Sc Recon

SC: Reconnaissance — Codebase Discovery & Architecture Mapping

Purpose

The reconnaissance skill is the foundation of the entire security-check pipeline. It maps the codebase architecture, identifies all technologies in use, traces data flow paths, and catalogs entry points and trust boundaries. Its output determines which subsequent skills are activated and provides critical context for accurate vulnerability detection.

Activation

First skill executed in Phase 1 of the pipeline. Runs before all other skills.

Output

File: security-report/architecture.md

Discovery Process

1. Technology Stack Detection

Identify all technologies by examining:

Languages:

• File extensions: .go, .ts, .tsx, .js, .jsx, .py, .php, .rs, .java, .kt, .cs, .rb, .swift, .c, .cpp
• Count lines of code per language for relative weight
• Determine primary vs secondary languages

Frameworks:

• Go: look for gin, echo, fiber, chi, gorilla/mux, net/http in imports
• TypeScript/JS: check package.json for react, next, express, fastify, nestjs, vue, angular, svelte
• Python: check requirements.txt/pyproject.toml for django, flask, fastapi, tornado, starlette
• PHP: check composer.json for laravel/framework, symfony, wordpress
• Rust: check Cargo.toml for actix-web, axum, rocket, warp, tokio
• Java: check pom.xml/build.gradle for spring-boot, quarkus, micronaut, jakarta
• C#: check .csproj for Microsoft.AspNetCore, Blazor, MAUI

Build Tools & Package Managers:

• package.json / pnpm-workspace.yaml / turbo.json → Node.js ecosystem
• go.mod / go.sum → Go modules
• Cargo.toml / Cargo.lock → Rust/Cargo
• requirements.txt / pyproject.toml / Pipfile / poetry.lock → Python
• composer.json / composer.lock → PHP/Composer
• pom.xml / build.gradle / build.gradle.kts → Java/Maven/Gradle
• *.csproj / *.sln / nuget.config → .NET

Databases:

• Search for connection strings, ORM configs, migration files
• Detect: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, SQLite, Elasticsearch, DynamoDB
• Check for ORMs: Prisma, Drizzle, GORM, SQLAlchemy, Hibernate, Entity Framework, Eloquent

2. Application Type Classification

Determine the application type based on detected patterns:

3. Entry Points Mapping

Catalog all entry points where external input enters the system:

HTTP Routes:

• Search for route registration patterns per framework
• Map: method (GET/POST/PUT/DELETE), path, handler function, middleware chain
• Flag routes without authentication middleware

CLI Commands:

• Search for argument/flag definitions
• Map: command name, arguments, environment variable reads

Message Consumers:

• Search for queue/topic subscriptions (RabbitMQ, Kafka, SQS, NATS)
• Map: queue name, handler function, message format

Scheduled Tasks:

• Search for cron definitions, scheduled job registrations
• Map: schedule, handler function

WebSocket Endpoints:

• Search for WebSocket upgrade handlers
• Map: endpoint, message handlers

File Watchers / Event Handlers:

• Search for filesystem watchers, event emitters
• Map: event source, handler function

4. Data Flow Map

Trace the path of user input through the system:

Source identification — where external data enters:

• HTTP request body, query params, headers, cookies, URL path segments
• File uploads, form data
• WebSocket messages
• CLI arguments, stdin
• Environment variables, config files
• Database reads (if data was originally user-supplied)

Processing identification — how data is transformed:

• Validation functions, sanitization middleware
• ORM/query builder operations
• Serialization/deserialization steps
• Template rendering
• File system operations

Sink identification — where data is consumed in security-sensitive operations:

• Database queries (SQL, NoSQL)
• Command execution (shell, process spawn)
• File system operations (read, write, delete)
• HTTP responses (rendered HTML, JSON, headers)
• Outbound HTTP requests (URL, headers, body)
• Logging operations
• Email/notification sending

5. Trust Boundaries

Identify security control points:

Authentication:

• Auth middleware/guards in route definitions
• Session validation logic
• Token verification (JWT, API key, OAuth)
• Routes that bypass authentication (public endpoints)

Rate Limiting:

• Rate limiter middleware configuration
• Per-endpoint vs global rate limits
• Rate limit bypass conditions

Input Validation:

• Schema validation (Zod, Joi, Pydantic, Bean Validation)
• Custom validation functions
• Framework-level auto-validation

CSRF Protection:

• CSRF token middleware
• SameSite cookie configuration
• Endpoints excluded from CSRF

CORS Configuration:

• CORS middleware configuration
• Allowed origins, methods, headers
• Credentials policy

6. External Integrations

Map all external service connections:

• Databases: connection strings, pool configs, TLS settings
• Caches: Redis, Memcached connections and usage patterns
• Message Queues: RabbitMQ, Kafka, SQS connections
• Third-Party APIs: HTTP clients making outbound calls, API keys used
• Email Services: SMTP config, transactional email providers
• Cloud Services: AWS SDK, GCP client, Azure SDK usage
• CDN/Storage: S3, GCS, Azure Blob, CloudFront configuration
• Monitoring: APM agents, error tracking (Sentry, DataDog)

7. Authentication Architecture

Determine the authentication model:

Document:

• Where tokens/sessions are stored
• Token lifetime and refresh logic
• Password hashing algorithm used
• MFA implementation (if any)
• Account lockout policy (if any)

8. File Structure Analysis

Identify security-sensitive files and paths:

Configuration files:

• .env, .env.production, .env.local
• config.json, config.yaml, settings.py, application.properties
• appsettings.json, web.config

Sensitive paths:

• /admin, /debug, /metrics, /health
• /.git, /.env, /backup
• API documentation endpoints (/swagger, /graphql, /api-docs)

Deployment files:

• Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml
• kubernetes/, k8s/, helm/
• terraform/, *.tf
• .github/workflows/, .gitlab-ci.yml

9. Detected Security Controls

Catalog existing security measures:

• WAF/Firewall: Cloudflare, AWS WAF references
• CSP: Content-Security-Policy header configuration
• CORS: Cross-Origin Resource Sharing config
• Rate Limiter: Rate limiting middleware
• Input Sanitization: DOMPurify, bleach, html/template usage
• Helmet/Headers: Security header middleware (helmet.js, secure-headers)
• CSRF Tokens: Anti-CSRF middleware
• Encryption at Rest: Data encryption configuration
• Audit Logging: Security event logging

10. Language Detection Summary

Produce a definitive list of detected languages that determines which sc-lang-* skills run in Phase 2:

## Detected Languages
- Go (45% of codebase) → activates sc-lang-go
- TypeScript (35% of codebase) → activates sc-lang-typescript
- Python (20% of codebase, scripts/tools only) → activates sc-lang-python

Output Format

The output file security-report/architecture.md must contain all 10 sections above with concrete findings specific to the scanned codebase. Each section should include file paths and line references where applicable.

Common Challenges

• Monorepos: Scan all packages/services, note boundaries between them
• Generated code: Identify and flag generated files (protobuf, OpenAPI, codegen) to avoid false positives
• Test files: Identify test directories to provide context for Phase 3 verification
• Vendor/node_modules: Skip vendored dependencies, they are covered by sc-dependency-audit
• Large codebases: Prioritize entry points and data flow paths over exhaustive file listing