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Security audit

Academic Deep Search

Security checks for vulnerabilities and agentic risk

Overview

This skill is a plain academic literature search guide with no code execution, persistence, credential handling, or hidden data access.

This skill appears safe to install for academic literature searches. Users should know it may translate search terms into English for better database coverage and may activate on broad requests about common methods, markers, results, or figures in a research area.

Vulnerability Patterns
  • Skill Instruction HijackingAlters the agent's session goals or safety constraints when the skill loads
  • Agent Memory PoisoningWrites attacker-controlled rules into memory that affect later sessions
  • Remote Payload Retrieval and ExecutionFetches external code whose behavior can change after review
  • Embedded Malicious CodeShips malicious scripts inside the skill and executes them locally
  • Unauthorized Access and Privilege EscalationObtains permissions beyond the task's legitimate needs
Vulnerability Patterns
  • Prompt InjectionInstruction Override, Hidden Instructions, Exfiltration Commands
  • System Prompt LeakageDirect Leakage, Indirect Extraction, Tool-Based Exfiltration
  • Trigger AbuseOverly Broad Trigger, Shadow Command Trigger, Keyword Baiting Trigger
  • Data ExfiltrationExternal Transmission, Env Variable Harvesting, File System Enumeration
  • Privilege EscalationExcessive Permissions, Sudo/Root Execution, Credential Access
Findings (6)

Direct Prompt Extraction

High
Category
System Prompt Leakage
Confidence
85% confidence
Finding

Skill contains instructions that could directly expose system prompts, internal rules, or hidden instructions to users or external parties.

Content

Scanner excerpt · SKILL.md (reported line 125)May include surrounding context.

md
Then synthesize across papers instead of writing a paper-by-paper summary unless the user asked for that.

## Output Rules

- Answer directly in chat unless the user asks for a file.
- Use inline citations such as PMID, PMCID, DOI, or direct links.

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Medium
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
92% confidence
Finding

The instruction 'Use English search terms for database queries, even if the conversation is in Chinese' imposes a fixed language behavior rather than offering a user choice or documenting a justified locale constraint. This is a natural-language policy issue because it overrides the user's language context without opt-in.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Vague Triggers

Low
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
87% confidence
Finding

The manifest says to use the skill when the user wants to know what studies in a field usually detect, report, or use, which is a wide class of common literature-analysis requests. While examples are provided later, the activation guidance does not include negative examples or explicit limits distinguishing when this skill should not be invoked versus a general search or summarization skill.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Vague Triggers

Low
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
81% confidence
Finding

The example 'What do results sections in this field usually report?' is broad and could match many general synthesis or tutoring requests, not just this specialized deep-search workflow. The file does not pair these examples with negative examples or tighter trigger criteria to prevent unintended invocation.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Vague Triggers

Low
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
88% confidence
Finding

The manifest describes activation via "$academic-deep-search" plus a general task like finding papers on a topic, but it does not define clear trigger boundaries, exclusions, or negative examples. This can make invocation scope ambiguous in contexts where users discuss academic searches generally.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Natural-Language Policy Violations

Low
Category
Not specified by scanner
Confidence
95% confidence
Finding

The guidance says to "use English search terms for the query itself," which imposes a specific language policy in natural language. The file does not offer a language choice, opt-in, or explain a justified region- or database-specific exception.

Content

No source excerpt is available for this finding.

Static analysis

No suspicious patterns detected.