openai / openai/codex

Cyber safety false positive repeatedly blocks benign read-only software-assurance analysis

Open
#37,854 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

bug CLI safety-check windows-os
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
125k
Forks
19.5k
PR merge metrics
PR metrics pending

Description

What version of Codex CLI is running?

0.147.0

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT Pro

Which model were you using?

gpt-5.6-sol, max reasoning

What platform is your computer?

Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS, Linux 6.8.0-124-generic x86_64

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

Windows PowerShell using SSH to the Ubuntu workstation

Codex doctor report
Codex CLI 0.147.0 reports overallStatus “ok”; installation, authentication, provider reachability, WebSocket connectivity, databases, and bundled search all passed their diagnostic checks. The interruption therefore appears specific to the cybersecurity safety classifier rather than a local installation or connectivity failure.
What issue are you seeing?

Codex repeatedly triggered a cybersecurity safety interruption during authorized, benign, local software-assurance work.

The task involved read-only searches of controlled engineering review reports and local source files in an isolated workspace. The purpose was to locate evidence needed for a bounded internal verification campaign. No external target, unrestricted network activity, credential access, persistence, production deployment, or unauthorized security testing was involved.

The safeguard was triggered while Codex was performing read-only text searches. It occurred twice during materially similar analysis. No reproduction campaign or executable test case had started, no product source was written, and no controlled input was modified.

The exact displayed message was:

“This content can't be shown. We take extra caution with cybersecurity requests. If you’re a security professional, you may be able to apply for Trusted Access.”

The session was then left idle, with the work safely stopped.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Uploaded thread: 019fe9e4-6347-7bd0-8ce6-ed5fa3094504

What is the expected behavior?

Codex should permit this bounded, local, read-only software-assurance analysis, or provide a more specific recoverable restriction without terminating the entire benign engineering workflow.

Additional information

Codex repeatedly triggered a cybersecurity safety interruption during authorized, benign, local software-assurance work.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Run Codex CLI 0.147.0 on Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS through Windows PowerShell over SSH.
  2. Use gpt-5.6-sol with max reasoning.
  3. Ask Codex to perform read-only searches within local engineering review reports and source files in an isolated workspace.
  4. Search for terms related to software process boundaries, signals, terminalization, and verification evidence.
  5. Codex displays: “This content can't be shown. We take extra caution with cybersecurity requests.”
  6. Resume the same bounded, read-only analysis.
  7. The same cybersecurity interruption occurs again.

No external system was targeted. No credentials, persistence, unrestricted network activity, production deployment, or unauthorized security testing was involved. No reproduction harness or executable test case had started, no product source was written, and no controlled input was modified.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reviewing the uploaded thread 019fe9e4-6347-7bd0-8ce6-ed5fa3094504 and the reproduction steps for Codex CLI 0.147.0 on Ubuntu over PowerShell SSH. Compare the repeated interruption during bounded, read-only searches with the expected behavior; done means the benign workflow is permitted or receives a specific recoverable restriction instead of terminating.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
powershell, rust, ubuntu
Domain
cli, security
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.