# NousResearch/hermes-agent · False-positive blocks on $() substitutions in strings

## Open now

- 1 issue, 1 PR open on GitHub.
- #70838: \[Bug\]: hardline guard false-positives on $(grep/rg/sort ...) inside double quotes — benign commands blocked as 'malformed executable payload'
- PR #70880: fix(hardline): prevent false-positive on substitution inside double quotes (#70838)

These items address a parsing issue where command substitutions like $() inside double-quoted strings were incorrectly flagged as malformed or dangerous payloads. Fixes target the approval and hardline guard logic responsible for the misparsing.

## TL;DR

- 4 member(s): 1 open issue(s), 0 closed issue(s), 1 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 1 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #110990. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #110990 (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evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.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.

## Open related issues

- #70838: \[Bug\]: hardline guard false-positives on $(grep/rg/sort ...) inside double quotes — benign commands blocked as 'malformed executable payload'

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#110990: fix(approval): escaped quotes in grep patterns no longer hardline-blocked, and no longer hide a following hardline command (#96776, salvage #85922)**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `tests/tools/test_hardline_escaped_quote_state.py`, `tools/approval_detection.py`, `website/docs/user-guide/security.md`
- **#70839: fix(approval): stop misparsing $() substitutions as malformed payloads**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `e383c28d2ffc`, `#110990`
- **#70880: fix(hardline): prevent false-positive on substitution inside double quotes (#70838)**. open
  - maintainer direction: category `duplicate_of`; implication `duplicate`; refs `#70839`
  - files: `tools/approval.py`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #110990 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-09-14`.
- Subsystem: `agent`