## Summary
We've been seeing a number of issues and reports with our synthetic
`apply_patch` tool, e.g. #802. Let's make this a real tool - in my
anecdotal testing, it's critical for GPT-OSS models, but I'd like to
make it the standard across GPT-5 and codex models as well.
## Testing
- [x] Tested locally
- [x] Integration test
Building on the work of https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/1702, this
changes how a shell call to `apply_patch` is handled.
Previously, a shell call to `apply_patch` was always handled in-process,
never leveraging a sandbox. To determine whether the `apply_patch`
operation could be auto-approved, the
`is_write_patch_constrained_to_writable_paths()` function would check if
all the paths listed in the paths were writable. If so, the agent would
apply the changes listed in the patch.
Unfortunately, this approach afforded a loophole: symlinks!
* For a soft link, we could fix this issue by tracing the link and
checking whether the target is in the set of writable paths, however...
* ...For a hard link, things are not as simple. We can run `stat FILE`
to see if the number of links is greater than 1, but then we would have
to do something potentially expensive like `find . -inum <inode_number>`
to find the other paths for `FILE`. Further, even if this worked, this
approach runs the risk of a
[TOCTOU](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-of-check_to_time-of-use)
race condition, so it is not robust.
The solution, implemented in this PR, is to take the virtual execution
of the `apply_patch` CLI into an _actual_ execution using `codex
--codex-run-as-apply-patch PATCH`, which we can run under the sandbox
the user specified, just like any other `shell` call.
This, of course, assumes that the sandbox prevents writing through
symlinks as a mechanism to write to folders that are not in the writable
set configured by the sandbox. I verified this by testing the following
on both Mac and Linux:
```shell
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
# Can running a command in SANDBOX_DIR write a file in EXPLOIT_DIR?
# Codex is run in SANDBOX_DIR, so writes should be constrianed to this directory.
SANDBOX_DIR=$(mktemp -d -p "$HOME" sandboxtesttemp.XXXXXX)
# EXPLOIT_DIR is outside of SANDBOX_DIR, so let's see if we can write to it.
EXPLOIT_DIR=$(mktemp -d -p "$HOME" sandboxtesttemp.XXXXXX)
echo "SANDBOX_DIR: $SANDBOX_DIR"
echo "EXPLOIT_DIR: $EXPLOIT_DIR"
cleanup() {
# Only remove if it looks sane and still exists
[[ -n "${SANDBOX_DIR:-}" && -d "$SANDBOX_DIR" ]] && rm -rf -- "$SANDBOX_DIR"
[[ -n "${EXPLOIT_DIR:-}" && -d "$EXPLOIT_DIR" ]] && rm -rf -- "$EXPLOIT_DIR"
}
trap cleanup EXIT
echo "I am the original content" > "${EXPLOIT_DIR}/original.txt"
# Drop the -s to test hard links.
ln -s "${EXPLOIT_DIR}/original.txt" "${SANDBOX_DIR}/link-to-original.txt"
cat "${SANDBOX_DIR}/link-to-original.txt"
if [[ "$(uname)" == "Linux" ]]; then
SANDBOX_SUBCOMMAND=landlock
else
SANDBOX_SUBCOMMAND=seatbelt
fi
# Attempt the exploit
cd "${SANDBOX_DIR}"
codex debug "${SANDBOX_SUBCOMMAND}" bash -lc "echo pwned > ./link-to-original.txt" || true
cat "${EXPLOIT_DIR}/original.txt"
```
Admittedly, this change merits a proper integration test, but I think I
will have to do that in a follow-up PR.
This introduces some special behavior to the CLIs that are using the
`codex-arg0` crate where if `arg1` is `--codex-run-as-apply-patch`, then
it will run as if `apply_patch arg2` were invoked. This is important
because it means we can do things like:
```
SANDBOX_TYPE=landlock # or seatbelt for macOS
codex debug "${SANDBOX_TYPE}" -- codex --codex-run-as-apply-patch PATCH
```
which gives us a way to run `apply_patch` while ensuring it adheres to
the sandbox the user specified.
While it would be nice to use the `arg0` trick like we are currently
doing for `codex-linux-sandbox`, there is no way to specify the `arg0`
for the underlying command when running under `/usr/bin/sandbox-exec`,
so it will not work for us in this case.
Admittedly, we could have also supported this via a custom environment
variable (e.g., `CODEX_ARG0`), but since environment variables are
inherited by child processes, that seemed like a potentially leakier
abstraction.
This change, as well as our existing reliance on checking `arg0`, place
additional requirements on those who include `codex-core`. Its
`README.md` has been updated to reflect this.
While we could have just added an `apply-patch` subcommand to the
`codex` multitool CLI, that would not be sufficient for the standalone
`codex-exec` CLI, which is something that we distribute as part of our
GitHub releases for those who know they will not be using the TUI and
therefore prefer to use a slightly smaller executable:
https://github.com/openai/codex/releases/tag/rust-v0.10.0
To that end, this PR adds an integration test to ensure that the
`--codex-run-as-apply-patch` option works with the standalone
`codex-exec` CLI.
---
[//]: # (BEGIN SAPLING FOOTER)
Stack created with [Sapling](https://sapling-scm.com). Best reviewed
with [ReviewStack](https://reviewstack.dev/openai/codex/pull/1702).
* #1705
* #1703
* __->__ #1702
* #1698
* #1697
Dylan ·
Michael Bolin ·