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Security40k · #5363

security-review

Teaches your AI agent to review code like a senior developer and protect apps against attacks.

What it does

Scans your code for security flaws, like exposed passwords or vulnerabilities that hackers could use to break into systems. It analyzes the code like a security expert would.

When to use it

  • ✓When you want to ensure your code is secure.
  • ✓If you suspect sensitive information (like passwords) is in the code.
  • ✓To check for known flaws that could be exploited.

Example of what to ask your AI

“Scan my code for security vulnerabilities.”

Want more? Open the sections below.

How to use

The easiest way: copy the message below and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any AI. It reads the skill and follows the instructions.

Skill link

https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot/blob/main/skills/security-review/SKILL.md

Ready-to-paste message

Use this skill to help me: https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot/blob/main/skills/security-review/SKILL.md Read the SKILL.md file at that link and follow its instructions for my task.
How it works

It reads your code, understands how information moves within it, and looks for weak spots. It then suggests fixes and shows how serious each issue found is.

Installation

Easiest way: copy the skill link and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor asking it to follow the instructions.

In the terminal (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor), in your project folder:

npx skills add github/awesome-copilot --skill security-review

Or download just the file:

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/awesome-copilot/main/skills/security-review/SKILL.md -o SKILL.md
Technical content (original SKILL.md)

Original text by the author, straight from GitHub.

Security Review

An AI-powered security scanner that reasons about your codebase the way a human security researcher would — tracing data flows, understanding component interactions, and catching vulnerabilities that pattern-matching tools miss.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when the request involves:

  • Scanning a codebase or file for security vulnerabilities
  • Running a security review or vulnerability check
  • Checking for SQL injection, XSS, command injection, or other injection flaws
  • Finding exposed API keys, hardcoded secrets, or credentials in code
  • Auditing dependencies for known CVEs
  • Reviewing authentication, authorization, or access control logic
  • Detecting insecure cryptography or weak randomness
  • Performing a data flow analysis to trace user input to dangerous sinks
  • Any request phrasing like "is my code secure?", "scan this file", or "check my repo for vulnerabilities"
  • Running /security-review or /security-review <path>

How This Skill Works

Unlike traditional static analysis tools that match patterns, this skill:

  1. Reads code like a security researcher — understanding context, intent, and data flow
  2. Traces across files — following how user input moves through your application
  3. Self-verifies findings — re-examines each result to filter false positives
  4. Assigns severity ratings — CRITICAL / HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW / INFO
  5. Proposes targeted patches — every finding includes a concrete fix
  6. Requires human approval — nothing is auto-applied; you always review first

Execution Workflow

Follow these steps in order every time:

Step 1 — Scope Resolution

Determine what to scan:

  • If a path was provided (/security-review src/auth/), scan only that scope
  • If no path given, scan the entire project starting from the root
  • Identify the language(s) and framework(s) in use (check package.json, requirements.txt, go.mod, Cargo.toml, pom.xml, Gemfile, composer.json, etc.)
  • Read references/language-patterns.md to load language-specific vulnerability patterns

Step 2 — Dependency Audit

Before scanning source code, audit dependencies first (fast wins):

  • Node.js: Check package.json + package-lock.json for known vulnerable packages
  • Python: Check requirements.txt / pyproject.toml / Pipfile
  • Java: Check pom.xml / build.gradle
  • Ruby: Check Gemfile.lock
  • Rust: Check Cargo.toml
  • Go: Check go.sum
  • Flag packages with known CVEs, deprecated crypto libs, or suspiciously old pinned versions
  • Read references/vulnerable-packages.md for a curated watchlist

Step 3 — Secrets & Exposure Scan

Scan ALL files (including config, env, CI/CD, Dockerfiles, IaC) for:

  • Hardcoded API keys, tokens, passwords, private keys
  • .env files accidentally committed
  • Secrets in comments or debug logs
  • Cloud credentials (AWS, GCP, Azure, Stripe, Twilio, etc.)
  • Database connection strings with credentials embedded
  • Read references/secret-patterns.md for regex patterns and entropy heuristics to apply

Step 4 — Vulnerability Deep Scan

This is the core scan. Reason about the code — don't just pattern-match. Read references/vuln-categories.md for full details on each category.

Injection Flaws

  • SQL Injection: raw queries with string interpolation, ORM misuse, second-order SQLi
  • XSS: unescaped output, dangerouslySetInnerHTML, innerHTML, template injection
  • Command Injection: exec/spawn/system with user input
  • LDAP, XPath, Header, Log injection

Authentication & Access Control

  • Missing authentication on sensitive endpoints
  • Broken object-level authorization (BOLA/IDOR)
  • JWT weaknesses (alg:none, weak secrets, no expiry validation)
  • Session fixation, missing CSRF protection
  • Privilege escalation paths
  • Mass assignment / parameter pollution

Data Handling

  • Sensitive data in logs, error messages, or API responses
  • Missing encryption at rest or in transit
  • Insecure deserialization
  • Path traversal / directory traversal
  • XXE (XML External Entity) processing
  • SSRF (Server-Side Request Forgery)

Cryptography

  • Use of MD5, SHA1, DES for security purposes
  • Hardcoded IVs or salts
  • Weak random number generation (Math.random() for tokens)
  • Missing TLS certificate validation

Business Logic

  • Race conditions (TOCTOU)
  • Integer overflow in financial calculations
  • Missing rate limiting on sensitive endpoints
  • Predictable resource identifiers

…

FAQ

What are security vulnerabilities?

These are flaws in code that malicious actors can use to access information, damage systems, or gain unauthorized control.

What are injections (SQL injection, XSS)?

These are types of attacks where an attacker inserts malicious commands into data that the program processes, causing it to execute unintended actions.

What are exposed secrets (API keys, passwords)?

These are authentication details (like access keys or passwords) that have been written directly into the code, making them easy for anyone viewing the code to find and use.

Details

Original description by the author

AI-powered codebase security scanner that reasons about code like a security researcher — tracing data flows, understanding component interactions, and catching vulnerabilities that pattern-matching tools miss. Use this skill when asked to scan code for security vulnerabilities, find bugs, check for SQL injection, XSS, command injection, exposed API keys, hardcoded secrets, insecure dependencies,

repo: github/awesome-copilot

Popularity

GitHub stars
40k
Ranking position
#5363
License
MIT
Updated
10/15/2026

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