T05 · Unauthorized Access and Privilege Escalation
- Location
SKILL.md:341- Finding
Unnecessary Administrator Execution Guidance Violates Least Privilege
- Content
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Vulnerability Details
File Location:
SKILL.md, line 341
Vulnerability Type: Unnecessary privilege escalation guidance
Risk Level: MediumVulnerable Snippet
The complete affected table row, translated into English, is:
markdown | Insufficient permissions | The current user lacks read/write permissions | Check file permissions and run as administrator |Technical Analysis
The troubleshooting instructions recommend running the operation as an administrator whenever the current user lacks file permissions. This is broader than necessary for the documented task, which only requires limited access to selected log files, a temporary output file,
MEMORY.md, and an optional archive directory.Running the Agent, Node.js process, or compression script with administrator or root privileges gives it access beyond the legitimate requirements of log compression. This violates the principle of least privilege and increases the security consequences of implementation defects, unsafe path handling, malicious input, or later compromise of the referenced script.
The project does not include the required
memory-compress.jsimplementation, so no direct privileged code-execution exploit can be demonstrated from the supplied artifact. Nevertheless, the instruction itself creates an unsafe operational path when the Skill is deployed with that required script.Attack Path
- The compression process encounters a read or write permission error.
- The operator follows the documented troubleshooting advice and reruns the Agent, shell, or Node.js process with administrator or root privileges.
- The referenced compression script and its file-processing operations consequently execute in the elevated security context.
- If the script contains an implementation flaw, is replaced, or processes an unsafe path or maliciously crafted input, that behavior executes with elevated permissions.
- The resulting access ...[truncated 682 chars]
- Remediation
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Remediation Suggestions
- Remove the recommendation to run the Agent or compression process as an administrator.
- Identify the exact file or directory that caused the permission failure before changing permissions.
- Grant only the invoking user narrowly scoped read access to input logs and write access to the designated output, memory, and archive locations.
- Correct file ownership where appropriate instead of applying broad permissions or executing the entire process with elevated privileges.
- Reject paths outside explicitly approved project and temporary directories.
- Run the compression process under a dedicated unprivileged account where automation is required.
- Avoid permissive fixes such as globally writable files or directories.
- Add a startup permission check that reports the specific inaccessible path and the minimum permission required.
- Audit the missing
memory-compress.jsimplementation before distribution, particularly its path validation, temporary-file handling, and command-execution behavior. - Replace the affected troubleshooting entry with guidance such as: “Verify ownership and grant the current user only the read or write permission required for the identified project path.”