Overview
substrate-vulnerability-scanner is an open-source security skill for Claude Code and compatible agents, published by trailofbits. Its author describes it as: “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.”. The project has 6.6k stars on GitHub and is available under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license. Add it to your setup with `/plugin marketplace add trailofbits/skills`.
What substrate-vulnerability-scanner does
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.
What’s inside
The SKILL.md for substrate-vulnerability-scanner is organised into these sections:
- 1. Purpose
- 2. When to Use This Skill
- 3. Platform Detection
- File Extensions & Indicators
- Language/Framework Markers
- Project Structure
- Tool Support
- 4. How This Skill Works
- 5. Vulnerability Patterns (7 Critical Patterns)
- Pattern Summary:
- 6. Scanning Workflow
- Step 1: Platform Identification
Installation
Add substrate-vulnerability-scanner to your agent with:
/plugin marketplace add trailofbits/skillsReview a skill’s source before installing it — skills can instruct your agent to run commands. This command comes from the skill’s public repository, which is the source of truth for setup steps. New to skills? Read how to install Claude Code skills.
Supported agents
- Claude Code — ships a claude code plugin marketplace
License
substrate-vulnerability-scanner is published under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license.
Strengths
- Clear CC-BY-SA-4.0 license — safe to read and adapt within its terms
- Ships in trailofbits/skills, an established project with 6,646 GitHub stars
- Works with Claude Code
- Actively maintained — repository updated in the last 90 days
Author
Topics
Frequently asked questions
- What does substrate-vulnerability-scanner do?
- 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.
- How do I install substrate-vulnerability-scanner?
- Run /plugin marketplace add trailofbits/skills in your agent, then reload your skills. Review the source at https://github.com/trailofbits/skills before installing.
- Is substrate-vulnerability-scanner free to use?
- Yes. substrate-vulnerability-scanner is free and open source under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license, so you can read, run, and adapt it within that license's terms.
- Which agents does substrate-vulnerability-scanner work with?
- substrate-vulnerability-scanner lists Claude Code — named in its SKILL.md, its plugin marketplace or its repository topics. Skills use the portable SKILL.md format, so other agents that read that format may load it too.
- Where does substrate-vulnerability-scanner come from?
- substrate-vulnerability-scanner ships inside trailofbits/skills, a repository that contains 41 catalogued skills in total. The repository's 6,646 GitHub stars apply to that whole collection, not to this skill on its own.