Tracing Transitive Vulnerabilities

What it does

When your agent uses it

• : a multi-finding audit produces noise and you need to prioritize
• Planning a major dependency refresh
• After an upstream package compromise hits your tree (e.g
• With: trace transitive vulns

Example prompts

• “trace transitive vulns”
• “find dep paths”
• “SBOM vuln trace”
• “/tracing-transitive-vulnerabilities”

Requirements

• Python 3
• Node.js
• Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Designed for Claude Code
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Bash(npm:*), Bash(pip:*), Bash(pip-audit:*), Bash(python3:*), Bash(pipdeptree:*), Glob

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

1. 1Identify the scan target
2. 2Acquire audit data
3. 3Walk the graph
4. 4Triage by leverage
5. 5Plan the upgrades

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit cfae287. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Read
  • Bash(npm:*)
  • Bash(pip:*)
  • Bash(pip-audit:*)
  • Bash(python3:*)
  • Bash(pipdeptree:*)
  • Glob

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Ships 1 file in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • python3
  • pip
  • npm
  • jq

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use pip and npm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

• Compatibility

  Designed for Claude Code

  From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Tracing Transitive Vulnerabilities loads about 2.2k tokens when it runs, and up to ~5.4k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 257 tokens; SKILL.md has 834 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~257

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2.2k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~5.4k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

• NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:33

  - Write(.env)

• NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:34

  - Edit(.env)

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace at commit cfae287, republished under its MIT licence (© jeremylongshore). 834 words, ~2,168 tokens.

name

tracing-transitive-vulnerabilities

description

Build a dependency-tree map of a project (npm or Python) and trace the path from each known-vulnerable transitive package back to one or more direct dependencies. Identifies which direct-dep bump would clear the most findings at once (highest-leverage upgrade), which vulnerabilities are unreachable through any version bump and require overrides or vendor-patch, and which CVEs sit at deep transitive depth (3+ levels from a direct dep) where blast-radius triage is hardest. Use when: a multi-finding audit produces noise and you need to prioritize, when planning a major dependency refresh, after an upstream package compromise hits your tree (e.g. event-stream flatmap-stream), or when an audit shows findings that automated fix commands cannot auto-resolve. Threshold: any HIGH or CRITICAL CVE reachable only through transitive paths that no single direct-dep bump can clear. Trigger with: "trace transitive vulns", "find dep paths", "SBOM vuln trace", "which direct dep pulls this CVE".

allowed-tools

Read, Bash(npm:*), Bash(pip:*), Bash(pip-audit:*), Bash(python3:*), Bash(pipdeptree:*), Glob

compatibility

Designed for Claude Code

disallowed-tools

Bash(rm:*), Bash(curl:*), Bash(wget:*), Write(.env), Edit(.env), Bash(npm install:*), Bash(pip install:*)

version

3.30.0

author

Jeremy Longshore <jeremy@intentsolutions.io>

license

MIT

tags

security, sbom, transitive-dependency, dependency-graph, pentest

# Self-running mode
python3 ./scripts/trace_vulns.py /path/to/project

# Pre-produced mode (faster on re-runs)
python3 plugins/security/penetration-tester/skills/auditing-npm-dependencies/scripts/audit_npm.py \
    /path/to/project --format json --output /tmp/audit.json
python3 ./scripts/trace_vulns.py /path/to/project --audit-input /tmp/audit.json

# Run base audit
python3 plugins/security/penetration-tester/skills/auditing-npm-dependencies/scripts/audit_npm.py \
    . --format json --output /tmp/npm-audit.json

# Trace
python3 ./scripts/trace_vulns.py . --audit-input /tmp/npm-audit.json \
    --format markdown --output /tmp/trace.md

python3 ./scripts/trace_vulns.py . --format json --leverage-only \
    | jq '.[] | select(.cve_count >= 3)'

python3 ./scripts/trace_vulns.py . --min-depth 3 --format markdown \
    --output deep-trace.md

© jeremylongshore, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 3 other files (scripts, references) in skills/.curated/tracing-transitive-vulnerabilities of jeremylongshore/tons-of-skills-marketplace.

• SKILL.md
• references/PLAYBOOK.md
• references/THEORY.md
• scripts/trace_vulns.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit cfae287