T09 · Insecure Skill Coding Practices
- Location
scripts/reports/generate_audit_report.py:120- Finding
Value-alignment reporting fails open with a hard-coded passing score
- Content
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Vulnerability Details
File Location:
scripts/reports/generate_audit_report.py, lines 120 and 162
Vulnerability Type: Fail-open security assessment caused by an inconsistent result key
Risk Level: MediumVulnerable Code
python value_alignment_report = check_value_alignment(text, text)python "value_alignment": value_alignment_report.get("alignment_score", 0.95),The called
check_value_alignment()function returns the keystotal_score,dimension_scores,needs_alignment, andrecommendations. It does not returnalignment_score.Consequently,
value_alignment_report.get("alignment_score", 0.95)always uses the fallback value0.95. The generated report therefore presents a high alignment score regardless of the detector's actual result.Technical Analysis
This is a fail-open logic defect in a security assessment path. A missing result field should cause an explicit error or conservative failure, but the implementation substitutes a high passing score.
The defect is made more significant because the generated Markdown presents this value as an authoritative assessment. Consumers can therefore receive a favorable value-alignment result for content that the underlying function marked as requiring adjustment.
Passing the same text as both the response and user request also prevents meaningful request-to-response comparison, although the current implementation does not use the
user_requestargument.Attack Path
- An attacker or user supplies ethically problematic text to
scripts/run_audit.pythrough--text. generate_formal_report()callscheck_value_alignment().- The detector returns
total_scoreandneeds_alignment, but noalignment_score. - The report generator requests the nonexistent
alignment_scorekey. - The fallback value
0.95is selected. - The final audit report presents the content as having a high value-alignment score, p ...[truncated 534 chars]
- An attacker or user supplies ethically problematic text to
- Remediation
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Remediation Suggestions
-
Use the actual returned field and normalize it to the documented range:
python raw_score = value_alignment_report["total_score"] alignment_score = raw_score / 5.0 -
Remove the favorable fallback. Missing mandatory fields should raise an exception or produce a conservative failure result:
python if "total_score" not in value_alignment_report: raise ValueError("Value-alignment assessment returned an invalid result") -
Pass the original user request separately from the generated response.
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Define a typed result schema shared by the detector and report generator.
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Add regression tests asserting that poorly aligned input cannot produce a fixed score of
0.95. -
Ensure the Markdown report displays both the normalized score and the
needs_alignmentdecision.
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