analyzing-protocols

Testing & Quality

Analyzes network protocol implementations to identify parsing vulnerabilities, state machine issues, and protocol-level security problems. Use when analyzing network servers, protocol handlers, or investigating protocol implementation bugs.

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/blob/HEAD/skills/data/analyzing-protocols/SKILL.md

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Protocol Analysis

Detection Workflow

Identify protocol handlers: Find network socket handlers, locate packet parsing functions, identify protocol state machines, map protocol message types
Analyze protocol messages: Identify message formats, parse message fields, check field validation, assess length handling
Trace protocol state: Map state transitions, identify state variables, check state machine completeness, assess state corruption potential
Assess security: Check authentication and authorization, verify input validation, assess exploitability, identify protocol-level attacks

Key Patterns

Protocol parsing vulnerabilities: buffer overflows in packet parsing, integer overflow in length fields, format string in protocol handling, command injection in protocol commands
State machine issues: out-of-order message handling, missing state transitions, state corruption attacks, protocol state confusion
Authentication flaws: weak authentication mechanisms, missing authentication on critical operations, authentication bypass opportunities, session management issues
Protocol logic errors: race conditions in protocol handling, TOCTOU in protocol operations, improper input validation, protocol downgrade attacks

Output Format

Report with: id, type, subtype, severity, confidence, location, protocol, vulnerability, packet_field (name, offset, size), overflow_scenario, attack_vector, exploitable, impact, mitigation.

Severity Guidelines

CRITICAL: Remote code execution via protocol vulnerability
HIGH: Remote DoS or information disclosure
MEDIUM: Local protocol issues
LOW: Minor protocol bugs