4 ms·

If you're not sandboxing your agent, everything on your computer is waiting to be exposed. Assuming that file permissions will save you is naively dangerous.

nativeit 4mo ago
It seems insane to me that so many people are OK with this. Why is it necessary for an agent to upload every bit of data it sees to OpenAI at all? Particularly if my agents can’t remember anything beyond a single session, why should the data exist permanently anywhere but in its original location?
- jstanley 4mo ago
  > Why is it necessary for an agent to upload every bit of data it sees to OpenAI at all? The LLM is running at OpenAI. The agent doesn't see anything that doesn't get sent to OpenAI. It's like running a compiler in the cloud and asking why you need to send your source code to it when you only want the binary to be on your local PC. It's because that's where the processing is going on and it can't process what it can't see. > why should the data exist permanently anywhere but in its original location? Sure, they don't necessarily have to retain it permanently.
efxhoy 4mo ago
How could an agent bypass file permissions?
- kstenerud 4mo ago
  By exploiting a root escalation. Or just finding a file/dir you forgot to set a tight enough mode on (happens a lot in systems where the default is insecure).
SubiculumCode 4mo ago
What is your sandbox approach? Any good guides? Something about asking a LLM for advice on how to sandbox LLMs.....
- kstenerud 4mo ago
  I use this: https://github.com/kstenerud/yoloai https://github.com/kstenerud/yoloai yoloai new mysandbox . # Create a sandbox yoloai attach mysandbox # Attach the sandbox to the current terminal ... (^b^d to disconnect) # It's using tmux to keep the agent alive yoloai diff mysandbox # See what the agent did yoloai apply mysandbox # apply its changes to your workdir yoloai destroy sandbox You can also make it run a prompt and block until it's done: yoloai run mysandbox . -p "read issue https://github.com/kstenerud/yoloai/issues/190 and fix it" yoloai diff mysandbox yoloai apply mysandbox yoloai destroy sandbox
  - SubiculumCode 4mo ago
    thanks. I will check that out, I'm also checking out smolvm. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish my modest needs versus what might be needed at a corporate infrastructure level for coding or agent orchestration. I'm just writing scripts for neuroimaging analysis, etc, and want to ensure codex etc doesn't read my sqlite db or csvs, and send my research data to the inference provider... Are people using these and interacting with the agent via terminal, or are there fuller cli interfaces, or integrations?
    - kstenerud 4mo ago
      The problem is that sandbox security is a VERY HARD problem that seems deceptively simple. I started out modestly, and yoloAI is the result of all of the problems I encountered along the way.

nativeit 4mo ago

It seems insane to me that so many people are OK with this. Why is it necessary for an agent to upload every bit of data it sees to OpenAI at all? Particularly if my agents can’t remember anything beyond a single session, why should the data exist permanently anywhere but in its original location?

jstanley 4mo ago
> Why is it necessary for an agent to upload every bit of data it sees to OpenAI at all? The LLM is running at OpenAI. The agent doesn't see anything that doesn't get sent to OpenAI. It's like running a compiler in the cloud and asking why you need to send your source code to it when you only want the binary to be on your local PC. It's because that's where the processing is going on and it can't process what it can't see. > why should the data exist permanently anywhere but in its original location? Sure, they don't necessarily have to retain it permanently.

efxhoy 4mo ago

How could an agent bypass file permissions?

kstenerud 4mo ago
By exploiting a root escalation. Or just finding a file/dir you forgot to set a tight enough mode on (happens a lot in systems where the default is insecure).

SubiculumCode 4mo ago

What is your sandbox approach? Any good guides? Something about asking a LLM for advice on how to sandbox LLMs.....

kstenerud 4mo ago
I use this: https://github.com/kstenerud/yoloai https://github.com/kstenerud/yoloai yoloai new mysandbox . # Create a sandbox yoloai attach mysandbox # Attach the sandbox to the current terminal ... (^b^d to disconnect) # It's using tmux to keep the agent alive yoloai diff mysandbox # See what the agent did yoloai apply mysandbox # apply its changes to your workdir yoloai destroy sandbox You can also make it run a prompt and block until it's done: yoloai run mysandbox . -p "read issue https://github.com/kstenerud/yoloai/issues/190 and fix it" yoloai diff mysandbox yoloai apply mysandbox yoloai destroy sandbox
- SubiculumCode 4mo ago
  thanks. I will check that out, I'm also checking out smolvm. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish my modest needs versus what might be needed at a corporate infrastructure level for coding or agent orchestration. I'm just writing scripts for neuroimaging analysis, etc, and want to ensure codex etc doesn't read my sqlite db or csvs, and send my research data to the inference provider... Are people using these and interacting with the agent via terminal, or are there fuller cli interfaces, or integrations?
  - kstenerud 4mo ago
    The problem is that sandbox security is a VERY HARD problem that seems deceptively simple. I started out modestly, and yoloAI is the result of all of the problems I encountered along the way.