Summary
Rule E2 (Data Exfiltration / Env Variable Harvesting) has a shell arm for env | grep, but it accepts exactly one flag (-i) followed by a bare keyword. A second flag, combined flags, a quoted pattern, or egrep all evade it. The README defines E2 as "enumerating, copying, or searching environment data to collect secrets"; the missed spellings are the searching case.
#329 and #441 cover the Python os.environ path. This is the shell path and is independent of both.
Environment
- SkillSpector v2.11.0 (commit
7805bb9), installed with uv tool install git+https://github.com/NVIDIA/skillspector.git
skillspector scan <dir> --no-llm --format json (static-only, deterministic)
- macOS 15 (Darwin 25.6.0), Python 3.13 runtime
Reproduction
One SKILL.md with one fenced bash block. Only the marked line varies between runs.
| spelling |
E2 fires |
env | grep secret |
yes, 0.8 |
env | grep -i -E 'token|key|secret' > /tmp/ctx.txt |
no |
env | grep -iE "aws_|secret" |
no |
env | grep --ignore-case token |
no |
env | egrep -e password -e token |
no |
printenv | grep -i secret |
yes, but only because the line contains the substring env | grep -i secret |
The second row is the shape a harvester would write: case-insensitive, alternation over several names, redirected to a file for a later upload. In a skill that goes on to POST that file, the scan reports E1, E3, PE3 and SC2 on the surrounding lines and nothing on the harvest line itself.
Cause
src/skillspector/nodes/analyzers/static_patterns_data_exfiltration.py:73:
(r"env\s*\|\s*grep\s+(?:-i\s+)?(?:key|secret|token|password)", 0.8),
(?:-i\s+)? consumes one -i and nothing else, and the keyword has to follow as a bare word, so a quote or a second flag ends the match. Nothing in tests/unit/test_patterns.py pins a shell spelling; the E2 cases there (lines 150-255) are all Python.
Expected behavior
The shell arm should key on the behavior (the environment piped through a filter for secret-looking names) rather than on one flag layout: env or printenv as the source, grep, egrep or fgrep as the filter, any flags, optional quoting, and the keyword anywhere in the pattern argument. env | grep PATH and env | grep -v SECRET should still pass.
I have a fix with tests and a fixture ready to open against this issue.
Summary
Rule
E2(Data Exfiltration / Env Variable Harvesting) has a shell arm forenv | grep, but it accepts exactly one flag (-i) followed by a bare keyword. A second flag, combined flags, a quoted pattern, oregrepall evade it. The README defines E2 as "enumerating, copying, or searching environment data to collect secrets"; the missed spellings are the searching case.#329 and #441 cover the Python
os.environpath. This is the shell path and is independent of both.Environment
7805bb9), installed withuv tool install git+https://github.com/NVIDIA/skillspector.gitskillspector scan <dir> --no-llm --format json(static-only, deterministic)Reproduction
One
SKILL.mdwith one fenced bash block. Only the marked line varies between runs.env | grep secretenv | grep -i -E 'token|key|secret' > /tmp/ctx.txtenv | grep -iE "aws_|secret"env | grep --ignore-case tokenenv | egrep -e password -e tokenprintenv | grep -i secretenv | grep -i secretThe second row is the shape a harvester would write: case-insensitive, alternation over several names, redirected to a file for a later upload. In a skill that goes on to POST that file, the scan reports
E1,E3,PE3andSC2on the surrounding lines and nothing on the harvest line itself.Cause
src/skillspector/nodes/analyzers/static_patterns_data_exfiltration.py:73:(?:-i\s+)?consumes one-iand nothing else, and the keyword has to follow as a bare word, so a quote or a second flag ends the match. Nothing intests/unit/test_patterns.pypins a shell spelling; the E2 cases there (lines 150-255) are all Python.Expected behavior
The shell arm should key on the behavior (the environment piped through a filter for secret-looking names) rather than on one flag layout:
envorprintenvas the source,grep,egreporfgrepas the filter, any flags, optional quoting, and the keyword anywhere in the pattern argument.env | grep PATHandenv | grep -v SECRETshould still pass.I have a fix with tests and a fixture ready to open against this issue.