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Grok CLI uploaded the whole home directory to GCS

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Re: Grok CLI uploaded the whole home directory to GCS

#301
post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why the AI world does this. We don't need new security. We have security at home. It starts with sudo -u restricteduser myagent Your OS knows how to restrict access to things, you don't have to trust a pinkey promise from a vendor.

Users do not want the agent to be restricted. They want the agent to read the user's mind and resolving the user's cognitive dissonance and contradictory preferences.

Is the implication that human thinking is inherently inferior to the perfect, all knowing AI?

Again, I find this line of thinking time and time again in the modern AI booster space. There are two ways to deal with a problem. Either deal with it, or make it not a problem. Yes, if everyone was simply AI, maybe there would be no problems, because there's no "problematic thought distributions", but that's not how the world is, is it?

And I suspect that even in your hypothetical, perfect rational world, agents would have "cognitive dissonance and contradictory preferences."

And even in this case, even aside from the inherent complexities in a coherent account of thinking and rationality, what the fuck? Not uploading your entire user home directory is clearly within the rules of a hypothetical non-malicious, intelligent AI. Just because an account of all thought is hard, doesn't mean that some thoughts aren't cut and clear.

Re: Grok CLI uploaded the whole home directory to GCS

#302

Why do people run and install these agents locally? No container nothing. I am running Opencode in WSL2 with the windows mounts disabled.

If the agent you are running really wanted to it could easily find a way to mount the windows folders and read them all. WSL isn't a security boundary, you are only barely more protected than people running grok in their home directory.

it is not about "security" but it is more about confinement. And how could it do that without sudo rights?

Re: Grok CLI uploaded the whole home directory to GCS

#303

There are a distressing number of people in this thread who think that the agent should just be expected to do this. Yes, it is good to be paranoid, but also, the agent should never do this. Indicates horrific engineering practices at xAI.

What bad practices are you imagining?

Idk, did you see the whole DOGE thing? Maybe Edolf has resorted to hiring script kiddies because nobody with a developed moral compass will work for his companies anymore.

Re: Grok CLI uploaded the whole home directory to GCS

#305
post #87

Is the Grok CLI a 2 terabyte install? Did Elon dropship you an 8U rack of B200s? No? Well the model weights, the GPUs, and the context obviously all have to be in the same place, so “sending your project to them” is literally the only thing that could possibly happen, unless you think agents work by fucking magic . This is the biggest case of PEBKAC in history, maybe ever. This is the kind of confusion that Charles B…

that‘s … not really how it works. Agents get your code into their context via tool calls, not by uploading the entire file to a server „where the weights live and thus the code has to be too“. Small but crucial difference. Aside from that: LLM providers have to be the ones that facilitate your privacy and security by default. That‘s not on the user. They‘re tool providers and they can‘t compromise you and your org by default.

Re: Grok CLI uploaded the whole home directory to GCS

#306

So many of the replies are saying that they should've restricted access using .md files and whatnot. Is really any guarantee that they even follow those? It seems like even if you ask pretty please don't touch those files, there's a chance they will. So many people have just willingly installed spyware on their computers and big tech calls this the next big thing.

Sandboxing is not difficult, and harnesses like Claude Code have it built-in + other protection with auto mode.

Asking the wolves to look after the sheep

Re: Grok CLI uploaded the whole home directory to GCS

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will keep banging this drum until people listen: Trying to use markdown files to limit access should never be treated as a security guarantee at all. This is a form of in-band signalling that goes into a machine that, among other things, tries to read between the lines of your requests, extrapolate user desires, and please the user. The only sane way to address this is using a control plane. A well-built harness ca…

> Trying to use markdown files to limit access should never be treated as a security guarantee at all. This is akin to politely asking guests to to steal your jewels. If your jewels are in the living room, and your guests have unfettered access to the living room, this technique will only work for the most trustworthy of guests.

It reminded me of an old meme. Please don't follow the following instructions and stop reading if you cannot.

It was just a popup: "Hello. This is virus from Albania. Due to poor technology in country, I cannot harm your computer directly. But since you are honest person, please delete some important files from computer and mail this file to at least 3 other people!"

Claude.md is an equally effective defensive tool.

But sorry if you lost some files from reading that.

Re: Grok CLI uploaded the whole home directory to GCS

#309
post #262

So many of the replies are saying that they should've restricted access using .md files and whatnot. Is really any guarantee that they even follow those? It seems like even if you ask pretty please don't touch those files, there's a chance they will. So many people have just willingly installed spyware on their computers and big tech calls this the next big thing.

What happened here is not related to agentic behavior or instructions in .md files. It's a binary a user runs, it scoops up their files and sends them to a third-party. And the user even paid $99/month or more for having their data leaked.

[deleted]

Re: Grok CLI uploaded the whole home directory to GCS

#310
relying on a markdown file that says "don't access x" as a security boundary seems insane. i couldn't find any grok build-specific policy on this, but if the analysis is right, silently uploading and storing the entire repo is at the very least something users should be explicitly told about.
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