security-check

security-check

Knowledge/strategy skill for security alert triage. Classifies, prioritizes, and prescribes action. Does not open PRs or modify repos. For execution, use /security-runner.

Install via npx:

npx skills add fellowship-dev/dogfooded-skills/skills/ops/security-check

When to Use

• Before running /security-runner on a repo to understand what actions to expect
• When manually reviewing a batch of Dependabot/Snyk alerts
• When onboarding a new repo to the security triage pipeline
• Weekly cron alongside entropy-check for full health signal

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Classification Model

Two dimensions determine priority:

Dimension 1 — Severity (from CVE/advisory): critical | high | medium | low

Dimension 2 — Exploitability (from context): network-reachable | dev-only | test-only

• network-reachable: the vulnerable package is in a runtime dependency exposed to the internet
• dev-only: the package is a devDependency / build tool, not shipped to production
• test-only: only used in tests, never runs in production

Decision Matrix

                    | network-reachable | dev-only | test-only
--------------------+-------------------+----------+----------
critical            | P0 — patch now    | P1       | P2
high                | P1 — this week    | P2       | P2
medium              | P2 — batch next   | backlog  | dismiss
low                 | backlog           | dismiss  | dismiss

Action per Priority

Priority	Action	Label
P0	Open fix PR immediately; block deploys if no patch exists	security P0
P1	Open fix PR this week	security P1
P2	Create issue with upgrade path; batch in monthly cycle	security P2
Backlog	Create issue, no urgency	security
Dismiss	Dismiss via API with documented reason	—

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Auto-Patch Criteria

A patch is safe to auto-merge (open PR without manual review) when ALL of the following are true:

1. Patch-version bump only — e.g., 1.2.3 → 1.2.4. Minor or major bumps require manual review.
2. CVE is fixed in the patch — verify via the GitHub advisory or NVD entry.
3. No breaking changes — scan the package CHANGELOG for the target version range.
4. CI passes — the update must not break existing tests.

If any criterion fails → manual review required before merging.

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Merge Strategy Awareness

CRITICAL: Never auto-merge security patches on restricted repos.

Before opening or merging any PR, check the repo's merge_strategy in crew.yml:

MERGE_STRATEGY=$(cat crew.yml 2>/dev/null | grep merge_strategy | head -1 | awk '{print $2}')

merge_strategy	Action
auto-merge	Safe patches can be merged automatically after CI green
restricted	Apply label ready-to-merge; human reviews and merges manually
(missing/unknown)	Treat as restricted — fail safe

Example restricted repos: Lexgo. When in doubt, treat as restricted.

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Exploitability Detection

To determine network-reachability, inspect package.json (or equivalent):

# Node.js — check if the package is in dependencies vs devDependencies
cat package.json | python3 -c "
import sys, json
pkg = json.load(sys.stdin)
print('runtime:', list(pkg.get('dependencies', {}).keys()))
print('dev:', list(pkg.get('devDependencies', {}).keys()))
"

# Ruby — check Gemfile groups
grep -A5 'group :development\|group :test' Gemfile

# Python — check if package is in requirements.txt vs requirements-dev.txt
diff <(cat requirements.txt 2>/dev/null) <(cat requirements-dev.txt 2>/dev/null)

If the alert package appears in both runtime and dev — classify as network-reachable.

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OpenSSF Scorecard Integration

Attribution: ossf/scorecard by OpenSSF contributors (Apache 2.0). Run before building custom security grades — scorecard covers 18 security checks out of the box.

Run scorecard to supplement alert triage with repo-level security posture:

# Install (one-time)
go install sigs.k8s.io/scorecard/v4@latest

# Run against target repo
scorecard --repo github.com/{org}/{repo} --format json 2>/dev/null | \
  jq '.checks[] | {name: .name, score: .score, reason: .reason}' | \
  grep -E '"score": [0-7]'  # Surface low-scoring checks

Scores 0-10 per check. Checks to prioritize:

• Token-Permissions (< 7): workflows using excessive token scopes
• Branch-Protection (< 7): missing branch rules
• Dependency-Update-Tool (< 7): no Dependabot or Renovate configured
• Vulnerabilities (< 10): known CVEs in dependencies

Feed scorecard output into entropy-check grades — security score signals go into the D/F grade bucket.

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Cron Integration

Add to crew.yml for weekly automated triage:

cron:
  - schedule: "0 5 * * 1"   # Every Monday at 05:00
    task: "Weekly security triage: process open Dependabot/Snyk alerts on all active repos, open fix PRs for safe patches, create issues for breaking changes"

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Output Contract

After classifying a batch of alerts, produce a triage summary:

Security Triage: {org}/{repo}
Date: YYYY-MM-DD
Alerts scanned: N

P0 (patch now):    X alerts
P1 (this week):    Y alerts
P2 (batch next):   Z alerts
Backlog:           A alerts
Dismissed:         B alerts

Action required:
- [CRITICAL][net-reachable] lodash@4.17.20 → CVE-2021-23337 — patch to 4.17.21 (safe, patch-only)
- [HIGH][dev-only] webpack@4.46.0 → CVE-2023-28154 — P2, no runtime exposure

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Related Skills

• /security-runner — executes the triage: opens PRs, creates issues, dismisses via API
• /entropy-check — doc/architecture health; scorecard scores can feed into entropy grades
• Dependabot coverage (is Dependabot even configured?) is a repo setting to check directly; the maintenance skill was retired 2026-09-14
• /deps-runner — handles non-security dependency updates; follows same PR pattern