tools-only Security Policy
Overview
The Skills Directory takes security seriously. Every skill is analyzed for potential risks, and high-risk skills require additional safeguards. This document explains our security framework and policies.
Security Risk Levels
Low Risk
Definition: Read-only operations, public data access, no external API calls
Examples:
- List available skills
- Format/transform data
- Calculate metrics
- Display information
Requirements:
- No special requirements
- Standard execution allowed
- Audit logging optional
Medium Risk
Definition: Write operations, internal data access, external API calls without sensitive data
Examples:
- Send notifications
- Update non-critical records
- Query analytics
- Create tickets
Requirements:
- ✅ Audit logging enabled
- Standard execution allowed
- No sandboxing required
High Risk
Definition: Modify/delete operations, PII access, sensitive data handling, risky external calls
Examples:
- Update customer records
- Access PII data
- Modify financial data
- Delete resources
- Execute external webhooks
Requirements:
- ✅ Sandboxing required
- ✅ Audit logging enabled
- ⚠️ Human-in-loop recommended
- Access controls enforced
Critical Risk
Definition: Financial operations, credential handling, destructive actions, regulatory data
Examples:
- Process payments
- Access credentials/secrets
- Delete production data
- Modify financial records
- Execute system commands
Requirements:
- ✅ Sandboxing required
- ✅ Human-in-loop required
- ✅ Audit logging enabled
- ✅ Multi-party approval
- Access restricted to authorized personnel
Security Requirements
Sandboxing
Isolates skill execution to prevent:
- Unauthorized system access
- Data leakage
- Privilege escalation
- Resource exhaustion
Implementation: Skills run in isolated containers with limited permissions.
Human-in-Loop (HITL)
Requires explicit human approval before execution.
When Required:
- Critical risk level skills
- Financial transactions
- Destructive operations
- Regulatory compliance needs
Process:
- Skill execution initiated
- Request sent to authorized approvers
- Approver reviews context and impact
- Approval or rejection
- Execution proceeds or aborts
Audit Logging
All executions are logged with:
- Skill ID and version
- Execution timestamp
- Input parameters (sanitized)
- Output results (sanitized)
- User/system that invoked
- Security context
- Success/failure status
Retention: Logs retained per compliance requirements (typically 90-365 days)
Access: Restricted to security team and authorized auditors
Data Access Scope
Skills must declare what types of data they access:
| Scope | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
public |
Publicly available data | Documentation, public APIs |
internal |
Company-internal data | Internal analytics, metrics |
confidential |
Sensitive business data | Strategy, financials, deals |
pii |
Personally Identifiable Information | Names, emails, addresses |
financial |
Financial/payment data | Revenue, transactions, invoices |
health |
Health/medical data | PHI, medical records |
Access Control: Skills can only access scopes they declare, enforced at runtime.
Security Analysis Process
Automated Analysis
The analyze_skills.py script performs:
Keyword Detection
- Scans skill.json and instructions.md
- Identifies risk keywords (delete, financial, credential, etc.)
- Weights keywords by severity
Tool Risk Assessment
- Analyzes required tools
- Identifies risky operations
- Checks for external API calls
Risk Level Assignment
- Aggregates risk factors
- Assigns risk level (Low/Medium/High/Critical)
- Generates risk factor list
Security Requirements
- Determines sandboxing needs
- Sets HITL requirements
- Configures audit logging
- Defines data access scope
Metadata Generation
- Creates metadata.yaml with analysis results
- Updates security indices
- Generates reports
Manual Review
All skills undergo manual security review before production:
- Automated Analysis: Initial scan by analyzer
- Peer Review: Code review by contributor
- Security Review: Review by security team for High/Critical skills
- Approval: Sign-off by maintainers
Workflow Security
Workflow Risk Level
A workflow's risk level is the highest risk level of any skill in the chain.
Example:
Skill A (Low) → Skill B (Medium) → Skill C (High)
= Workflow Risk Level: High
Security Context
Workflows define security context:
security_context:
max_risk_level: 'Medium' # Maximum allowed skill risk
requires_approval: true # Entire workflow needs approval
approval_at_steps: # Individual step approvals
- 'step_3_delete_data'
Approval Gates
Workflows can require approval at specific steps:
- Before execution (entire workflow)
- At individual steps (step-level gates)
- After failures (recovery actions)
Malicious Skill Detection
Prohibited Actions
Skills MAY NOT:
- Execute arbitrary code
- Access filesystem outside sandbox
- Make network requests to undeclared endpoints
- Extract or exfiltrate data
- Perform cryptomining or resource abuse
- Attempt privilege escalation
- Bypass security controls
Detection Mechanisms
- Static analysis for malicious patterns
- Runtime sandboxing
- Network egress filtering
- Resource usage monitoring
- Behavioral analysis
Reporting
If you discover a security vulnerability:
- DO NOT open a public issue
- Email: security@skene.ai
- Include:
- Skill ID and version
- Vulnerability description
- Reproduction steps
- Potential impact
- We will respond within 48 hours
Rewards
We offer recognition (and potentially rewards) for:
- Critical vulnerability discoveries
- Security enhancement proposals
- Malicious skill detection
Supply Chain Security
Skill Provenance
All skills include:
- Author identification
- Source attribution
- License information
- Version history
Dependency Management
Skills declare dependencies:
- Other skills required
- External tools/APIs
- Minimum versions
Dependencies are:
- Validated at registration
- Checked for vulnerabilities
- Pinned to specific versions
Code Signing (Future)
Future releases will support:
- Cryptographic signing of skills
- Verification at execution time
- Trusted skill registries
Compliance
Regulatory Frameworks
Skills handling regulated data must comply with:
- GDPR: Personal data of EU residents
- HIPAA: Health information (US)
- SOC 2: Security controls
- PCI DSS: Payment card data
Data Residency
Skills declare data residency requirements:
compliance:
regulations:
- 'GDPR'
- 'HIPAA'
data_residency:
- 'EU'
- 'US'
Execution restricted to compliant regions.
Security Updates
Versioning
Security-related changes increment version:
- Patch (1.0.x): Security fix, no breaking changes
- Minor (1.x.0): New security requirements
- Major (x.0.0): Breaking security changes
Deprecation
Skills with unresolvable security issues:
- Marked as deprecated
- Removed from recommendations
- Execution disabled (with grace period)
- Deleted after 90 days
Security Advisories
Critical issues are disclosed via:
- GitHub Security Advisories
- Email to skill authors
- Community notifications
- CVE assignment (if applicable)
Best Practices
For Skill Authors
✅ Do:
- Declare all data access explicitly
- Follow principle of least privilege
- Validate all inputs
- Sanitize all outputs
- Handle errors gracefully
- Document security considerations
❌ Don't:
- Store credentials in skill code
- Access undeclared data
- Execute arbitrary user input
- Make assumptions about security context
For Skill Users
✅ Do:
- Review security metadata before execution
- Approve HITL requests promptly
- Monitor execution logs
- Report suspicious behavior
❌ Don't:
- Override security controls
- Share approval credentials
- Execute untrusted skills
- Ignore security warnings
Questions?
For security questions:
- 📧 Email: security@skene.ai
- 📖 Read: CONTRIBUTING.md
- 💬 Discuss: GitHub Discussions (non-sensitive only)
Remember: When in doubt, err on the side of caution. It's better to over-classify a skill's risk than under-classify it.