analyzing-linux-system-artifacts

analyzing-linux-system-artifacts is a skill for Claude Code from mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills. It costs 79 tokens per session (4,135 once invoked), scanned A, original, Apache-2.0.

A guide for examining Linux system records and settings, including login logs, shell history, scheduled jobs, services, SSH keys, and configuration files.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it during incident response to collect evidence, trace activity, find cron or systemd persistence, detect backdoors and rootkits, and identify unauthorized changes.
Why use it?
It helps determine how a Linux server or workstation was compromised, what users or attackers did, and how unauthorized access may persist.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: shipped in a Claude Code plugin. Also seen: positional $N argument.

Part of the cybersecurity-skills plugin — 56 skills shipped together

Good fit Use it during incident response to collect evidence, trace activity, find cron or systemd persistence, detect backdoors and rootkits, and identify unauthorized changes.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/analyzing-linux-system-artifacts
About the project

Anthropic Cybersecurity Skills is a library of structured cybersecurity procedures for AI agents, covering security domains and mappings to established security frameworks. It is for authorized security analysis, penetration testing, incident response, research, defense, and education across compatible AI platforms. The catalogue entries package parts of this library as agent skills, instructions, or a plugin.

mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills · 32,541 stars · on GitHub · mahipal.engineer

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills --skill analyzing-linux-system-artifacts
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install cybersecurity-skills, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 56 skills.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for analyzing-linux-system-artifacts

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/analyzing-linux-system-artifacts/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/analyzing-linux-system-artifacts)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/analyzing-linux-system-artifacts"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/analyzing-linux-system-artifacts/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for analyzing-linux-system-artifacts

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/analyzing-linux-system-artifacts"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/analyzing-linux-system-artifacts.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 79 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 4,135 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe. ✓ AI security review Sonnet 5 · 6 Sept 2026 📄 Read the review Third-party audits
  • Socket pass 6 Apr 2026
  • Snyk fail 6 Apr 2026
  • NVIDIA SkillSpector warn 7 Sept 2026
SkillSpector: 12 findings, up to high

These are SkillSpector’s own severities. On a checked sample its high-severity flags on skills were ~96% false positives — a documented command, a public API, a “never do X” rule — so we show them as a caution to read, not a verdict. Why →

  • high Privilege Escalation · line 89
    Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.
    Fix: Remove references to credential paths. Use environment variables or secrets managers. For docs, use placeholder paths (e.g., /path/to/config). Never load .env or token files in production code paths.
  • high Privilege Escalation · line 106
    Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.
    Fix: Remove references to credential paths. Use environment variables or secrets managers. For docs, use placeholder paths (e.g., /path/to/config). Never load .env or token files in production code paths.
  • high Privilege Escalation · line 90
    Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.
    Fix: Remove references to credential paths. Use environment variables or secrets managers. For docs, use placeholder paths (e.g., /path/to/config). Never load .env or token files in production code paths.
  • high Privilege Escalation · line 125
    Code accesses credential files (SSH keys, AWS credentials, etc.). This could indicate credential theft attempts.
    Fix: Remove references to credential paths. Use environment variables or secrets managers. For docs, use placeholder paths (e.g., /path/to/config). Never load .env or token files in production code paths.
  • high YARA Match · line 156
    YARA rule matched a known malware signature (reverse shell, backdoor, ransomware, C2 framework, or info stealer).
    Fix: Remove the malware payload or compromised file entirely. Investigate how it entered the skill and audit all other artifacts for additional indicators of compromise.
  • high Tool Misuse · line 207
    Tool parameters are crafted to achieve unintended or unsafe behavior. Parameter abuse can bypass intended safety checks (e.g. shell=True, --force, dangerous glob patterns).
    Fix: Validate all tool parameters against an allowlist. Reject dangerous parameter values (shell=True, --force, -rf /) and use safe defaults.
  • high Tool Misuse · line 209
    Tool parameters are crafted to achieve unintended or unsafe behavior. Parameter abuse can bypass intended safety checks (e.g. shell=True, --force, dangerous glob patterns).
    Fix: Validate all tool parameters against an allowlist. Reject dangerous parameter values (shell=True, --force, -rf /) and use safe defaults.
  • high Tool Misuse · line 209
    Tool parameters are crafted to achieve unintended or unsafe behavior. Parameter abuse can bypass intended safety checks (e.g. shell=True, --force, dangerous glob patterns).
    Fix: Validate all tool parameters against an allowlist. Reject dangerous parameter values (shell=True, --force, -rf /) and use safe defaults.
  • medium Privilege Escalation · line 207
    Commands invoke sudo or root privileges. Verify this elevated access is necessary and justified.
    Fix: Avoid sudo/root unless strictly required. Prefer least-privilege patterns. If elevation is needed, document the justification and scope.
  • medium Privilege Escalation · line 207
    Commands invoke sudo or root privileges. Verify this elevated access is necessary and justified.
    Fix: Avoid sudo/root unless strictly required. Prefer least-privilege patterns. If elevation is needed, document the justification and scope.
  • medium Rogue Agent · line 210
    Skill establishes unauthorized persistence across sessions via cron jobs, startup scripts, or state files. Session persistence allows an attacker to maintain access beyond the current interaction.
    Fix: Remove any persistence mechanisms (cron jobs, startup scripts, state files). Skills should not maintain state across sessions without explicit user consent.
  • medium Privilege Escalation · line 324
    Commands invoke sudo or root privileges. Verify this elevated access is necessary and justified.
    Fix: Avoid sudo/root unless strictly required. Prefer least-privilege patterns. If elevation is needed, document the justification and scope.
How audits are shown
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00079 $0.04135
Opus 5 $0.00039 $0.02067
Sonnet 5 $0.00016 $0.00827
Haiku 4.5 $0.00008 $0.00413

Measured 10d ago against content hash 6e8d44dc4f4a, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-10, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

analyzing-linux-system-artifacts scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 10d ago.

The scan reads SKILL.md. This mod also ships 1 executable file (scripts/agent.py), listed below but not scanned — reading those needs a real analyzer, not pattern matching.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

Copies of this mod

7 near-identical copies found in the catalogue:

skills/analyzing-linux-system-artifacts/SKILL.md · 340 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 340 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Analyzing Linux System Artifacts

When to Use

  • When investigating a compromised Linux server or workstation
  • For identifying persistence mechanisms (cron, systemd, SSH keys)
  • When tracing user activity through shell history and authentication logs
  • During incident response to determine the scope of a Linux-based breach
  • For detecting rootkits, backdoors, and unauthorized modifications

Prerequisites

  • Forensic image or live access to the Linux system (read-only)
  • Understanding of Linux file system hierarchy (FHS)
  • Knowledge of common Linux logging locations (/var/log/)
  • Tools: chkrootkit, rkhunter, AIDE, auditd logs
  • Familiarity with systemd, cron, and PAM configurations
  • Root access for complete artifact collection

Workflow

Step 1: Mount and Collect System Artifacts

# Mount forensic image read-only
mount -o ro,loop,offset=$((2048*512)) /cases/case-2024-001/images/linux_evidence.dd /mnt/evidence

# Create collection directories
mkdir -p /cases/case-2024-001/linux/{logs,config,users,persistence,network}

# Collect authentication logs
cp /mnt/evidence/var/log/auth.log* /cases/case-2024-001/linux/logs/
cp /mnt/evidence/var/log/secure* /cases/case-2024-001/linux/logs/
cp /mnt/evidence/var/log/syslog* /cases/case-2024-001/linux/logs/
cp /mnt/evidence/var/log/kern.log* /cases/case-2024-001/linux/logs/
cp /mnt/evidence/var/log/audit/audit.log* /cases/case-2024-001/linux/logs/
cp /mnt/evidence/var/log/wtmp /cases/case-2024-001/linux/logs/
cp /mnt/evidence/var/log/btmp /cases/case-2024-001/linux/logs/
cp /mnt/evidence/var/log/lastlog /cases/case-2024-001/linux/logs/
cp /mnt/evidence/var/log/faillog /cases/case-2024-001/linux/logs/

# Collect user artifacts
for user_dir in /mnt/evidence/home/*/; do
    username=$(basename "$user_dir")
    mkdir -p /cases/case-2024-001/linux/users/$username
    cp "$user_dir"/.bash_history /cases/case-2024-001/linux/users/$username/ 2>/dev/null
    cp "$user_dir"/.zsh_history /cases/case-2024-001/linux/users/$username/ 2>/dev/null
    cp -r "$user_dir"/.ssh/ /cases/case-2024-001/linux/users/$username/ 2>/dev/null
    cp "$user_dir"/.bashrc /cases/case-2024-001/linux/users/$username/ 2>/dev/null
    cp "$user_dir"/.profile /cases/case-2024-001/linux/users/$username/ 2>/dev/null
    cp "$user_dir"/.viminfo /cases/case-2024-001/linux/users/$username/ 2>/dev/null
    cp "$user_dir"/.wget-hsts /cases/case-2024-001/linux/users/$username/ 2>/dev/null
    cp "$user_dir"/.python_history /cases/case-2024-001/linux/users/$username/ 2>/dev/null
done

# Collect root user artifacts
cp /mnt/evidence/root/.bash_history /cases/case-2024-001/linux/users/root/ 2>/dev/null
cp -r /mnt/evidence/root/.ssh/ /cases/case-2024-001/linux/users/root/ 2>/dev/null

# Collect system configuration
cp /mnt/evidence/etc/passwd /cases/case-2024-001/linux/config/
cp /mnt/evidence/etc/shadow /cases/case-2024-001/linux/config/
cp /mnt/evidence/etc/group /cases/case-2024-001/linux/config/
cp /mnt/evidence/etc/sudoers /cases/case-2024-001/linux/config/
cp -r /mnt/evidence/etc/sudoers.d/ /cases/case-2024-001/linux/config/
cp /mnt/evidence/etc/hosts /cases/case-2024-001/linux/config/
cp /mnt/evidence/etc/resolv.conf /cases/case-2024-001/linux/config/
cp -r /mnt/evidence/etc/ssh/ /cases/case-2024-001/linux/config/

Read the full file on GitHub · 340 lines

Files

What ships with it

3 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 10d ago First seen · 340 lines · 79 tokens per session scan E 6e8d44dc4f4a

Subscribe to this mod's changes

analyzing-linux-system-artifacts is a skill published in the GitHub repository mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills (32,541 stars, last pushed 10d ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 79 tokens to every session and 4,135 once invoked, about $0.0004 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.