Symlinked .codex breaks the entire macOS sandbox in rust-v0.149.0
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- Rust
- Stars
- 125k
- Forks
- 19.4k
- PR merge metrics
- PR metrics pending
Description
What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?
26.818.31338
What subscription do you have?
Pro 200 for OSS
What platform is your computer?
macOS 26.6.2
What issue are you seeing?
rust-v0.149.0 introduced a regression for users who symlink ~/.codex/visualizations (for example, to a RAM-backed or temporary filesystem).
PR #39599 now rejects any writable root containing a nested symlink component. Since Codex automatically adds .codex/visualizations/... as a writable root, a symlink at ~/.codex/visualizations causes Seatbelt preparation to fail entirely, even when the visualization functionality is not being used.
Would it be possible to address this in one of these ways?
Do not add .codex/visualizations/... to writable roots when the visualization/plugin functionality is disabled or unused.
Allow configuring the visualization output directory explicitly.
For Codex-managed auxiliary writable roots, resolve the symlink before sandbox creation and authorize the resolved target, while preserving the security guarantees introduced by #39599.
The important part is that an optional Codex-managed output directory should not make the entire sandbox unusable merely because that directory is symlinked.
A common use case is intentionally redirecting ephemeral visualization output to RAM-backed storage.
What steps can reproduce the bug?
What is the expected behavior?
No response
Additional information
ls -al:
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 [REDACTED] staff 30B Aug 13 14:48 visualizations -> /Volumes/TMP/Codex/visualizations
Temp fix:
rm ~/.codex/visualizations
mkdir -p ~/.codex/visualizations
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the writable-root handling introduced by PR #39599 and the Seatbelt preparation path that adds .codex/visualizations. Reproduce with ~/.codex/visualizations symlinked to another filesystem, then verify that sandbox creation remains usable when visualization functionality is unused while the security guarantees remain intact.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- macos, rust
- Domain
- operating-systems, security
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 52/100