Security Planning

This skill packages durable security-planning and plan-drift analysis used by Security Planner, Security Reviewer, and Code Review: operational bucket guidance, STRIDE analysis patterns, standards cross-references, NIST control-family references, security-specific backlog formats, and correlation of a Security Planner baseline with current security findings.

When to use

Use this skill when you need to:

• Classify application components into the operational security buckets used during planning.
• Evaluate threats with STRIDE-based analysis, including AI-specific extensions when raiEnabled is true.
• Map bucket findings to standards references and control families without re-embedding long standard tables.
• Derive security-specific backlog priorities and RAI work item categories for Phase 5 handoff.
• Correlate a Security Planner baseline with caller-supplied current findings to identify validated controls, control drift, residual planned risks, newly introduced threats, and obsolete plan items.
• Generate a dual-output TM7 model plus markdown report from a YAML/JSON threat-model spec for human-reviewed audit workflows.

Security plan drift analysis

Use the drift capability when a Security Planner baseline and current-state security findings already exist. It correlates supplied evidence only: it does not scan, profile, select security skills, verify findings, re-rate severity, invoke another agent, or modify source, plan, reviewer, backlog, or state artifacts.

1. Resolve and extract the baseline through drift-input-contracts.md.
2. Normalize caller-supplied audit, diff, or Code Review findings without treating plan-mode evidence as repository state.
3. Filter default exclusions, then classify only conclusions supported by drift-comparison-model.md.
4. Render the direct, Security Reviewer, Security Planner, or Code Review adaptation from drift-report-contract.md.
5. Use drift-worked-examples.md for deterministic behavior scenarios and expected category suppression.

Before full conversational or durable drift output, display the Security Planning CAUTION block in this skill verbatim. Report the default exclusions below in the canonical body's Current repository evidence section. A bounded Code Review section may point to these blocks because its containing review already carries the Code-Review disclaimer.

Default exclusions in effect. Planning and agent-customization artifacts are excluded from drift findings:

• Paths: .copilot-tracking/**, docs/planning/**, docs/adrs/**, .github/agents/**, .github/prompts/**, .github/instructions/**, .github/skills/**
• File globs: *.prompt.md, *.agent.md, *.instructions.md, SKILL.md

To override, pass scope= explicitly. Overlapping user scope wins and is reported as a warning.

A write-capable direct caller may create one sequence-safe report under .copilot-tracking/security-audits/<project-slug>/. Security Reviewer and Security Planner render in conversation. Code Review renders a bounded section and optional security_plan_drift field. Every destination keeps inputs read-only and recommends follow-up without dispatch.

Stop the affected conclusion when a baseline is incomplete, a required fact is unresolved, evidence scope does not cover the claim, or input format drift prevents exclusions. Report suppressed categories as insufficient evidence rather than zero findings. Stop the entire correlation when no baseline resolves or no finding location is available to enforce exclusions.

TM7 generation workflow

When the user asks for a TM7 threat model, the runtime can generate a .tm7 file and a matching markdown report from the same spec. The generator supports the pre-populated-comprehensive and diagram-only-defer-to-tmt modes and can update an existing model with --update. Use the generate_tm7.py and generate_markdown.py entry points with --template to select a profile.

The .tm7 output mirrors the Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool's real SerializableModelData DataContract and deserializes cleanly under the tool's own DataContractSerializer. Fidelity is validated against the tool's own assemblies by scripts/Deserialize-Tm7.ps1, which the pytest suite runs when the tool is installed and skips cleanly otherwise. See references/tm7-generation.md for the verified contract.

Native TM7 visual feedback workflow

The skill also supports an opt-in, Windows-local feedback loop for the native Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool UI. The feature is off by default. The generator and standard validator keep their existing portable behavior when the feedback flags are absent. Native feedback is enabled only when validate_tm7_with_tmt.py is run with --feedback-loop, --spec, and --overlay-output; optional --overlay-input, --max-iterations, and --require-feedback-evidence refine the execution contract.

The workflow requires Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool 7.3.51110.1, a Windows desktop session, and UI Automation access. The loop is bounded to a baseline run plus at most three refinement iterations, and defaults to a baseline plus one. A single run holds the mouse and keyboard continuously across the baseline and every refinement iteration; control returns only at the release notice. Replaying a corrected overlay is a new run and a new takeover. Exit codes, stop reasons, and the discovery-failure rules are defined in the generation reference.

The harness controls TMT windows and may open, close, and reopen the app for save/reopen validation. It emits a start notice before automation begins, progress updates for the baseline and each refinement candidate, and a release notice when the loop completes or aborts so the operator knows when control is returned. These are notices only; the harness does not block on operator acknowledgment. The agent-facing lockout and release obligations that surround a run are owned by tm7-generation-workflow.instructions.md.

The loop records one evidence bundle per run under the requested evidence directory, with per-iteration screenshots, UI Automation snapshots, summaries, and candidate models. A run that captured at least one surface and either passed the automated gates or stopped for layout exhaustion also emits agent-review-request.json at the bundle root. The overlay payload remains in approval_state: pending, and no runtime path or flag auto-promotes it to approved or rewrites the canonical baseline.

Scoring keeps deterministic geometry gates separate from advisory screenshot heuristics. Screenshot heuristics are not a semantic approval signal.

A Windows-native example uses the skill's locked Windows dependency group:

uv run --project "<security-planning-skill-root>" --group windows \
  python "<security-planning-skill-root>/scripts/validate_tm7_with_tmt.py" model.tm7 \
  --evidence-dir ./artifacts/feedback \
  --feedback-loop \
  --spec ./specs/model.yaml \
  --overlay-output ./artifacts/feedback/overlay.json \
  --max-iterations 3 \
  --require-feedback-evidence

Resolve <security-planning-skill-root> from the loaded skill location before running the command.

The overlay contract is versioned and deterministic. It carries layout intent in named rule collections and is invalidated unless its full fingerprint block matches, so a stale overlay is rejected rather than replayed onto a changed model.

See references/tm7-generation.md for the full CLI surface, exit codes, stop reasons, geometry thresholds, the evidence-bundle layout, the overlay fingerprint contract, and the operator runbook covering prerequisites, abort, recovery, and rollback.

Agent-assisted visual review

Some layout defects never reach a metric. TM7 persists no connector label geometry and UI Automation exposes no label element, so label collisions, unreadable label text, and visual crowding are invisible to the deterministic gates. An agent that reads the rendered screenshots can see them and author corrections into the overlay the harness publishes.

This review is a default step of every feedback-loop run, not an opt-in extra. A run that captured at least one surface and either passed the automated gates or stopped for layout exhaustion emits agent-review-request.json at the evidence root, carrying per surface the screenshot and UI Automation paths, the node and zone rectangles, the connector handle points, and the predicted label rectangles in model coordinates, plus the coordinate-translation constants and the port convention. The agent reviews from that payload rather than hand-parsing UI Automation trees. automated-ready-pending-human means the automated gates passed and the result awaits review; it is not an approval. The remedy remains documented rather than proven: it has not yet been demonstrated end to end on a real defect.

On the success path the published overlay addresses every captured surface, so a correction can be authored for any of them. When the run found no automated correction, that overlay is the seed shape, carrying an overlay-seed- identifier and empty rule collections. A layout-exhaustion stop publishes the same seed shape; a correctness or environment stop publishes nothing at all.

See references/tm7-generation.md for the protocol, the request payload, the accepted rule fields, the coordinate translation, and the constraints that bound an agent-authored overlay.

[!CAUTION] Disclaimer: This agent is an assistive tool only. It does not provide legal, regulatory, or compliance advice and does not replace professional security review boards, penetration testing teams, compliance auditors, legal counsel, or other qualified human reviewers. The output consists of suggested actions and considerations to support a user's own internal security review and decision‑making. All security plans, threat models, security models, and mitigation recommendations generated by this tool must be independently reviewed and validated by appropriate security and compliance reviewers before use. Outputs from this tool do not constitute security approval, compliance certification, or regulatory sign‑off.

The human-in-the-loop contract governing authorship confirmation, native feedback-loop operator safety, and layout overlay promotion is owned by tm7-generation-workflow.instructions.md. This skill owns the mechanics only.

Skill layout

Load the reference file that matches the phase or topic you need.

Reference	Topic
references/00-index.md	Navigation catalog and consolidated attribution
references/operational-buckets.md	Operational bucket definitions, GS overlay, and classification guidance
references/stride-model.md	STRIDE methodology, AI extensions, risk matrix, and data-flow analysis
references/standards-cross-reference.md	Bucket-to-standards mapping table and component mapping output format
references/nist-control-families.md	NIST 800-53 priority tiers and NIST AI RMF subcategory mappings
references/backlog-formats.md	Security-specific prioritization and RAI work item categories
references/data-classification.md	Public-safe data-classification taxonomy, tiers/categories/retention, and schema mapping
references/threat-model-review.md	Threat-model completeness checklist, PASS/INCOMPLETE verdict, and gap list
references/drift-input-contracts.md	Security Planner baseline extraction, normalized current-finding forms, evidence scope, and drift handling
references/drift-comparison-model.md	Exclusions, evidence preconditions, five plan-drift categories, matching order, and recommendation-only handoffs
references/drift-report-contract.md	Canonical body and direct, Security Reviewer, Security Planner, and Code Review destination adaptations
references/drift-worked-examples.md	Synthetic complete, incomplete, malformed, diff-scoped, exclusion, and caller-regression behavior scenarios
references/tm7-generation.md	TM7 input schema, dual-output generation contract, profile mapping, emission contract, native feedback loop, overlay and fingerprint contract, and operator runbook

Bundled executable and data resources:

Resource	Use
scripts/generate_tm7.py	Run to build a .tm7 from a threat-model spec
scripts/generate_markdown.py	Run to render the same spec as a markdown report
scripts/generate_tb7.py	Run to emit a template file
scripts/validate_tm7_with_tmt.py	Run for native Windows TMT validation and the opt-in feedback loop
scripts/Deserialize-Tm7.ps1	Run to check round-trip fidelity against the tool's own assemblies
assets/schemas/tm7-layout-overlay.schema.json	Read as the layout overlay schema
assets/schemas/tm7-agent-review-request.schema.json	Read as the agent visual-review request schema
assets/schemas/tm7-visual-feedback-manifest.schema.json	Read as the evidence manifest schema
templates/threat-model-spec-example.yaml	Copy as the starting point for a new spec

The skill ships public defaults for the taxonomy and the completeness checklist. Organization-specific internal details such as internal data-type taxonomies, internal auth service names, and internal review-gate steps are supplied through a private config overlay referenced by state.overlayConfigPath and are never embedded in the public skill.

Attribution

The durable reference content in this skill is organized by reference file and summarized in references/00-index.md. See that index for the consolidated attribution and delegation notes.