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Comment by debazel

7 hours ago

And that's not a joke, I made the mistake of installing this on my Windows machine just to test it out quickly last week.

It created 2 new users and then assigned new NTFS permissions for every single file under my user directory to them. This of course wrecked havoc, ssh refused to work, several applications refusing to start and a ton of permission errors. It did this without even a warning in the background and it also does not undo any of it when you uninstall it.

It took around 3 hours to fix it by updating ~10 million NTFS permissions for every single file under my user directory.

18 comments

debazel

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takoid  6 hours ago

I would love to see your prompt(s) and how you managed to make it do this.

I’ve been using Codex in full access mode constantly for the past couple months on a Pro plan and I haven’t had a single incident like this. I’ve used it across macOS, Linux, and Windows as well, so my usage isn’t limited to a specific setup either.

  • debazel  5 hours ago

    I never sent any prompts to it, it did all of this during the installation. Here is one related GitHub issue I found for it https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/12343 Looks like they don't intend to change this.

    • ac29  5 hours ago

      Your earlier post is misleading, since "it" sounds like the model, not the installer. (of course if the latter was created by the former, its basically the same complaint, but I suspect what you are talking about was a deliberate design decision by a human)

  • Stagnant  4 hours ago

    The problem doesn't exist when granting codex full access. Codex makes you choose upon first launch to "Set up default sandbox" or to "Use non-admin sandbox". The default option creates two new users and messes with NTFS permissions.

  • TacticalCoder  4 hours ago

    > I’ve been using Codex in full access mode constantly for the past couple months on a Pro plan and I haven’t had a single incident like this. I’ve used it across macOS,

    That is not how it works: the "but it works for me" is a logical fallacy.

    Haven't you followed a bit all the posts about models, for example, escaping their environments?

    The "but it works for me" is a random data point: an anecdote.

    That there are people / companies where models ran wild and destroyed files / messed up projects is a fact.

    When there are documented cases of stuff gone wrong, people must find ways to protect their data.

    We literally see posts frontpage, daily, about AI sandboxing and we regularly see posts about AI escapes or AI SNAFUs.

    And you come and post "show me your prompt, for it works on my machine"...

  • HumblyTossed  5 hours ago

    I'm taking the person you are replying to as being snarky. But, I believe OP is right, treat these with zero trust.

semyonsh  7 hours ago

At that point I'd rather re-install the whole machine. Beats 3 hours of wrangling NTFS permissions and inheritance.

kaycey2022  3 hours ago

I've been using GPT through opencode for quite some time on linux. I have had a great time with getting it to help me through computer use and it has been a game changer for me.

For instance recently, media downloads on my NAS became quite a bit slower. I asked it to investigate and it quickly got back to me saying the issue was the ethernet link had been downgraded to 100Mbps from 1Gbps. It even went through journalctl to tell me when this had happened. To fix it I just had to plug an ethernet cable out and back in. Now this is the kind of thing, earlier I would have to spend an evening on. But given an open system like Linux, a well made safe model just makes it so much more accessible than having to RTFM for one off things I am sure to forget in a month.

I dont really let it run loose through my systems, and keep an eye on the thinking traces it puts out and the permissions it asks for. But now I dont have to slog through manuals and deal with gruff people on the internet. I can choose to do so after the fact, depending on how much free time and curiosity I have.

nnevatie  5 hours ago

Was the prompt "fuck up my system, please." or how did you manage this? I've used Codex for ages without any of these kinds of issues.