IDE extension community
Risk level
critical
100/100

Cline ↗

Cline is a community-maintained IDE extension from Cline. Anomity scores its risk at 100 out of 100 (critical). It matches 4 dangerous capability combinations.

filesystem:read filesystem:write shell:execute network:outbound credentials:access

Analysis summary

Cline is a community-maintained IDE extension from Cline. Anomity scores its risk at 100 out of 100 (critical). It matches 4 dangerous capability combinations.

Cline is an autonomous coding agent that runs inside VS Code and takes the IDE far beyond autocomplete. Once approved, it can read and edit files across your repository, execute shell commands in the integrated terminal, browse the web, and call external tools through MCP servers — all while showing each step for human approval. The project is open source, published on the VS Code Marketplace, and updated frequently by a community-led team.

From a capability standpoint, the extension declares full filesystem read and write access, shell execution inside the workspace, outbound network access to its model provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Bedrock, Vertex, and local models), and access to your stored API credentials. Combined, those capabilities are powerful enough to refactor a service, install dependencies, and ship a PR without leaving the editor.

The risk profile reflects that surface area. Cline is community-maintained rather than vendor-published, which lowers its trust adjustment. The pairing of shell execution with outbound network access matches Anomity's data-exfiltration combination, and filesystem write paired with credential access matches the credential-theft combination. Teams that adopt Cline should pair it with allow-listed commands, scoped credentials, and a strict approval workflow rather than the agent's auto-approve mode.

Why this entry scored 100 out of 100

This profile starts at the catalog's neutral base of 50. Because the entry is community-maintained, trust adjusts the score by -10. Declared high-risk capabilities add +30 (capped at +30). It matches 4 dangerous capability combinations, which contribute additional severity weight. The clamped result is 100, placing it in the critical band.

See the full scoring formula →

Findings

  • Established community project Trust offset
    Contribution to score: -10
  • 3 high-risk capabilities: filesystem:write, shell:execute, credentials:access Critical
    Contribution to score: +30
  • Data exfiltration risk (high) High
    Evidence
    Shell execution combined with outbound network access can exfiltrate arbitrary data from the machine.
    Contribution to score: +15
  • Credential theft risk (high) High
    Evidence
    Filesystem write combined with credentials access can plant persistent credential stealers.
    Contribution to score: +15
  • Persistence + execution risk (medium) Medium
    Evidence
    Shell execution plus filesystem write means the agent can plant persistent backdoors (e.g. modifying startup scripts).
    Contribution to score: +5
  • Full-control risk (critical) Critical
    Evidence
    Shell + filesystem write + network is effectively a remote shell on the employee machine.
    Contribution to score: +25

Capabilities

Every capability the entry declares, with the security implication of each.

  • filesystem:read Filesystem read
    Can read files on the host system. Used for context, indexing, or analysis.
  • filesystem:write Filesystem write
    Can create, edit, or delete files on the host system. High-impact capability — anything from helpful edits to planting persistence.
  • shell:execute Shell execution
    Can run arbitrary shell commands. Combined with network access this becomes effectively a remote shell.
  • network:outbound Outbound network
    Can make outbound network requests. Required for hosted model providers and remote APIs; also the path for data exfiltration if combined with read access.
  • credentials:access Credentials access
    Reads provider API keys, OAuth tokens, or other secrets from the host keychain or environment.

Dangerous combinations matched

Capability pairings that compound into well-known attack patterns.

  • Data exfiltration risk high
    Shell execution combined with outbound network access can exfiltrate arbitrary data from the machine.
    shell:execute network:outbound
  • Credential theft risk high
    Filesystem write combined with credentials access can plant persistent credential stealers.
    filesystem:write credentials:access
  • Persistence + execution risk medium
    Shell execution plus filesystem write means the agent can plant persistent backdoors (e.g. modifying startup scripts).
    shell:execute filesystem:write
  • Full-control risk critical
    Shell + filesystem write + network is effectively a remote shell on the employee machine.
    shell:execute filesystem:write network:outbound