Skills

Substrate Vulnerability Scanner

Scans Substrate/Polkadot pallets for 7 critical vulnerabilities including arithmetic...

Install

npx skills add trailofbits/skills --skill substrate-vulnerability-scanner -g -a claude-code -y
Repository
trailofbits/skills7.9k
Category
Security
Updated
7d ago
License
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Context cost
Mediumabout 3,000 tokens
Runs scripts
No, instructions only

What it does

Scans Substrate/Polkadot pallets for 7 critical vulnerabilities including arithmetic overflow, panic DoS, incorrect weights, and bad origin checks. Use when auditing Substrate runtimes or FRAME pallets.

Substrate Vulnerability Scanner

1. Purpose

Systematically scan Substrate runtime modules (pallets) for platform-specific security vulnerabilities that can cause node crashes, DoS attacks, or unauthorized access. This skill encodes 7 critical vulnerability patterns unique to Substrate/FRAME-based chains.

2. When to Use This Skill

  • Auditing custom Substrate pallets
  • Reviewing FRAME runtime code
  • Pre-launch security assessment of Substrate chains (Polkadot parachains, standalone chains)
  • Validating dispatchable extrinsic functions
  • Reviewing weight calculation functions
  • Assessing unsigned transaction validation logic

3. Platform Detection

File Extensions & Indicators

  • Rust files: .rs

Language/Framework Markers

// Substrate/FRAME indicators
#[pallet]
pub mod pallet {
    use frame_support::pallet_prelude::*;
    use frame_system::pallet_prelude::*;

    #[pallet::config]
    pub trait Config: frame_system::Config { }

    #[pallet::call]
    impl<T: Config> Pallet<T> {
        #[pallet::weight(10_000)]
        pub fn example_function(origin: OriginFor<T>) -> DispatchResult { }
    }
}

// Common patterns
DispatchResult, DispatchError
ensure!, ensure_signed, ensure_root
StorageValue, StorageMap, StorageDoubleMap
#[pallet::storage]
#[pallet::call]
#[pallet::weight]
#[pallet::validate_unsigned]

Project Structure

  • pallets/*/lib.rs - Pallet implementations
  • runtime/lib.rs - Runtime configuration
  • benchmarking.rs - Weight benchmarks
  • Cargo.toml with frame-* dependencies

Tool Support

  • cargo-fuzz: Fuzz testing for Rust
  • test-fuzz: Property-based testing framework
  • benchmarking framework: Built-in weight calculation
  • try-runtime: Runtime migration testing

4. How This Skill Works

When invoked, I will:

Read the whole SKILL.md on GitHub

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