Greptile Summary

This PR fixes a false-positive symlink rejection in ensureDir that was blocking exec commands on AWS server deployments where ~/.openclaw is intentionally symlinked to OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR. The fix introduces resolveApprovalsPathTrustedRoot() and updates ensureDir to allow the symlinked approvals directory only when it resolves to exactly the configured state root. Logic and test coverage look solid.

Confidence Score: 5/5

Safe to merge; one dead-code branch is the only finding.

All remaining findings are P2 style issues. The security-sensitive path logic is correct: symlinks are only permitted when OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR is explicitly set and the symlink resolves to exactly that root, and the test suite covers both the allow and reject cases.

No files require special attention.

This is a comment left during a code review.
Path: src/infra/exec-approvals.ts
Line: 265-268

Comment:
**Dead branch after `realpathSync`**

`fs.realpathSync` resolves all symlinks by definition, so `fs.lstatSync(realDir).isSymbolicLink()` can never return `true`. The `realStat.isSymbolicLink()` guard in the compound condition is unreachable dead code.

```suggestion
    const realStat = fs.lstatSync(realDir);
    if (!realStat.isDirectory()) {
      throw new Error(`Refusing to use unsafe exec approvals directory: ${dir}`);
    }
```

How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

_{Reviews (1): Last reviewed commit: "fix(exec-approvals): allow ~/.openclaw s..." | Re-trigger Greptile}

Closing this as duplicate or superseded after Codex automated review.

Close this PR as duplicate/superseded. Current main still has the broader OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR exec-approvals gap, but this branch is no longer the best landing path: #72377 already merged the related symlinked-OPENCLAW_HOME cleanup, and open #62938 is the canonical remaining PR for making exec approvals respect OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR directly.

Best possible solution:

Close this PR as superseded, keep #62938 as the canonical implementation path for OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR exec-approvals storage, and fold any useful exact ~/.openclaw -> OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR regression coverage from this PR into that branch if maintainers still want it.

What I checked:

• Current main still uses home-based exec approval paths: DEFAULT_SOCKET and DEFAULT_FILE remain ~/.openclaw/exec-approvals.*, and resolveExecApprovalsPath() / resolveExecApprovalsSocketPath() only expand those home-prefixed constants rather than using OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR or resolveStateDir(). (src/infra/exec-approvals.ts:173, 7d9dc8cf24fc)
• Current main still rejects symlinked approvals directory components: ensureDir() validates the default approvals directory against resolveRequiredHomeDir() and rejects a symlinked approvals directory, so the exact server layout described by this PR is not implemented on main. (src/infra/exec-approvals.ts:230, 7d9dc8cf24fc)
• Merged related fix covers only the home-root symlink case: The merged fix: allow trusted exec approvals home symlinks #72377 patch removed validation of the trusted root itself and added tests for symlinked OPENCLAW_HOME while still rejecting .openclaw symlinks below it; current changelog records that narrower fix as the shipped home-symlink cleanup. (CHANGELOG.md:121, 364d49889e67)
• Canonical remaining PR is open: fix(exec-approvals): respect OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR for store paths #62938 is open and explicitly changes exec-approvals file/socket defaults to path.join(resolveStateDir(), ...), with tests for OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR precedence and write location. That is the broader remaining state-dir contract this PR was trying to work around. (src/infra/exec-approvals.ts:180, ed21f35d05c2)
• This PR was already linked into the maintainer replacement cluster: fix: allow trusted exec approvals home symlinks #72377’s body lists this PR as a source PR in the replacement cluster and says to credit this author if the repaired implementation borrows the OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR trusted-root approach; the merged patch did not borrow that approach, leaving the state-dir part to fix(exec-approvals): respect OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR for store paths #62938. (364d49889e67)
• Security review pass: The PR diff touches only src/infra/exec-approvals.ts and src/infra/exec-approvals-store.test.ts; it does not change CI workflows, dependencies, lockfiles, publishing metadata, downloaded artifacts, or release/install scripts. The security-sensitive part is the local approval-file symlink policy, which should be reviewed in the canonical state-dir PR rather than split across overlapping branches. (src/infra/exec-approvals.ts:230, 376958c30a92)

So I’m closing this here and keeping the remaining discussion on the canonical linked item.

Codex Review notes: model gpt-5.5, reasoning high; reviewed against 7d9dc8cf24fc.