"

Recommendation

Verify and align the installed path before use, or update the SKILL.md examples/installer so they reference the same directory.