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Quarantine System

When Skillsmith detects potential security issues in a skill, it places the skill in quarantine to protect your environment. This page explains how the quarantine system works and what to do if you encounter a quarantined skill.

What is Quarantine?

Quarantine is a protective system that isolates skills with potential security issues. When a skill is quarantined, it cannot be installed until it has been reviewed or the issues have been resolved.

The quarantine system exists to protect you from:

  • Malicious code that could harm your system
  • Prompt injection attacks that could manipulate Claude
  • Skills that access sensitive files without authorization
  • Low-quality skills that may cause unexpected behavior

Quarantine Severity Levels

Quarantined skills are assigned one of four severity levels, each with different implications:

MALICIOUS Level 4

Permanent quarantine — security threat detected

  • Cannot be installed under any circumstances
  • Requires security team review
  • Author may be banned from the registry

Example: Skill contains jailbreak patterns or known malicious code

SUSPICIOUS Level 3

Manual review required before import allowed

  • Installation blocked until review completes
  • Security team evaluates within 24-48 hours
  • May be approved, rejected, or downgraded

Example: Skill accesses sensitive files without clear justification

RISKY Level 2

Can import with warnings displayed

  • Installation allowed with explicit confirmation
  • Warning message explains detected risks
  • User assumes responsibility

Example: Skill references external URLs not on the allowlist

LOW_QUALITY Level 1

Can import with reduced quality score

  • Installation allowed normally
  • Quality score is reduced in search results
  • May indicate incomplete or outdated skill

Example: Skill missing required metadata or documentation

What Triggers Quarantine

Skills can be quarantined for several reasons:

Trigger Typical Severity Description
Failed security scan SUSPICIOUS or MALICIOUS Security scan detected critical or high-severity patterns
User reports SUSPICIOUS Multiple users reported suspicious behavior
Blocklist match MALICIOUS Skill matches known malicious patterns or authors
Anomaly detection SUSPICIOUS Sudden behavior change in previously trusted skill
Missing metadata LOW_QUALITY Required fields missing from SKILL.md

User Experience

When Installing a Quarantined Skill

If you try to install a quarantined skill, you'll see different messages depending on severity:

MALICIOUS Skills

Error: This skill has been quarantined for security reasons and cannot be installed.
Reason: Security threat detected - jailbreak patterns found
For more information, visit skillsmith.app/docs/quarantine

SUSPICIOUS Skills

Warning: This skill is under review and cannot be installed yet.
Reason: Accesses sensitive file patterns
Review status: Pending (estimated 24-48 hours)
You will be notified when the review is complete.

RISKY Skills

Warning: This skill has been flagged for the following risks:
- References external domain: api.example.com
- Contains high-entropy content (possible obfuscation)

Do you want to proceed with installation? (y/N)

Checking Quarantine Status

You can check if a skill is quarantined before installing:

# Using the CLI
skillsmith info <skill-id>

# Response includes quarantine status
{
  "id": "community/suspicious-skill",
  "quarantineStatus": {
    "quarantined": true,
    "severity": "SUSPICIOUS",
    "reason": "Accesses sensitive file patterns",
    "reviewStatus": "pending"
  }
}

For Skill Authors

Checking If Your Skill Is Quarantined

Authors can check their skill's quarantine status:

skillsmith info <your-skill-id>
# Or via the MCP server
"Check the status of my-skill-name"

Resolution Process

If your skill is quarantined, follow these steps to resolve it:

  1. Review the findings: Check the quarantine reason to understand what triggered it
  2. Fix the issues: Update your skill to address the security concerns
    • Remove or justify external URL references
    • Avoid accessing sensitive file patterns
    • Remove any code that could be misinterpreted as malicious
  3. Push updates: Commit your changes to the skill repository
  4. Request re-scan: The skill will be automatically re-scanned on the next index cycle (typically within 24 hours)
  5. Wait for review: For SUSPICIOUS or MALICIOUS severity, manual review is required even after fixes

Appeal Process

If you believe your skill was incorrectly quarantined (false positive):

  1. Document your case: Explain why the flagged patterns are legitimate and necessary
  2. Open an issue: Create an issue at GitHub with label quarantine-appeal
  3. Include evidence: Provide the skill ID, quarantine reason, and your justification
  4. Await response: Appeals are typically reviewed within 2-5 business days

Review Timeline

Severity Initial Triage Full Review Appeal Resolution
MALICIOUS 24 hours 3-5 days 5-10 days
SUSPICIOUS 24-48 hours 2-5 days 3-7 days
RISKY Automatic N/A 1-3 days
LOW_QUALITY Automatic N/A 1-2 days

Preventing Quarantine

To avoid having your skill quarantined:

  • Follow the security best practices for authors
  • Run skillsmith validate locally before publishing
  • Avoid external URLs unless absolutely necessary
  • Never access sensitive files (.env, credentials, keys)
  • Include complete metadata in your SKILL.md
  • Submit for verification to get the Verified badge

Related Documentation