mcpbeat Sign in

Fp Check Agent Skill

Systematically verifies suspected security bugs to eliminate false positives, producing a TRUE POSITIVE or FALSE POSITIVE verdict with documented evidence for each. Use when asked whether a specific finding is real, exploitable, or a false positive, or to verify or validate a suspected vulnerability — not for hunting or discovering new bugs.

11k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
9
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
6417
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/trailofbits/skills --skill fp-check

The instruction itself

12 sections, as written by the author

False Positive Check

When to Use

  • "Is this bug real?" or "is this a true positive?"
  • "Is this a false positive?" or "verify this finding"
  • "Check if this vulnerability is exploitable"
  • Any request to verify or validate a specific suspected bug

When NOT to Use

  • Finding or hunting for bugs ("find bugs", "security analysis", "audit code")
  • General code review for style, performance, or maintainability
  • Feature development, refactoring, or non-security tasks
  • When the user explicitly asks for a quick scan without verification

Rationalizations to Reject

If you catch yourself thinking any of these, STOP.

| Rationalization | Why It's Wrong | Required Action |

|---|---|---|

| "Rapid analysis of remaining bugs" | Every bug gets full verification | Return to task list, verify next bug through all phases |

| "This pattern looks dangerous, so it's a vulnerability" | Pattern recognition is not analysis | Complete data flow tracing before any conclusion |

| "Skipping full verification for efficiency" | No partial analysis allowed | Execute all steps per the chosen verification path |

| "The code looks unsafe, reporting without tracing data flow" | Unsafe-looking code may have upstream validation | Trace the complete path from source to sink |

| "Similar code was vulnerable elsewhere" | Each context has different validation, callers, and protections | Verify this specific instance independently |

| "This is clearly critical" | LLMs are biased toward seeing bugs and overrating severity | Complete devil's advocate review; prove it with evidence |


Step 0: Understand the Claim and Context

Before any analysis, restate the bug in your own words. If you cannot do this clearly, ask the user for clarification. Half of false positives collapse at this step — the claim doesn't make coherent sense when restated precisely.

Document:

  • What is the exact vulnerability claim? (e.g., "heap buffer overflow in parse_header() when content_length exceeds 4096")
  • What is the alleged root cause? (e.g., "missing bounds check before memcpy at line 142")
  • What is the supposed trigger? (e.g., "attacker sends HTTP request with oversized Content-Length header")
  • What is the claimed impact? (e.g., "remote code execution via controlled heap corruption")
  • What is the threat model? What privilege level does this code run at? Is it sandboxed? What can the attacker already do before triggering this bug? (e.g., "unauthenticated remote attacker vs privileged local user"; "runs inside Chrome renderer sandbox" vs "runs as root with no sandbox")
  • What is the bug class? Classify the bug and consult bug-class-verification.md for class-specific verification requirements that supplement the generic phases below.
  • Execution context: When and how is this code path reached during normal execution?
  • Caller analysis: What functions call this code and what input constraints do they impose?
  • Architectural context: Is this part of a larger security system with multiple protection layers?
  • Historical context: Any recent changes, known issues, or previous security reviews of this code area?

Route: Standard vs Deep Verification

After Step 0, choose a verification path.

Standard Verification

Use when ALL of these hold:

  • Clear, specific vulnerability claim (not vague or ambiguous)
  • Single component — no cross-component interaction in the bug path
  • Well-understood bug class (buffer overflow, SQL injection, XSS, integer overflow, etc.)
  • No concurrency or async involved in the trigger
  • Straightforward data flow from source to sink

Follow standard-verification.md. No task tracking — work through the linear checklist sequentially, documenting findings inline.

Deep Verification

Use when ANY of these hold:

  • Ambiguous claim that could be interpreted multiple ways
  • Cross-component bug path (data flows through 3+ modules or services)
  • Race conditions, TOCTOU, or concurrency in the trigger mechanism
  • Logic bugs without a clear spec to verify against
  • Standard verification was inconclusive or escalated
  • User explicitly requests full verification

Follow deep-verification.md. Track each phase as a task with explicit dependencies, and execute the phases using the plugin's analysis agents.

Default

Start with standard. Standard verification has two built-in escalation checkpoints that route to deep when complexity exceeds the linear checklist.

Batch Triage

When verifying multiple bugs at once:

  • Run Step 0 for all bugs first — restating each claim often collapses obvious false positives immediately
  • Route each bug independently (some may be standard, others deep)
  • Process all standard-routed bugs first, then deep-routed bugs
  • After all bugs are verified, check for exploit chains — findings that individually failed gate review may combine to form a viable attack

Final Summary

After processing ALL suspected bugs, provide:

  • Counts: X TRUE POSITIVES, Y FALSE POSITIVES
  • TRUE POSITIVE list: Each with brief vulnerability description
  • FALSE POSITIVE list: Each with brief reason for rejection

References

  • Standard Verification — Linear single-pass checklist for straightforward bugs
  • Deep Verification — Full task-based orchestration for complex bugs
  • Gate Reviews — Six mandatory gates and verdict format
  • Bug-Class Verification — Class-specific verification requirements for memory corruption, logic bugs, race conditions, integer issues, crypto, injection, info disclosure, DoS, and deserialization
  • False Positive Patterns — 13-item checklist and red flags for common false positive patterns
  • Evidence Templates — Documentation templates for data flow, mathematical proofs, attacker control, and devil's advocate reviews

Other skills for the same job

different authors, same section of the catalogue
Backend Security Coder
by ComeOnOliver
×2

Expert in secure backend coding practices specializing in input validation, authentication, and API security. Use PROACTIVELY for backend security implementations or security code reviews.

5k tokens
Cloud Penetration Testing
by ComeOnOliver
×2

This skill should be used when the user asks to "perform cloud penetration testing", "assess Azure or AWS or GCP security", "enumerate cloud resources", "exploit cloud misconfigurations", "test O365 security", "extract secrets from cloud environments", or "audit cloud infrastructure". It provides comprehensive techniques for security assessment across major cloud platforms.

16k tokens
Codebase Cleanup Deps Audit
by ComeOnOliver
×2

You are a dependency security expert specializing in vulnerability scanning, license compliance, and supply chain security. Analyze project dependencies for known vulnerabilities, licensing issues, outdated packages, and provide actionable remediation strategies.

10k tokens
Flow Nexus Platform
by ComeOnOliver
×2

Comprehensive Flow Nexus platform management - authentication, sandboxes, app deployment, payments, and challenges

14k tokens
Linux Privilege Escalation
by ComeOnOliver
×2

This skill should be used when the user asks to "escalate privileges on Linux", "find privesc vectors on Linux systems", "exploit sudo misconfigurations", "abuse SUID binaries", "exploit cron jobs for root access", "enumerate Linux systems for privilege escalation", or "gain root access from low-privilege shell". It provides comprehensive techniques for identifying and exploiting privilege escalation paths on Linux systems.

8k tokens
Malware Analyst
by ComeOnOliver
×2

Expert malware analyst specializing in defensive malware research, threat intelligence, and incident response. Masters sandbox analysis, behavioral analysis, and malware family identification. Handles static/dynamic analysis, unpacking, and IOC extraction. Use PROACTIVELY for malware triage, threat hunting, incident response, or security research.

4k tokens
Metasploit Framework
by ComeOnOliver
×2

This skill should be used when the user asks to "use Metasploit for penetration testing", "exploit vulnerabilities with msfconsole", "create payloads with msfvenom", "perform post-exploitation", "use auxiliary modules for scanning", or "develop custom exploits". It provides comprehensive guidance for leveraging the Metasploit Framework in security assessments.

7k tokens
Mobile Security Coder
by ComeOnOliver
×2

Expert in secure mobile coding practices specializing in input validation, WebView security, and mobile-specific security patterns. Use PROACTIVELY for mobile security implementations or mobile security code reviews.

6k tokens

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take trailofbits/fp-check from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.