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Rule Reference

SEC647lintai-ai-securitystablejsonwarn

Plugin hook: shell profile write

Plugin hook command writes to a shell profile startup 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 explicit writes to shell startup profile files.

Deterministic signal basis

JsonSignals command-string analysis over ArtifactKind::CursorPluginHooks using redirection-or-tee targeting of `.bashrc`, `.bash_profile`, `.zshrc`, or `.profile`.

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 edits shell startup files can create persistence on the host and alter later terminal sessions outside the repository workflow.

What Triggers ​

SEC647 matches plugin hook command strings that write to .bashrc, .bash_profile, .zshrc, or .profile through redirection or tee.

False Positives ​

Dotfile-management plugins are the main edge case, but silent startup-file mutation in generic plugin hooks is still risky enough to review.

Remediation ​

Remove the shell-profile write from the hook. Prefer repo-local state, or require an explicit reviewed install step for host shell configuration changes.