Michael Bolin 648a420cbf fix: enforce sandbox envelope for zsh fork execution (#12800)
## Why
Zsh fork execution was still able to bypass the `WorkspaceWrite` model
in edge cases because the fork path reconstructed command execution
without preserving sandbox wrappers, and command extraction only
accepted shell invocations in a narrow positional shape. This can allow
commands to run with broader filesystem access than expected, which
breaks the sandbox safety model.

## What changed
- Preserved the sandboxed `ExecRequest` produced by
`attempt.env_for(...)` when entering the zsh fork path in
[`unix_escalation.rs`](https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/codex-rs/core/src/tools/runtimes/shell/unix_escalation.rs).
- Updated `CoreShellCommandExecutor` to execute the sandboxed command
and working directory captured from `attempt.env_for(...)`, instead of
re-running a freshly reconstructed shell command.
- Made zsh-fork script extraction robust to wrapped invocations by
scanning command arguments for `-c`/`-lc` rather than only matching the
first positional form.
- Added unit tests in `unix_escalation.rs` to lock in wrapper-tolerant
parsing behavior and keep unsupported shell forms rejected.
- Tightened the regression in
[`skill_approval.rs`](https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/codex-rs/core/tests/suite/skill_approval.rs):
- `shell_zsh_fork_still_enforces_workspace_write_sandbox` now uses an
explicit `WorkspaceWrite` policy with `exclude_tmpdir_env_var: true` and
`exclude_slash_tmp: true`.
- The test attempts to write to `/tmp/...`, which is only reliably
outside writable roots with those explicit exclusions set.

## Verification
- Added and passed the new unit tests around `extract_shell_script`
parsing behavior with wrapped command shapes.
  - `extract_shell_script_supports_wrapped_command_prefixes`
  - `extract_shell_script_rejects_unsupported_shell_invocation`
- Verified the regression with the focused integration test:
`shell_zsh_fork_still_enforces_workspace_write_sandbox`.

## Manual Testing

Prior to this change, if I ran Codex via:

```
just codex --config zsh_path=/Users/mbolin/code/codex2/codex-rs/app-server/tests/suite/zsh --enable shell_zsh_fork
```

and asked:

```
what is the output of /bin/ps
```

it would run it, even though the default sandbox should prevent the
agent from running `/bin/ps` because it is setuid on MacOS.

But with this change, I now see the expected failure because it is
blocked by the sandbox:

```
/bin/ps exited with status 1 and produced no output in this environment.
```
2026-02-25 11:05:27 -08:00
2026-02-23 22:15:18 +00:00
2026-01-08 07:50:58 -08:00
2025-04-16 12:56:08 -04:00
2026-02-06 14:41:53 +01:00
2026-02-23 22:15:18 +00:00
2025-04-16 12:56:08 -04:00
2026-02-23 22:15:18 +00:00

npm i -g @openai/codex
or brew install --cask codex

Codex CLI is a coding agent from OpenAI that runs locally on your computer.

Codex CLI splash


If you want Codex in your code editor (VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf), install in your IDE.
If you want the desktop app experience, run codex app or visit the Codex App page.
If you are looking for the cloud-based agent from OpenAI, Codex Web, go to chatgpt.com/codex.


Quickstart

Installing and running Codex CLI

Install globally with your preferred package manager:

# Install using npm
npm install -g @openai/codex
# Install using Homebrew
brew install --cask codex

Then simply run codex to get started.

You can also go to the latest GitHub Release and download the appropriate binary for your platform.

Each GitHub Release contains many executables, but in practice, you likely want one of these:

  • macOS
    • Apple Silicon/arm64: codex-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
    • x86_64 (older Mac hardware): codex-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
  • Linux
    • x86_64: codex-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz
    • arm64: codex-aarch64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz

Each archive contains a single entry with the platform baked into the name (e.g., codex-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl), so you likely want to rename it to codex after extracting it.

Using Codex with your ChatGPT plan

Run codex and select Sign in with ChatGPT. We recommend signing into your ChatGPT account to use Codex as part of your Plus, Pro, Team, Edu, or Enterprise plan. Learn more about what's included in your ChatGPT plan.

You can also use Codex with an API key, but this requires additional setup.

Docs

This repository is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License.

Description
No description provided
Readme Apache-2.0 1.3 GiB
Languages
Rust 96.1%
Python 2.6%
TypeScript 0.3%
JavaScript 0.2%
Starlark 0.2%
Other 0.4%