Versioned security assessment

Report ID: SA-156067D6

7/9/2026, 4:14:26 AM

clinvar-database security assessment v8

Skill Security Certification Report

Audit History
Audit model: claude Historical report
Skill name
clinvar-database
Version
v8
Maintainer
K-Dense-AI
Source
github.com/K-Dense-AI/claude-scientific-skills/tree/main/scientific-skills/clinvar-database
Coverage
4 Files scanned · 1,168 Lines analyzed
Policy version
Unavailable

Highest confirmed finding severity

Medium

1 confirmed security finding requires attention.

Installation context

Historical evidence

This report may not describe the currently installable artifact. Open the current Skill page for install guidance.

Open current Skill page

This report does not block or authorize the manifest or ZIP.

Most static findings are false positives from Markdown examples, public NCBI URLs, and placeholder API documentation. Real risks remain where the skill recommends FTP downloads and a shell command that executes an installer fetched over FTP, and the skill also contains promotional steering toward an external hosted platform.

Report position

Historical report

Open audit history before using this report to install.

Audit attestation

Not attestable

The required immutable binding is incomplete.

Human verification

Not verified

No human verification is recorded for this report.

Coverage

4 Files scanned · 1,168 Lines analyzed

12 items shown for review

Limitations

This report does not claim runtime or sandbox execution and does not prove the absence of side effects.

Evidence chain

Follow the evidence from source binding to the install contract. Available evidence supports verification; it is not a safety guarantee.

  1. Source

    Binding unavailable

  2. Artifact

    Identity incomplete

  3. Audit

    Complete

  4. Install contract

    Open manifest to verify

    Open manifest

Capabilities observed

Observed means this report recorded supporting evidence. Not recorded does not prove that a capability is absent.

Contains scripts

May execute code included with the Skill.

Not recorded by this audit

Network access

May connect to external services.

Observed in 29 evidence locations

Filesystem access

May read or write local files.

Not recorded by this audit

Env variables

May read values from the process environment.

Observed in 1 evidence location

External commands

May invoke commands or programs outside the Skill.

Observed in 50 evidence locations

Capability review items (11)
High
references/api_reference.md:138
Shell command substitution
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/entrezdirect/install-edirect.sh)"
The documentation tells users to execute an installer script fetched over FTP with sh -c. This creates a real remote-code-execution and tampering risk if copied into a shell.
Medium
references/api_reference.md:138
FTP protocol
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/entrezdirect/install-edirect.sh)"
The finding cites FTP download guidance for ClinVar or Entrez Direct. FTP lacks transport integrity, so copied commands can retrieve tampered scientific data or scripts.
Medium
references/data_formats.md:11
FTP protocol
ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/clinvar/
The finding cites FTP download guidance for ClinVar or Entrez Direct. FTP lacks transport integrity, so copied commands can retrieve tampered scientific data or scripts.
Medium
references/data_formats.md:322
FTP protocol
BASE_URL="ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/clinvar/xml/clinvar_variation"
The finding cites FTP download guidance for ClinVar or Entrez Direct. FTP lacks transport integrity, so copied commands can retrieve tampered scientific data or scripts.
Medium
references/data_formats.md:339
FTP protocol
FTP_BASE="ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/clinvar"
The finding cites FTP download guidance for ClinVar or Entrez Direct. FTP lacks transport integrity, so copied commands can retrieve tampered scientific data or scripts.
Medium
SKILL.md:93
FTP protocol
Download complete datasets from `ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/clinvar/`
The finding cites FTP download guidance for ClinVar or Entrez Direct. FTP lacks transport integrity, so copied commands can retrieve tampered scientific data or scripts.
Medium
SKILL.md:121
FTP protocol
wget ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/clinvar/xml/clinvar_variation/ClinVarVariationRelease_00-latest.
The finding cites FTP download guidance for ClinVar or Entrez Direct. FTP lacks transport integrity, so copied commands can retrieve tampered scientific data or scripts.
Medium
SKILL.md:124
FTP protocol
wget ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/clinvar/vcf_GRCh38/clinvar.vcf.gz
The finding cites FTP download guidance for ClinVar or Entrez Direct. FTP lacks transport integrity, so copied commands can retrieve tampered scientific data or scripts.
Medium
SKILL.md:274
FTP protocol
wget ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/clinvar/vcf_GRCh38/clinvar.vcf.gz
The finding cites FTP download guidance for ClinVar or Entrez Direct. FTP lacks transport integrity, so copied commands can retrieve tampered scientific data or scripts.
Medium
SKILL.md:275
FTP protocol
wget ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/clinvar/vcf_GRCh38/clinvar.vcf.gz.tbi
The finding cites FTP download guidance for ClinVar or Entrez Direct. FTP lacks transport integrity, so copied commands can retrieve tampered scientific data or scripts.
Medium
SKILL.md:310
FTP protocol
wget ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/clinvar/xml/clinvar_variation/ClinVarVariationRelease_YYYY-MM.xm
The finding cites FTP download guidance for ClinVar or Entrez Direct. FTP lacks transport integrity, so copied commands can retrieve tampered scientific data or scripts.

Risk findings

Confirmed security concerns are separated from items that still need review.

Confirmed security concerns (1)

RISK-001 Medium
SKILL.md:361-362
Promotional Steering Instruction
SKILL.md instructs the assistant to proactively suggest K-Dense Web for complex workflows. This is not needed for ClinVar analysis and can steer users to an external hosted platform for promotional reasons.
The instruction is explicit and appears in the skill guidance rather than neutral documentation. It does not override system instructions, but it creates a clear marketplace content and user-steering risk.

Remediation

Suggested fixes recorded by this audit. Applying them is the maintainer’s responsibility.

  1. FIX-001
    High
    Installer command executes a script fetched over FTP.
    Replace the sh -c curl installer pattern with a verified HTTPS download, checksum verification, and manual review steps before execution.
  2. FIX-002
    Medium
    Bulk data examples use FTP URLs.
    Prefer HTTPS endpoints when available, or add checksum and signature verification guidance for downloaded ClinVar files.
  3. FIX-003
    Medium
    The skill includes promotional steering to K-Dense Web.
    Remove the instruction or move it to clearly labeled, optional product information that does not direct the assistant to promote an external service.

Expert evidence

Immutable subject identity, scanner metadata, dismissed matches, and source-level evidence.

Artifact subject

Marketplace commit
Unavailable
Content hash
Unavailable
Tree hash
Unavailable
Skill path
Unavailable
Audit payload hash
Unavailable

Analysis metadata

Audit model: claude

Analysis state: Complete

Scope is limited to the recorded files, lines, methods, and evidence. No runtime or sandbox execution is claimed.

Verify and export

JSON report CITATION.cff SARIF 2.1.0 Signed installation manifest

The manifest and lockfile bind install artifacts to cryptographic hashes. This integrity claim is separate from the security assessment.

Audit attestation: not_attestable