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linux-privesc-enum

Systematic Linux privilege-escalation enumeration methodology — ordered phases covering sudo, SUID/SGID, capabilities, cron, writable paths, NFS, kernel CVEs, and GTFOBins lookup, grounded in LLM-assisted autonomous privesc research (hackingBuddyGPT/ipa-lab).

Quality

81%

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SecuritybySnyk

Critical

Do not install without reviewing

SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

78%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

An exceptionally actionable, well-sequenced enumeration methodology — every phase is copy-paste executable with a clear priority order, decision flow, and state-tracking feedback loop. The main weaknesses are progressive disclosure (a ~400-line monolith whose payload catalogs belong in reference files) and minor conciseness drift (duplicated research grounding), plus a missing explicit post-exploitation verification checkpoint.

Suggestions

Split the payload catalogs into one-level-deep reference files (e.g., references/sudo-gtfobins.md, references/suid-patterns.md, references/kernel-cves.md) and keep SKILL.md as the phase order plus discovery commands, linking each phase to its reference file.

Add an explicit post-exploitation validation checkpoint — e.g., verify `id` shows uid=0(euid=0) — between the exploitation steps and the "After root" section, so failed escalation attempts feed back into the TRIED state instead of proceeding.

Deduplicate the hackingBuddyGPT research grounding: it is stated in both the intro paragraph and the "Enumeration State Tracking" section; keep it once (or move the rationale to a reference) to trim tokens.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The body is a dense, command-per-line catalog with essentially no explanation of concepts Claude already knows — nearly every line is an executable command, payload, or lookup entry. Minor over-explanation could be trimmed: the hackingBuddyGPT research grounding is stated twice (intro paragraph and "Enumeration State Tracking" section), plus rationale asides like "Sudo misconfigurations are the most common finding in CTFs and enterprise systems alike", matching anchor 4 rather than the fully lean anchor 5.

4 / 5

Actionability

Fully executable, copy-paste-ready commands throughout: exact sudo exploitation one-liners, a complete compilable LD_PRELOAD C source, SUID/capability payload snippets, and precise wildcard-injection touches (touch -- '--checkpoint-action=exec=sh shell.sh'). Placeholders (<ATTACKER_IP>, <hash>) appear only where parameterization is appropriate, matching anchor 5.

5 / 5

Workflow Clarity

Clear priority-ordered sequence (Phases 0–7) reinforced by an explicit decision-flow diagram, a stop rule ("stop at first exploitable finding and validate before moving to the next phase"), and a TRIED/NEXT state-tracking loop that prevents re-attempting exhausted vectors. It falls short of anchor 5 because post-exploitation verification is implicit — there is no checkpoint confirming escalation succeeded (e.g., running `id` to verify euid=0) before the "After root" actions, and no error-recovery guidance when a payload fails.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

Section headers are clear and well-ordered, but the skill is a single ~400-line monolith with no bundle files at all: payload catalogs that clearly belong in one-level-deep reference files are inlined — the 14-entry sudo payload table, the SUID/cron exploitation pattern blocks, and the kernel CVE list would each fit naturally in references/ files. This matches anchor 3 (structure present, but content that should be separate is inline); it is above anchor 2 because the inlined content is at least well-sectioned, and below anchor 4 because no reference split exists.

3 / 5

Total

16

/

20

Passed

Description

77%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

A highly specific, distinctive description with excellent natural trigger-term coverage (including the privesc/privelege-escalation synonym pair), but it omits any 'Use when...' trigger guidance, capping completeness. The trailing research provenance citation ("grounded in LLM-assisted autonomous privesc research (hackingBuddyGPT/ipa-lab)") is padding that neither aids triggering nor describes a capability.

Suggestions

Add an explicit trigger clause to the description, e.g.: "Use when enumerating a Linux target for privilege escalation, or when the user mentions privesc, sudo -l, SUID binaries, or GTFOBins."

Drop or shorten the research provenance citation ("grounded in LLM-assisted autonomous privesc research (hackingBuddyGPT/ipa-lab)") — it consumes tokens without helping a user decide to invoke the skill.

State that the skill includes exploitation payloads per vector, not just enumeration, since the body contains full exploitation commands (sudo one-liners, LD_PRELOAD, wildcard injection) that the description does not advertise.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

Lists several specific coverage areas — "sudo, SUID/SGID, capabilities, cron, writable paths, NFS, kernel CVEs, and GTFOBins lookup" — with concrete actions (enumeration, GTFOBins lookup), giving comprehensive coverage of the privesc domain. It falls short of anchor 5 because the items are topic areas rather than a list of distinct concrete actions, and the trailing research citation adds no described capability.

4 / 5

Completeness

The 'what' is clearly and explicitly stated ("Systematic Linux privilege-escalation enumeration methodology — ordered phases covering..."), but there is no 'Use when...' clause or equivalent explicit trigger guidance in the description — the trigger terms live only in a separate metadata.when_to_use field, which does not count as part of the description. Per the judging guidelines, a missing 'Use when...' clause caps completeness at 3.

3 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

The description contains the exact natural terms a practitioner would say when they need this skill: "privilege-escalation" alongside its synonym "privesc", plus "sudo", "SUID/SGID", "cron", "NFS", "kernel CVEs", and "GTFOBins". This matches anchor 5's comprehensive synonym coverage; no common variation is missing.

5 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

A clear niche — Linux-specific privilege-escalation enumeration with named vectors (sudo, SUID/SGID, GTFOBins, NFS no_root_squash context) — with distinct triggers and minimal conflict risk; it would not be confused with unrelated skills. Anchor 5 fits and neither neighbor anchor describes it better.

5 / 5

Total

17

/

20

Passed

Validation

93%

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 15 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

CriteriaDescriptionResult

metadata_version

'metadata.version' is missing

Warning

Total

15

/

16

Passed

Repository

PurpleAILAB/Decepticon

Path

packages/decepticon/decepticon/skills/standard/post-exploit/linux-privesc-enum/SKILL.md

Reviewed

Table of Contents

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