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Rule Reference

SEC646lintai-ai-securitystablejsonwarn

Plugin hook: password file access

Plugin hook command accesses a sensitive system password file

Provider
lintai-ai-security
Surface
json
Scope
per_file
Tier
stable
Severity
warn
Confidence
high
Detection
structural
Remediation
message_only

Activation Model

Preset Membership

This rule is part of the builtin activation graph through these preset memberships.

basemembership
mcpmembership

Lifecycle

Stable Lifecycle Contract

State

stable_gated

Graduation rationale

Checks committed plugin hook command values for direct access to sensitive password and sudo policy files.

Deterministic signal basis

JsonSignals command-string path detection over ArtifactKind::CursorPluginHooks for `/etc/shadow`, `/etc/passwd`, `/etc/sudoers`, `/etc/gshadow`, or `/etc/master.passwd`.

Malicious corpus
plugin-hook-command-persistence-escalation
Benign corpus
plugin-hook-command-safe
structured evidence required remediation reviewed
Canonical note

Structural stable rule intended as a high-precision check with deterministic evidence.

Nearby Signals

Related Rules

SEC301MCP config: shell trampolineMCP configuration shells out through sh -c or bash -cjsonstable
SEC302Config: insecure HTTP endpointConfiguration contains an insecure http:// endpointjsonstable
SEC303MCP config: credential env passthroughMCP configuration passes through credential environment variablesjsonstable
SEC304Config: TLS verification disabledConfiguration disables TLS or certificate verificationjsonstable
SEC305Config: hardcoded auth materialConfiguration embeds static authentication material in a connection or auth valuejsonstable
SEC309Config: literal secrets in configConfiguration commits literal secret material in env, auth, or header valuesjsonstable

Why It Matters ​

A plugin hook that reads /etc/shadow-style files can expose host credential and privilege data to plugin-controlled execution paths.

What Triggers ​

SEC646 matches plugin hook command strings that directly reference /etc/shadow, /etc/passwd, /etc/sudoers, /etc/gshadow, or /etc/master.passwd.

False Positives ​

Dedicated admin plugins may intentionally inspect these files, but that remains a high-risk behavior in repository-shipped plugin hooks.

Remediation ​

Remove direct password-file access from the plugin hook, or move host-audit behavior into a separately reviewed administrative tool.