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Rule Reference

SEC634lintai-ai-securitythreat-reviewsecuritystablehookdeny

Hook script: password file access

Hook script accesses a sensitive system password file

Public lane
threat-review
Category
security
Provider
lintai-ai-security
Scope
per-file
Surface
hook
Tier
stable
Severity
deny
Confidence
high
Detection
structural
Remediation
message only
How to read this lane

Explicit malicious, secret-bearing, or spyware-like review.

How to read this category

Strong exploit, secret, or unsafe-execution signal.

Activation Model

Preset Activation

These presets explain where this rule appears in the product experience.

threat-reviewsidecar lane

Lifecycle

Stable Lifecycle Contract

State

stable

Graduation rationale

Matches direct access to sensitive password and sudo policy files in executable hook lines.

Deterministic signal basis

HookSignals path detection over non-comment hook lines for `/etc/shadow`, `/etc/passwd`, `/etc/sudoers`, `/etc/gshadow`, or `/etc/master.passwd`.

Malicious corpus
hook-persistence-escalation
Benign corpus
cursor-plugin-clean-basic
structured evidence required remediation reviewed
Canonical note

Structural stable rule positioned as an explicit threat-review control: high-signal malicious, credential-bearing, or spyware-like behavior that stays opt-in rather than shaping the quiet default.

Nearby Signals

Related Rules

SEC201Hook script: remote code executionHook script downloads remote code and executes itthreat-reviewsecurityhook
SEC202Hook script: secret exfiltrationHook script appears to exfiltrate secrets through a network callthreat-reviewsecurityhook
SEC203Hook script: insecure HTTP secret sendHook script sends secret material to an insecure http:// endpointthreat-reviewsecurityhook
SEC204Hook script: TLS verification disabledHook script disables TLS or certificate verification for a network callthreat-reviewsecurityhook
SEC205Hook script: hardcoded auth in network callHook script embeds static authentication material in a network callthreat-reviewsecurityhook
SEC206Hook script: base64 payload executionHook script decodes a base64 payload and executes itthreat-reviewsecurityhook

Why It Matters ​

Reading files such as /etc/shadow or /etc/sudoers from a hook exposes host credential and privilege data to repository-controlled automation.

What Triggers ​

SEC634 matches executable hook lines that directly reference sensitive system password or privilege files, including /etc/shadow, /etc/passwd, /etc/sudoers, /etc/gshadow, and /etc/master.passwd.

False Positives ​

Legitimate host-auditing tools can touch these files, but that is still high-risk in shared hook scripts because the repository is gaining visibility into host authentication data.

Remediation ​

Remove direct access to system password files from the hook. Keep hook behavior scoped to project-local files or move any host-audit workflow into a separately reviewed admin tool.