# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Guard against agent self-termination via pkill/killall

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

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.

## TL;DR

- 4 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 2 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #3593. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #3593 (and any competing PRs below) before filing. Confirm the merged change covers your symptom.

## Maintainer resolution verdict

- Internal-tracker verdict over this cluster's issue members: `unresolved`. This is distinct from the fix status above. Weigh it yourself.

## How this cluster was grouped

- Link evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.
- Pairwise link density `0.50`: the share of member pairs that carry a link, counting a structural link in full and a relevance-only link at 0.36. `1.00` means every pair is linked.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #3397: \[Bug\]: agent self-terminates via \`pkill -f "cli.py --gateway"\` — not caught by DANGEROUS_PATTERNS

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#3593: fix: add self-termination guard for pkill/killall targeting hermes/gateway**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `tests/tools/test_approval.py`, `tools/approval.py`
  - fix hunks:
  - `tests/tools/test_approval.py`

    ```diff
    @@ -512,6 +512,30 @@ def test_systemctl_restart_not_flagged(self):
             dangerous, key, desc = detect_dangerous_command(cmd)
             assert dangerous is False
     
    +    def test_pkill_hermes_detected(self):
    +        """pkill targeting hermes/gateway processes must be caught."""
    +        cmd = 'pkill -f "cli.py --gateway"'
    +        dangerous, key, desc = detect_dangerous_command(cmd)
    +        assert dangerous is True
    +        assert "self-termination" in desc
    +
    +    def test_killall_hermes_detected(self):
    +        cmd = "killall hermes"
    +        dangerous, key, desc = detect_dangerous_command(cmd)
    +        assert dangerous is True
    +        assert "self-termination" in desc
    +
    +    def test_pkill_gateway_detected(self):
    +        cmd = "pkill -f gateway"
    +        dangerous, key, desc = detect_dangerous_command(cmd)
    +        assert dangerous is True
    +
    +    def test_pkill_unrelated_not_flagged(self):
    +        """pkill targeting unrelated processes should not be flagged."""
    +        cmd = "pkill -f nginx"
    +        dangerous, key, desc = detect_dangerous_command(cmd)
    +        assert dangerous is False
    +
     
     class TestNormalizationBypass:
         """Obfuscation techniques must not bypass dangerous command detection."""
    ```
  - `tools/approval.py`

    ```diff
    @@ -53,6 +53,8 @@
         # Gateway protection: never start gateway outside systemd management
         (r'gateway\s+run\b.*(&\s*$|&\s*;|\bdisown\b|\bsetsid\b)', "start gateway outside systemd (use 'systemctl --user restart hermes-gateway')"),
         (r'\bnohup\b.*gateway\s+run\b', "start gateway outside systemd (use 'systemctl --user restart hermes-gateway')"),
    +    # Self-termination protection: prevent agent from killing its own process
    +    (r'\b(pkill|killall)\b.*\b(hermes|gateway|cli\.py)\b', "kill hermes/gateway process (self-termination)"),
     ]
     
     
    ```
- **#3400: fix: add self-termination guard for pkill/killall targeting hermes/gateway**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `#3593`
- **#3402: fix(tools): catch pkill/killall targeting hermes/gateway/cli.py process**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `merged_via`; implication `superseded`; refs `#3400`, `#3593`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #3593 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-03-28`. This confirmation is old and may be out of date (a revert/reopen would not have invalidated it here); re-verify.
- Subsystem: `agent`