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feat(tarball): Add tarball/source build helper (Issue #452) #558

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b86ba4b
feat(tarball): Add tarball/source build helper
jeremylongshore Jan 10, 2026
991e0d3
fix(tarball): address bot review comments
jeremylongshore Jan 12, 2026
2b20c2a
chore: trigger CLA re-check after CLA PR #568 merged
jeremylongshore Jan 12, 2026
9ba7876
fix(lint): use X | None instead of Optional[X] for type annotations
jeremylongshore Jan 12, 2026
e0b94a7
Merge branch 'main' into feature/tarball-helper
Anshgrover23 Jan 12, 2026
e74ef97
fix(tarball): address 24 security and quality issues
jeremylongshore Jan 13, 2026
11bc6e5
Merge branch 'main' into feature/tarball-helper
Anshgrover23 Jan 13, 2026
d6b4f41
fix: resolve black formatting lint errors
jeremylongshore Jan 13, 2026
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191 changes: 191 additions & 0 deletions AAR-2026-01-12.md
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# After Action Report: Cortex PR #557 & #558 Security Review

**Date:** 2026-01-12
**Reviewer:** Claude Opus 4.5
**Target PRs:** #557 (systemd_helper.py), #558 (tarball_helper.py)
**Status:** COMPLETE - All issues fixed, all tests passing

---

## Executive Summary

Performed comprehensive security and code quality review of two draft PRs for Cortex. Identified **43 issues** across both files (5 CRITICAL, 11 HIGH, 16 MEDIUM, 11 LOW). All issues have been fixed and validated through automated testing.

| Metric | Before | After |
|--------|--------|-------|
| CRITICAL Issues | 5 | 0 |
| HIGH Issues | 11 | 0 |
| MEDIUM Issues | 16 | 0 |
| LOW Issues | 11 | 0 |
| Tests Passing | 1061 | 1081 |
| Test Coverage | 59.51% | 59.57% |

---

## Issues Found & Fixed

### CRITICAL Security Issues (5)

#### 1. Shell Injection in systemd Environment Variables (systemd_helper.py:464)
**Risk:** Remote code execution via malicious environment variable values
**Root Cause:** Missing `$`, backtick, and newline escaping in Environment= values
**Fix Applied:**
```python
escaped_value = value.replace("\n", " ")
escaped_value = escaped_value.replace("\\", "\\\\")
escaped_value = escaped_value.replace("$", "\\$")
escaped_value = escaped_value.replace("`", "\\`")
escaped_value = escaped_value.replace('"', '\\"')
```

#### 2. Command Injection via apt-cache search (tarball_helper.py:475)
**Risk:** ReDoS, information disclosure via malicious directory names
**Root Cause:** Directory name used as regex without escaping
**Fix Applied:**
```python
escaped_name = re.escape(name)
result = subprocess.run(["apt-cache", "search", f"^{escaped_name}$"], ...)
```

#### 3. No Timeout on apt-cache Calls (tarball_helper.py:475, 485)
**Risk:** Indefinite hang, resource exhaustion
**Root Cause:** subprocess.run() calls without timeout parameter
**Fix Applied:** Added `timeout=APT_CACHE_TIMEOUT` (10s) to all apt-cache calls

#### 4. Silent Data Corruption with errors='ignore' (tarball_helper.py:249, 294, 339)
**Risk:** Parsing failures, incorrect dependency detection
**Root Cause:** Non-UTF8 bytes silently dropped instead of replaced
**Fix Applied:** Changed `errors="ignore"` to `errors="replace"` throughout

#### 5. Race Condition in cleanup_installation (tarball_helper.py:564)
**Risk:** Data loss, concurrent modification issues
**Root Cause:** History modified between load and save
**Fix Applied:** Reload history immediately before saving
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⚠️ Potential issue | 🟠 Major

🧩 Analysis chain

🏁 Script executed:

#!/bin/bash
# Search for security-related documentation and policies
echo "=== Searching for security documentation files ==="
fd -i -e md security vulnerability || true
echo ""
echo "=== Checking for SECURITY.md or similar policies ==="
ls -la SECURITY.md SECURITY.txt .security* 2>/dev/null || echo "No SECURITY files found"
echo ""
echo "=== Examining the reviewed file context ==="
head -30 AAR-2026-01-12.md 2>/dev/null || echo "File not found"
echo ""
echo "=== Checking repository top-level documentation ==="
git ls-files | grep -i -E '(security|vulnerability|disclosure|readme)' | head -20 || true

Repository: cortexlinux/cortex

Length of output: 1749

🏁 Script executed:

#!/bin/bash
# Read the SECURITY.md file to understand security policies
echo "=== SECURITY.md Contents ==="
cat SECURITY.md
echo ""
echo "=== Checking git history for AAR file ==="
git log --oneline AAR-2026-01-12.md | head -5 || echo "File may be new"
echo ""
echo "=== Checking file permissions and publication status ==="
git ls-files | grep -E 'AAR.*md' || echo "File not tracked in git"
echo ""
echo "=== Examining README for security disclosure guidance ==="
grep -i -A 10 -B 2 "security\|vulnerability\|disclosure" README.md || echo "No security guidance in README"

Repository: cortexlinux/cortex

Length of output: 3292

This detailed vulnerability documentation violates the established security policy.

The repository's SECURITY.md explicitly states "DO NOT open a public GitHub issue for security vulnerabilities" and directs all security disclosures to security@cortexlinux.com. However, this AAR file—committed to the public repository—documents 5 CRITICAL vulnerabilities with specific attack vectors, exploitation patterns, and vulnerable code locations.

Either:

  1. Remove detailed vulnerability information and replace with a summary (e.g., "5 CRITICAL issues in systemd integration and dependency handling—all fixed and tested"), or
  2. Clarify in SECURITY.md that post-fix security documentation is authorized and explain the disclosure rationale

If transparency about security fixes is the intent, the policy should explicitly authorize this practice to avoid confusion for future contributors.

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents 
In `@AAR-2026-01-12.md` around lines 29 - 63, The AAR file AAR-2026-01-12.md
contains detailed vulnerability disclosures (lines describing
systemd_helper.py:464, tarball_helper.py:475/485/249/294/339/564 and exact
fixes) that violate the repo SECURITY.md; remove the detailed vulnerability
descriptions and either replace them with a brief summary statement like "5
CRITICAL issues in systemd integration and dependency handling—all fixed and
tested" or, alternatively, update SECURITY.md to explicitly permit post-fix
public disclosures and state the allowed level of detail; ensure you edit
AAR-2026-01-12.md to strip specific file/line references and exploit details
and, if choosing the policy change route, add a clear clause in SECURITY.md
authorizing publishing fixed vulnerabilities and the rationale so future
contributors know the policy.


---

### HIGH Priority Issues (11)

| # | File | Issue | Fix |
|---|------|-------|-----|
| 1 | systemd_helper | Race condition in journalctl timeout (15s) | Increased to 30s + added `--since "1 hour ago"` |
| 2 | systemd_helper | No subprocess error handling in diagnose_failure | Added returncode check and stderr reporting |
| 3 | systemd_helper | Missing FileNotFoundError handling | Added try/except around subprocess calls |
| 4 | systemd_helper | Service name validation missing | Added regex validation `^[a-zA-Z0-9_.-]+$` |
| 5 | systemd_helper | Dependency tree parsing fragile | Added robust parsing with error recovery |
| 6 | systemd_helper | Unused import (shlex) | Removed |
| 7 | tarball_helper | No validation of prefix path | Added absolute path and location validation |
| 8 | tarball_helper | File size not limited | Added MAX_FILE_SIZE (5MB) check |
| 9 | tarball_helper | Regex catastrophic backtracking | Limited repetitions with `{0,1000}` |
| 10 | tarball_helper | No PermissionError handling | Added try/except with helpful message |
| 11 | tarball_helper | No check if apt-get exists | Added `shutil.which("apt-get")` check |

---

### MEDIUM Priority Issues (16)

| # | File | Issue | Fix |
|---|------|-------|-----|
| 1 | systemd_helper | Exit code explanations incomplete | Added formula for signal codes + common codes |
| 2 | systemd_helper | interactive_unit_generator() return unused | CLI now uses return value |
| 3 | systemd_helper | No sudo check in instructions | Added "sudo" note to step 1 |
| 4 | systemd_helper | Rich markup in exceptions | Plain text in exceptions only |
| 5 | systemd_helper | Memory/CPU fields raw values | Converted to human-readable format |
| 6 | systemd_helper | Magic numbers | Defined constants at module level |
| 7 | systemd_helper | Inconsistent error messages | Standardized tone and format |
| 8 | tarball_helper | Duplicate dependencies not deduplicated | Used dict to dedupe |
| 9 | tarball_helper | Build commands hardcoded/unsafe | Added safer defaults (--prefix, --user, venv) |
| 10 | tarball_helper | Tarball detection missing | Added file detection with extraction suggestion |
| 11 | tarball_helper | No progress indicator | Added Rich progress spinners |
| 12 | tarball_helper | JSON history no version field | Added `_version: "1.0"` schema field |
| 13 | tarball_helper | Inconsistent naming | Standardized enum and method names |
| 14 | tarball_helper | Magic strings | Defined as constants |
| 15 | tarball_helper | Dead code (files_installed) | Documented as future feature |
| 16 | tarball_helper | Docstring errors | Fixed missing Raises sections |

---

### LOW Priority Issues (11)

| # | File | Issue | Fix |
|---|------|-------|-----|
| 1-5 | systemd_helper | Docstring inconsistency, no timeout tests, no env var edge case tests, no malicious service name tests, CLI --lines not validated | All fixed |
| 6-11 | tarball_helper | No timeout tests, no concurrent access tests, no regex injection tests, CLI source_dir not validated, --packages parsing fragile | All fixed |

---

## Test Results

### Final Test Run (VM: bounty-dev)
```
======================== 1081 passed, 8 skipped in 173.29s ========================
Coverage: 59.57% (Required: 55%)
```

### Test Fixes Required
Updated test assertions in `tests/test_tarball_helper.py` to match new safer build commands:
- CMake: Now outputs `-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local`
- Autotools: Now outputs `--prefix=/usr/local`
- Meson: Now outputs `--prefix=/usr/local`
- Make: Now outputs `PREFIX=/usr/local`
- Python/pip: Now recommends venv with `--user` fallback

---

## Files Modified

| File | Lines Changed | Type |
|------|---------------|------|
| `cortex/systemd_helper.py` | ~200 | NEW (complete rewrite with fixes) |
| `cortex/tarball_helper.py` | ~150 | MODIFIED (security + quality fixes) |
| `cortex/cli.py` | ~5 | MODIFIED (packages parsing fix) |
| `tests/test_tarball_helper.py` | ~40 | MODIFIED (updated assertions) |

---

## Security Hardening Summary

### Before
- Shell injection possible via env vars
- ReDoS via directory names
- Silent data corruption
- No timeouts on external commands
- No input validation

### After
- All user input escaped/validated
- Timeouts on all external commands (10-30s)
- Proper error handling with helpful messages
- Schema versioning for data migration
- Safer default build commands

---

## Recommendations

1. **Add integration tests** for timeout behavior
2. **Add fuzz testing** for regex patterns
3. **Consider** adding `checkinstall` as default instead of `sudo make install`
4. **Monitor** for edge cases in environment variable escaping

---

## Appendix: Constants Added

```python
# systemd_helper.py
SUBPROCESS_TIMEOUT = 30 # seconds
JOURNALCTL_TIMEOUT = 30
SERVICE_NAME_PATTERN = re.compile(r"^[a-zA-Z0-9_.-]+$")

# tarball_helper.py
APT_CACHE_TIMEOUT = 10 # seconds
DPKG_QUERY_TIMEOUT = 5
MAX_FILE_SIZE = 5 * 1024 * 1024 # 5 MB
MAX_REGEX_REPETITIONS = 1000
```

---

**Report Generated:** 2026-01-12T$(date +%H:%M:%S)
Comment on lines +188 to +190
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⚠️ Potential issue | 🟡 Minor

Complete the report timestamp.

Line 190 contains an un-executed bash command substitution $(date +%H:%M:%S) that should have been filled in with the actual time the report was generated.

📝 Suggested fix

Replace the bash command with an actual timestamp, or remove the partial timestamp altogether:

-**Report Generated:** 2026-01-12T$(date +%H:%M:%S)
+**Report Generated:** 2026-01-12T14:30:00

Or simply:

-**Report Generated:** 2026-01-12T$(date +%H:%M:%S)
+**Report Generated:** 2026-01-12
📝 Committable suggestion

‼️ IMPORTANT
Carefully review the code before committing. Ensure that it accurately replaces the highlighted code, contains no missing lines, and has no issues with indentation. Thoroughly test & benchmark the code to ensure it meets the requirements.

Suggested change
---
**Report Generated:** 2026-01-12T$(date +%H:%M:%S)
---
**Report Generated:** 2026-01-12
🤖 Prompt for AI Agents 
In `@AAR-2026-01-12.md` around lines 188 - 190, The report header contains an
un-executed shell substitution "2026-01-12T$(date +%H:%M:%S)"; locate that exact
string in AAR-2026-01-12.md (the report timestamp line) and replace the "$(date
+%H:%M:%S)" portion with the actual generation time (e.g., 2026-01-12T14:23:05)
or remove the time fragment entirely so the line reads a complete static
timestamp.

**Validated On:** bounty-dev (e2-standard-4, us-central1-a)
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