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ctf-forensics

Provides digital forensics and signal analysis techniques for CTF challenges. Use when analyzing disk images, memory dumps, event logs, network captures, cryptocurrency transactions, steganography, PDF analysis, Windows registry, Volatility, PCAP, Docker images, coredumps, side-channel power traces, DTMF audio spectrograms, packet timing analysis, CD audio disc images, or recovering deleted files and credentials.

Quality

76%

Does it follow best practices?

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SecuritybySnyk

Passed

No findings from the security scan

Fix and improve this skill with Tessl

tessl review fix ./ctf-forensics/SKILL.md
SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

61%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.

A dense, highly actionable quick-reference with excellent per-artifact commands and an unusually well-labeled set of one-level-deep references. It is weakened by significant internal duplication that inflates token cost, the absence of any explicit triage/validation workflow, and reference targets that are not present in the bundle.

Suggestions

Deduplicate the body: SMB RID recycling, Timeroasting, and packet interval analysis each appear in the resource list, the quick-reference bullets, and a dedicated section — keep one canonical pointer each and drop the rest, which would materially cut the ~370-line body.

Add an explicit triage workflow with checkpoints, e.g. 1. file/magic-byte identification 2. run exiftool/binwalk/strings 3. match artifact type to a reference file 4. verify extraction output before moving on, so the implicit per-section recipes become a sequenced process.

Ensure the 14 referenced .md files are actually shipped in the bundle (none are present), since the body's one-liners defer all execution detail to those files.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

The body is terse and command-style with no basic-concept explanations, but at ~370 lines it carries substantial duplication: SMB RID recycling, Timeroasting, and packet interval timing each appear two to three times (resource list entry + quick-reference bullet + dedicated section), and the 'Additional Technique Quick References' section largely re-indexes the 'Additional Resources' list. Mostly efficient but could be tightened considerably — anchor 3, not 4, because the redundancy goes beyond minor instances.

3 / 5

Actionability

Much of the guidance is copy-paste ready with exact flags, modes, and byte offsets (e.g. 'tshark -r capture.pcapng -Y "ntp && ip.src == <DC_IP>"', 'hashcat -m 31300', 'read 48 bytes before it as master key', runnable Evtx Python). However, a large fraction of the technique bullets are one-sentence descriptions with no command, deferring execution details to the reference files — mostly executable with minor gaps, anchor 4 rather than 5.

4 / 5

Workflow Clarity

Quick-start commands are grouped by artifact type, there is a numbered fallback sequence for cleared logs (USN Journal, SAM, PowerShell history, MPLog, Prefetch) and 'When to Pivot' routing, but there is no explicit end-to-end triage sequence and validation checkpoints are only implicit ('Check magic bytes' is a hint, not a checkpoint). Steps exist with implicit checkpoints — anchor 3, not 4, since most checkpoints are absent rather than present.

3 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

The reference scheme is well designed: one level deep, every reference labeled with a descriptive topic summary, many with section anchors (e.g. 'windows.md#anti-forensics-detection-checklist'). Deductions because the 14 referenced .md files are absent from the evaluated bundle and ~150 lines of inlined technique one-liners duplicate the reference-file summaries — good structure with organization gaps, anchor 4 rather than 5.

4 / 5

Total

14

/

20

Passed

Description

83%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 strong description: third-person, concise, with an explicit 'Use when' clause covering an unusually broad and concrete set of forensics triggers. The main weakness is that the 'what' leans on a generic verb plus an artifact list rather than naming the actions performed, and it lacks file-extension/synonym trigger variants.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

The lead verb is generic ('Provides digital forensics and signal analysis techniques') but it enumerates 18 concrete artifact types and actions ('analyzing disk images, memory dumps, event logs... or recovering deleted files and credentials'). This lists several specific capabilities with minor gaps, matching anchor 4 rather than 5 because the concreteness is an artifact list rather than comprehensive action coverage.

4 / 5

Completeness

Explicitly answers both: what ('Provides digital forensics and signal analysis techniques for CTF challenges') and when ('Use when analyzing disk images, memory dumps, event logs, network captures...'), with a long list of concrete trigger phrases. This clearly matches the anchor 5 example pattern and exceeds anchor 4, whose 'when' clause is flagged as needing more specificity.

5 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Includes many natural phrases users would say ('disk images', 'memory dumps', 'steganography', 'PCAP', 'Volatility', 'deleted files', 'credentials') plus esoteric triggers (DTMF audio spectrograms, CD audio disc images). Good keyword coverage but missing synonyms and file extensions ('.dd', '.evtx', 'file carving', 'memory forensics'), so it falls short of the comprehensive anchor 5.

4 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

Clear CTF forensics/signal-analysis niche with distinctive triggers (Volatility, PCAP, coredumps, side-channel power traces) unlikely to fire for unrelated skills. Minor overlap risk with closely related CTF skills (steganography vs. ctf-misc, recovered encrypted blobs vs. ctf-crypto), which the body's own pivot table acknowledges — anchor 4 rather than 5.

4 / 5

Total

17

/

20

Passed

Validation

87%

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

Validation — 14 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

CriteriaDescriptionResult

metadata_version

'metadata.version' is missing

Warning

relative_links

Relative link issues: 117 missing

Warning

Total

14

/

16

Passed

Repository

ljagiello/ctf-skills

Path

ctf-forensics/SKILL.md

Reviewed

Table of Contents

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