{"repo":"NousResearch/hermes-agent","public_id":"3397","display_label":"Guard against agent self-termination via pkill/killall","summary":"These issues and PRs address a bug where an agent could terminate its own process using pkill or killall targeting hermes, gateway, or cli.py, which was not caught by existing dangerous pattern checks. The fixes add self-termination guards to cover these cases.","subsystem":"agent","counts":{"members":4,"open_issues":0,"open_issues_distinct":0,"open_prs":0,"closed_issues":1,"merged_prs":1,"attempt_prs":2},"landed_fix":{"status":"merged_to_main","basis":"structural","pr":3593,"merged_at":"2026-03-28T21:33:48+00:00"},"resolution":{"state":"unresolved","by":null},"freshness":{"state":"stale","last_verified_at":"2026-03-28T21:33:48+00:00","is_stale":true},"grouping":{"backbone":"STRUCTURAL_SPANNING","link_density":0.5},"fix_edges":[{"issue_number":3397,"pr_number":3593,"tier":"verified","basis":"superseded_ref","confidence":0.9,"recoverable_from_timeline":false,"pr_merged_at":"2026-03-28T21:33:48+00:00"}],"members":[{"kind":"issue","number":3397,"title":"[Bug]: agent self-terminates via `pkill -f \"cli.py --gateway\"` — not caught by DANGEROUS_PATTERNS","url":null,"state":"closed"},{"kind":"pr","number":3400,"title":"fix: add self-termination guard for pkill/killall targeting hermes/gateway","url":null,"state":"closed","close_reason":{"refs":[{"kind":"pr","value":"#3593","number":3593}],"category":"merged_via","implication":"superseded"},"merged":false},{"kind":"pr","number":3402,"title":"fix(tools): catch pkill/killall targeting hermes/gateway/cli.py process","url":null,"state":"closed","close_reason":{"refs":[{"kind":"pr","value":"#3400","number":3400},{"kind":"pr","value":"#3593","number":3593}],"category":"merged_via","implication":"superseded"},"merged":false},{"kind":"pr","number":3593,"title":"fix: add self-termination guard for pkill/killall targeting hermes/gateway","url":null,"state":"merged","close_reason":{"category":"merged"},"merged":true,"is_fix_pr":true,"fix_tier":"verified","files_changed":["tests/tools/test_approval.py","tools/approval.py"],"fix_hunks":[{"file":"tests/tools/test_approval.py","hunks":["@@ -512,6 +512,30 @@ def test_systemctl_restart_not_flagged(self):\n         dangerous, key, desc = detect_dangerous_command(cmd)\n         assert dangerous is False\n \n+    def test_pkill_hermes_detected(self):\n+        \"\"\"pkill targeting hermes/gateway processes must be caught.\"\"\"\n+        cmd = 'pkill -f \"cli.py --gateway\"'\n+        dangerous, key, desc = detect_dangerous_command(cmd)\n+        assert dangerous is True\n+        assert \"self-termination\" in desc\n+\n+    def test_killall_hermes_detected(self):\n+        cmd = \"killall hermes\"\n+        dangerous, key, desc = detect_dangerous_command(cmd)\n+        assert dangerous is True\n+        assert \"self-termination\" in desc\n+\n+    def test_pkill_gateway_detected(self):\n+        cmd = \"pkill -f gateway\"\n+        dangerous, key, desc = detect_dangerous_command(cmd)\n+        assert dangerous is True\n+\n+    def test_pkill_unrelated_not_flagged(self):\n+        \"\"\"pkill targeting unrelated processes should not be flagged.\"\"\"\n+        cmd = \"pkill -f nginx\"\n+        dangerous, key, desc = detect_dangerous_command(cmd)\n+        assert dangerous is False\n+\n \n class TestNormalizationBypass:\n     \"\"\"Obfuscation techniques must not bypass dangerous command detection.\"\"\""]},{"file":"tools/approval.py","hunks":["@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@\n     # Gateway protection: never start gateway outside systemd management\n     (r'gateway\\s+run\\b.*(&\\s*$|&\\s*;|\\bdisown\\b|\\bsetsid\\b)', \"start gateway outside systemd (use 'systemctl --user restart hermes-gateway')\"),\n     (r'\\bnohup\\b.*gateway\\s+run\\b', \"start gateway outside systemd (use 'systemctl --user restart hermes-gateway')\"),\n+    # Self-termination protection: prevent agent from killing its own process\n+    (r'\\b(pkill|killall)\\b.*\\b(hermes|gateway|cli\\.py)\\b', \"kill hermes/gateway process (self-termination)\"),\n ]\n \n \n"]}]}],"trust":{"default_tier":"verified","includes_suggested":false}}