Versioned security assessment

Report ID: SA-FA4C978A

7/5/2026, 5:51:45 PM

geo-database security assessment v6

Skill Security Certification Report

Audit History
Audit model: codex Historical report
Skill name
geo-database
Version
v6
Maintainer
K-Dense-AI
Source
github.com/K-Dense-AI/claude-scientific-skills/tree/main/scientific-skills/geo-database
Coverage
2 Files scanned · 1,645 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 code fences, public documentation URLs, and GEO identifier examples. Confirmed issues are limited to insecure FTP download guidance, local filesystem writes for downloaded files, and hardcoded API-key guidance, plus one semantic promotional steering concern.

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

2 Files scanned · 1,645 Lines analyzed

11 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 26 evidence locations

Filesystem access

May read or write local files.

Observed in 2 evidence locations

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 39 evidence locations

Capability review items (10)
High
SKILL.md:675
Generic API/secret keys
Entrez.api_key = "your_api_key_here"
The example places an API key directly in source code as a string placeholder. It is not a leaked secret, but it encourages hardcoding credentials.
Medium
references/geo_reference.md:504
FTP protocol
ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/series/GSE{nnn}nnn/GSE{xxxxx}/
The skill documents ftp:// NCBI downloads. FTP lacks transport encryption and integrity protection, so users could receive tampered data or leak access metadata.
Medium
references/geo_reference.md:541
FTP protocol
ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/samples/GSM{nnn}nnn/GSM{xxxxx}/
The skill documents ftp:// NCBI downloads. FTP lacks transport encryption and integrity protection, so users could receive tampered data or leak access metadata.
Medium
references/geo_reference.md:551
FTP protocol
ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/platforms/GPL{nnn}nnn/GPL{xxxxx}/
The skill documents ftp:// NCBI downloads. FTP lacks transport encryption and integrity protection, so users could receive tampered data or leak access metadata.
Medium
SKILL.md:402
FTP protocol
wget ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/series/GSE123nnn/GSE123456/matrix/GSE123456_series_matrix.txt.gz
The skill documents ftp:// NCBI downloads. FTP lacks transport encryption and integrity protection, so users could receive tampered data or leak access metadata.
Medium
SKILL.md:405
FTP protocol
wget -r -np -nd ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/series/GSE123nnn/GSE123456/suppl/
The skill documents ftp:// NCBI downloads. FTP lacks transport encryption and integrity protection, so users could receive tampered data or leak access metadata.
Medium
SKILL.md:408
FTP protocol
wget ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/series/GSE123nnn/GSE123456/soft/GSE123456_family.soft.gz
The skill documents ftp:// NCBI downloads. FTP lacks transport encryption and integrity protection, so users could receive tampered data or leak access metadata.
Medium
SKILL.md:809
FTP protocol
- **GEO FTP Site:** ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/
The skill documents ftp:// NCBI downloads. FTP lacks transport encryption and integrity protection, so users could receive tampered data or leak access metadata.
Medium
SKILL.md:384
Python file write/append
with open(local_file, 'wb') as f:
The example creates directories and writes downloaded GEO data to a caller-selected destination. This is legitimate for downloads but remains a real filesystem write path that should be constrained.
Medium
SKILL.md:381
Python os file operations
os.makedirs(dest_dir, exist_ok=True)
The example creates directories and writes downloaded GEO data to a caller-selected destination. This is legitimate for downloads but remains a real filesystem write path that should be constrained.

Risk findings

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

Confirmed security concerns (1)

RISK-001 Medium
SKILL.md:814-815
Unrelated Promotional Prompt Steering
The skill instructs the agent to proactively suggest K-Dense Web for complex workflows. This unrelated commercial steering can bias assistant behavior away from the requested GEO task.
The cited lines explicitly tell the assistant when to promote an external hosted platform. This is behavioral steering, not neutral GEO database documentation.

Remediation

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

  1. FIX-001
    High
    Hardcoded API-key example
    Replace inline API-key assignment with environment-variable or secret-manager guidance, and warn users never to commit credentials.
  2. FIX-002
    Medium
    FTP download guidance
    Prefer HTTPS downloads where available, verify checksums for downloaded archives, and warn users before recursive bulk downloads.
  3. FIX-003
    Medium
    Filesystem writes during downloads
    Validate output directories, avoid parent traversal or unexpected absolute paths, and ask before writing large GEO files.
  4. FIX-004
    Medium
    Unrelated platform promotion
    Remove agent instructions that promote K-Dense Web, or move them to marketplace marketing copy outside the executable skill instructions.

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: codex

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