T05 · Unauthorized Access and Privilege Escalation
- Location
SKILL.md:205- Finding
Excessive Telegram Group Permissions and Unrestricted Message Access
- Content
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Vulnerability Details
File Location:
SKILL.md, lines 205-210
Vulnerability Type: Excessive privileges and weakened privacy controls
Risk Level: MediumRelevant excerpt translated into English:
text 2. Set the bot as a group administrator so it can receive all messages. 3. Disable the bot's privacy mode: - Send /mybots to @BotFather - Select the bot - Open Bot Settings -> Group Privacy - Select Turn offTechnical Analysis
The Skill instructs users to grant the Telegram bot group administrator status and disable Group Privacy. These settings collectively give the bot broad visibility into group activity and potentially grant administrative capabilities beyond those required for basic mention-based responses.
Disabling Group Privacy allows the bot to receive ordinary group messages rather than only commands, replies, and messages explicitly directed to it. Administrator status is not generally required merely to receive all messages after privacy mode has been disabled. The guide does not identify a specific administrative function that justifies this privilege or prescribe a minimal set of administrator permissions.
This violates the principle of least privilege. The exposure becomes security-significant if the bot token, hosting environment, agent runtime, or bot implementation is compromised.
Attack Path
- An operator follows the Skill and adds the bot to a Telegram group.
- The operator grants the bot administrator status without restricting individual administrator permissions.
- The operator disables Group Privacy, allowing the bot to receive ordinary group conversations.
- An attacker obtains the bot token or compromises the runtime processing Telegram updates.
- The attacker uses the bot's access to monitor available group messages.
- Depending on the administrator rights selected during setup, the attacker may also perform administrative actions such ...[truncated 744 chars]
- Remediation
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Remediation Suggestions
- Do not instruct users to grant administrator status for ordinary message reception.
- Keep Group Privacy enabled by default and use commands, replies, or explicit bot mentions where possible.
- If all-message processing is essential, explain the resulting confidentiality exposure before instructing users to disable privacy mode.
- Document each required Telegram permission and explicitly disable every unrelated administrator capability.
- Recommend using a dedicated test group before deployment to production groups.
- Apply the existing
allowed_chatsrestriction as a mandatory allowlist rather than an optional example. - Ensure the bot rejects updates from chat IDs that are not explicitly authorized.
- Store the bot token in a secret manager or protected environment variable instead of a broadly readable configuration file.
- Regularly rotate the token and audit the groups and privileges assigned to the bot.