fix(agents): block workspaceOnly apply_patch delete symlink escape

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Feishu/Security: harden media URL fetching against SSRF and local file disclosure. (#16285) Thanks @mbelinky.
 - Security/Agents: scope CLI process cleanup to owned child PIDs to avoid killing unrelated processes on shared hosts. Thanks @aether-ai-agent.
 - Security/Agents: enforce workspace-root path bounds for `apply_patch` in non-sandbox mode to block traversal and symlink escape writes. Thanks @p80n-sec.
+- Security/Agents: enforce symlink-escape checks for `apply_patch` delete hunks under `workspaceOnly`, while still allowing deleting the symlink itself. Thanks @p80n-sec.
 - Security/Agents (macOS): prevent shell injection when writing Claude CLI keychain credentials. (#15924) Thanks @aether-ai-agent.
 - Security: fix Chutes manual OAuth login state validation by requiring the full redirect URL (reject code-only pastes) (thanks @aether-ai-agent).
 - Security/Gateway: harden tool-supplied `gatewayUrl` overrides by restricting them to loopback or the configured `gateway.remote.url`. Thanks @p80n-sec.

src/agents/apply-patch.e2e.test.ts

@@ -181,9 +181,7 @@ describe("applyPatch", () => {
 *** End Patch`;
 
       try {
-        await expect(applyPatch(patch, { cwd: dir })).rejects.toThrow(
-          /Symlink escapes sandbox root/,
-        );
+        await expect(applyPatch(patch, { cwd: dir })).rejects.toThrow(/Symlink escapes sandbox root/);
         const stillThere = await fs.readFile(outsideFile, "utf8");
         expect(stillThere).toBe("victim\n");
       } finally {
@@ -216,4 +214,29 @@ describe("applyPatch", () => {
       }
     });
   });
+
+  it("allows deleting a symlink itself even if it points outside cwd", async () => {
+    await withTempDir(async (dir) => {
+      const outsideDir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(path.dirname(dir), "openclaw-patch-outside-"));
+      try {
+        const outsideTarget = path.join(outsideDir, "target.txt");
+        await fs.writeFile(outsideTarget, "keep\n", "utf8");
+
+        const linkDir = path.join(dir, "link");
+        await fs.symlink(outsideDir, linkDir);
+
+        const patch = `*** Begin Patch
+*** Delete File: link
+*** End Patch`;
+
+        const result = await applyPatch(patch, { cwd: dir });
+        expect(result.summary.deleted).toEqual(["link"]);
+        await expect(fs.lstat(linkDir)).rejects.toBeDefined();
+        const outsideContents = await fs.readFile(outsideTarget, "utf8");
+        expect(outsideContents).toBe("keep\n");
+      } finally {
+        await fs.rm(outsideDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      }
+    });
+  });
 });

src/agents/apply-patch.ts

@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ export async function applyPatch(
     }
 
     if (hunk.kind === "delete") {
-      const target = await resolvePatchPath(hunk.path, options);
+      const target = await resolvePatchPath(hunk.path, options, "unlink");
       await fileOps.remove(target.resolved);
       recordSummary(summary, seen, "deleted", target.display);
       continue;
@@ -254,6 +254,7 @@ async function ensureDir(filePath: string, ops: PatchFileOps) {
 async function resolvePatchPath(
   filePath: string,
   options: ApplyPatchOptions,
+  purpose: "readWrite" | "unlink" = "readWrite",
 ): Promise<{ resolved: string; display: string }> {
   if (options.sandbox) {
     const resolved = options.sandbox.bridge.resolvePath({
@@ -273,6 +274,7 @@ async function resolvePatchPath(
           filePath,
           cwd: options.cwd,
           root: options.cwd,
+          allowFinalSymlink: purpose === "unlink",
         })
       ).resolved
     : resolvePathFromCwd(filePath, options.cwd);

src/agents/sandbox-paths.ts

@@ -50,9 +50,16 @@ export function resolveSandboxPath(params: { filePath: string; cwd: string; root
   return { resolved, relative };
 }
 
-export async function assertSandboxPath(params: { filePath: string; cwd: string; root: string }) {
+export async function assertSandboxPath(params: {
+  filePath: string;
+  cwd: string;
+  root: string;
+  allowFinalSymlink?: boolean;
+}) {
   const resolved = resolveSandboxPath(params);
-  await assertNoSymlinkEscape(resolved.relative, path.resolve(params.root));
+  await assertNoSymlinkEscape(resolved.relative, path.resolve(params.root), {
+    allowFinalSymlink: params.allowFinalSymlink,
+  });
   return resolved;
 }
 
@@ -90,18 +97,29 @@ export async function resolveSandboxedMediaSource(params: {
   return resolved.resolved;
 }
 
-async function assertNoSymlinkEscape(relative: string, root: string) {
+async function assertNoSymlinkEscape(
+  relative: string,
+  root: string,
+  options?: { allowFinalSymlink?: boolean },
+) {
   if (!relative) {
     return;
   }
   const rootReal = await tryRealpath(root);
   const parts = relative.split(path.sep).filter(Boolean);
   let current = root;
-  for (const part of parts) {
+  for (let idx = 0; idx < parts.length; idx += 1) {
+    const part = parts[idx];
+    const isLast = idx === parts.length - 1;
     current = path.join(current, part);
     try {
       const stat = await fs.lstat(current);
       if (stat.isSymbolicLink()) {
+        // Unlinking a symlink itself is safe even if it points outside the root. What we
+        // must prevent is traversing through a symlink to reach targets outside root.
+        if (options?.allowFinalSymlink && isLast) {
+          return;
+        }
         const target = await tryRealpath(current);
         if (!isPathInside(rootReal, target)) {
           throw new Error(