T09 · Insecure Skill Coding Practices
Warning
- Location
- secret.md:1
- Finding
- Private Configuration File Included in Published Artifact## Vulnerability Details **File Location**: `secret.md`, lines 1–6 **Vulnerability Type**: Sensitive information exposure caused by ineffective publication exclusions **Risk Level**: Medium ### Evidence ```text # SECRET — This file should NOT be published This file contains "private" config. If you see this on ClawHub, the .clawhubignore is NOT working. vault_path: /Users/hsw/super/private/path api_key: this-is-fake-but-should-be-excluded ``` `SKILL.md`, lines 7–15, confirms that `secret.md` was intended to be excluded from the published package: ```text This is a test skill to verify `.clawhubignore` works correctly. ## What this skill does Nothing useful. It exists to test whether `secret.md` gets excluded on publish. If you downloaded this skill from ClawHub and can see `secret.md` in the folder — the ignore mechanism is broken. If `secret.md` is absent — it works correctly. ``` ### Technical Analysis The artifact contains `secret.md` even though the skill documentation explicitly states that this file must be excluded during publication. This demonstrates that the intended ignore control was absent, incorrectly configured, or ineffective in the packaging process. The included file exposes a user-specific absolute filesystem path, revealing the local username and directory structure. It also contains an API-key-shaped value. The file explicitly identifies that value as fake, so this audit does not classify it as a compromised credential. Nevertheless, the failed exclusion boundary could expose genuine credentials or private configuration if the same publication process were used with real data. ### Attack Path 1. A skill author places private configuration or credentials in a file expected to be excluded by `.clawhubignore`. 2. The packaging or publication process fails to apply the exclusion rule. 3. The private file is incorporated into the distributed artifact. 4. A recipient downloads or in ...[truncated 945 chars]
- Remediation
- ## Remediation Suggestions 1. Add `secret.md` and all other private configuration patterns to `.clawhubignore`, then ensure that the ignore file itself is included in the source project and recognized by the publishing tool. 2. Remove `secret.md` from the artifact and rebuild it from a clean workspace before publication. 3. Add a pre-publication check that inspects the final package contents and fails when denylisted files, absolute user paths, private keys, tokens, or credential-like values are detected. 4. Test ignore behavior against the assembled artifact rather than relying only on source-tree configuration. 5. Store genuine secrets in an external secret manager or environment variables instead of files within the publishable project tree. 6. Use clearly synthetic usernames, paths, and placeholders in test fixtures to avoid leaking workstation metadata. 7. If a real secret is ever included in a published artifact, revoke and rotate it immediately, remove the affected release, and review access logs for unauthorized use.