* feat(security): supply-chain advisory checker + lazy-install framework + tiered install fallback
Three coordinated mitigations for the Mini Shai-Hulud worm hitting
mistralai 2.4.6 on PyPI (2026-05-12) and for the next single-package
compromise that follows.
# What this PR makes true
1. Users with the poisoned mistralai 2.4.6 in their venv get a loud
detection banner with copy-pasteable remediation steps the moment
they run hermes (and on every gateway startup).
2. One quarantined / yanked PyPI package can no longer silently demote
a fresh install to 'core only' — the installer keeps every other
extra and tells the user which tier landed.
3. Future opt-in backends (Mistral, ElevenLabs, Honcho, etc.) can
lazy-install on first use under a strict allowlist, instead of
eagerly pulling everything at install time.
# Detection: hermes_cli/security_advisories.py
- ADVISORIES catalog (one entry currently: shai-hulud-2026-05 for
mistralai==2.4.6). Adding the next one is a single dataclass.
- detect_compromised() uses importlib.metadata.version() — no pip
dependency, works in uv venvs that lack pip.
- Banner cache (~/.hermes/cache/advisory_banner_seen) rate-limits
the startup banner to once per 24h per advisory.
- Acks persisted to security.acked_advisories in config.yaml; never
re-banner after ack.
- Wired into:
* hermes doctor — runs first, prints full remediation block
* hermes doctor --ack <id> — dismisses an advisory
* cli.py interactive run() and single-query branches — short
stderr banner pointing at hermes doctor
* gateway/run.py startup — operator-visible warning in gateway.log
# Lazy-install framework: tools/lazy_deps.py
- LAZY_DEPS allowlist maps namespaced feature keys (tts.elevenlabs,
memory.honcho, provider.bedrock, etc.) to pip specs.
- ensure(feature) installs missing deps in the active venv via the
uv → pip → ensurepip ladder (matches tools_config._pip_install).
- Strict spec safety regex rejects URLs, file paths, shell metas,
pip flag injection, control chars — only PyPI-by-name accepted.
- Gated on security.allow_lazy_installs (default true) plus the
HERMES_DISABLE_LAZY_INSTALLS env var for restricted/audited envs.
- Migrated three backends as proof of pattern:
* tools/tts_tool.py — _import_elevenlabs() calls ensure first
* plugins/memory/honcho/client.py — get_honcho_client lazy-installs
* tts.mistral / stt.mistral entries pre-registered for when PyPI
restores mistralai
# Installer fallback tiers
scripts/install.sh, scripts/install.ps1, setup-hermes.sh:
- Centralised _BROKEN_EXTRAS list (currently: mistral). Edit one
array when a transitive breaks; users keep every other extra.
- New 'all minus known-broken' tier between [all] and the existing
PyPI-only-extras tier. Only kicks in when [all] fails resolve.
- All three tiers explicit: every fallback announces which tier
landed and prints a re-run hint when not on Tier 1.
- install.ps1 and install.sh both regenerate their tier specs from
the same _BROKEN_EXTRAS array so updates stay in sync.
Side effect: install.ps1 Tier 2 spec previously hardcoded 'mistral'
in its extra list — bug fixed by the refactor (mistral is filtered
out).
# Config
hermes_cli/config.py — DEFAULT_CONFIG.security gains:
- acked_advisories: [] (advisory IDs the user has dismissed)
- allow_lazy_installs: True (security gate for ensure())
No config version bump needed — both keys nest under existing
security: block, and load_config's deep-merge picks up DEFAULT_CONFIG
defaults for users with older configs.
# Tests
tests/hermes_cli/test_security_advisories.py — 23 tests covering:
- detect_compromised matches/non-matches, wildcard frozenset
- ack persistence, idempotence, blank rejection, config-failure path
- banner cache rate limiting + 24h re-banner + ack-stops-banner
- short_banner_lines / full_remediation_text / render_doctor_section /
gateway_log_message
- shipped catalog well-formedness invariant
tests/tools/test_lazy_deps.py — 40 tests covering:
- spec safety: 11 safe parametrized + 18 unsafe parametrized
- allowlist: unknown-feature rejection, namespace.name shape,
every shipped spec passes the safety regex
- security gating: config flag, env var, default, fail-open
- ensure() happy/sad paths: already-satisfied, install success,
pip stderr surfaced on failure, install-succeeds-but-still-missing
- is_available, feature_install_command
Combined: 63 new tests, all passing under scripts/run_tests.sh.
# Validation
- scripts/run_tests.sh tests/hermes_cli/test_security_advisories.py
tests/tools/test_lazy_deps.py → 63/63 passing
- scripts/run_tests.sh tests/hermes_cli/test_doctor.py
tests/hermes_cli/test_doctor_command_install.py
tests/tools/test_tts_mistral.py tests/tools/test_transcription_tools.py
tests/tools/test_transcription_dotenv_fallback.py → 165/165 passing
- scripts/run_tests.sh tests/hermes_cli/ tests/tools/ →
9191 passed, 8 pre-existing failures (verified on origin/main
before this change)
- bash -n on install.sh and setup-hermes.sh → OK
- py_compile on all modified .py files → OK
- End-to-end smoke test of detect_compromised + render_doctor_section
+ gateway_log_message with mocked installed version → produces
copy-pasteable remediation output
# Community
Full advisory + remediation steps:
website/docs/community/security-advisories/shai-hulud-mistralai-2026-05.md
Short-form post drafts (Discord, GitHub pinned issue, README banner):
scripts/community-announcement-shai-hulud.md
Refs: PR #24205 (mistral disabled), Socket Security advisory
<https://socket.dev/blog/mini-shai-hulud-worm-pypi>
* build(deps): pin every direct dep to ==X.Y.Z (no ranges)
Companion to the supply-chain advisory work: replace every >=/</~= range
in pyproject.toml's [project.dependencies] and [project.optional-dependencies]
with an exact ==X.Y.Z pin sourced from uv.lock.
Why: ranges allow PyPI to ship a fresh version of any direct dep at any
time without a code review on our side. With ranges, the malicious
mistralai 2.4.6 release would have been pulled by every fresh
'pip install -e .[all]' for the hours between upload and PyPI's
quarantine — exactly the install window we got hit on. Exact pins close
that window: the only way a new package version reaches a user is via
an intentional update on our end.
What the user-facing change is: nothing, behavior-wise. Every package
resolves to the same version it was already resolving to via uv.lock —
the pins just remove the resolver's freedom to pick a different one.
Cost: any user installing Hermes alongside another package that requires
a newer pin gets a resolver conflict. Acceptable for our isolated-venv
install path; documented in the new comment block.
Build-system requires line (setuptools>=61.0) is intentionally left
as a range — pinning the build backend would block fresh pip from
bootstrapping the build on architectures where that exact wheel isn't
available.
mistral extra (mistralai==2.3.0) is pinned but stays out of [all]
(per PR #24205). 'uv lock' regeneration will fail until PyPI restores
mistralai; lockfile regeneration is gated behind that, NOT on every PR.
LAZY_DEPS in tools/lazy_deps.py also moved to exact pins so the lazy-
install pathway can never resolve a different version than the one
declared in pyproject.toml.
Validation:
- Cross-checked all 77 pinned direct deps in pyproject.toml against
uv.lock — every pin matches the resolved version exactly.
- Cross-checked all LAZY_DEPS specs against uv.lock — same.
- 'uv pip install -e .[all] --dry-run' resolves 205 packages cleanly.
- tests/tools/test_lazy_deps.py + tests/hermes_cli/test_security_advisories.py
→ 63/63 passing (every shipped spec passes the safety regex).
- Doctor + TTS + transcription targeted suite → 146/146 passing.
* build(deps): hash-verify transitives via uv.lock; remove unresolvable [mistral] extra
You asked: 'what about the dependencies the dependencies rely on?' —
correctly noting that exact-pinning direct deps in pyproject.toml does
NOT cover the transitive graph. `pip install` and `uv pip install` both
re-resolve transitives fresh from PyPI at install time, so a compromised
transitive (e.g. `httpcore` if it got worm-poisoned tomorrow) would
still hit our users even with every direct dep exact-pinned.
# What this commit fixes
1. **Both real installer scripts now prefer `uv sync --locked` as Tier 0.**
uv.lock records SHA256 hashes for every transitive — a compromised
package with a different hash gets REJECTED. Falls through to the
existing `uv pip install` cascade if the lockfile is missing or
stale, with a loud warning that the fallback path does NOT
hash-verify transitives. Previously only `setup-hermes.sh` (the dev
path) used the lockfile; `scripts/install.sh` and `scripts/install.ps1`
(the paths fresh users actually run) skipped it.
2. **Removed the `[mistral]` extra entirely.** The `mistralai` PyPI
project is fully quarantined right now — every version returns 404,
so any pin we wrote was unresolvable, which broke `uv lock --check`
in CI. Restoration is documented in pyproject.toml as a 5-step
checklist (verify, re-add extra, re-enable in 4 modules, regenerate
lock, optionally re-add to [all]).
3. **Regenerated uv.lock.** 262 packages, mistralai/eval-type-backport/
jsonpath-python pruned. `uv lock --check` now passes.
# Defense-in-depth view
| Layer | Where | Protects against |
|----------------------------|-------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| Exact pins in pyproject | direct deps | new mistralai 2.4.6-style direct compromise |
| uv.lock + `--locked` install | transitive graph | transitive worm injection |
| Tier-0 hash-verified path | install.sh / .ps1 | actually USE the lockfile in fresh installs |
| `uv lock --check` CI gate | every PR | drift between pyproject and lockfile |
| `hermes_cli/security_advisories.py` | runtime | cleanup for users who already got hit |
The exact pinning + hash verification together close the supply-chain
gap. Without the lockfile path, exact pins alone are theater.
# Validation
- `uv lock --check` → passes (262 packages resolved, no drift).
- `bash -n` on install.sh + setup-hermes.sh → OK.
- 209/209 tests passing across new + adjacent test files
(test_lazy_deps.py, test_security_advisories.py, test_doctor.py,
test_tts_mistral.py, test_transcription_tools.py).
- TOML parse OK.
* chore: remove community announcement drafts (PR body covers it)
* build(deps): lazy-install every opt-in backend (anthropic, search, terminal, platforms, dashboard)
Extends the lazy-install framework to cover everything that's not used by
every hermes session. Base install drops from ~60 packages to 45.
Moved out of core dependencies = []:
- anthropic (only when provider=anthropic native, not via aggregators)
- exa-py, firecrawl-py, parallel-web (search backends; only when picked)
- fal-client (image gen; only when picked)
- edge-tts (default TTS but still optional)
New extras in pyproject.toml: [anthropic] [exa] [firecrawl] [parallel-web]
[fal] [edge-tts]. All added to [all].
New LAZY_DEPS entries: provider.anthropic, search.{exa,firecrawl,parallel},
tts.edge, image.fal, memory.hindsight, platform.{telegram,discord,matrix},
terminal.{modal,daytona,vercel}, tool.dashboard.
Each import site now calls ensure() before importing the SDK. Where the
module had a top-level try/except (telegram, discord, fastapi), the
graceful-fallback pattern was extended to lazy-install on first
check_*_requirements() call and re-bind module globals.
Updated test_windows_native_support.py tzdata check from snapshot
(>=2023.3 literal) to invariant (any version + win32 marker).
Validation:
- Base install: 45 packages (was ~60); 6 newly-extracted packages absent
- uv lock --check: passes (262 packages, no drift)
- 209/209 lazy_deps + advisory + doctor + tts/transcription tests passing
- py_compile clean on all 12 modified modules
When the installer is run via , uv resolves config file
paths against the process owner's (root) home directory rather than the
effective user's, causing a Permission denied error when trying to read
/root/uv.toml.
Setting UV_NO_CONFIG=1 prevents uv from discovering any config files
(uv.toml, pyproject.toml) during installation, which is the correct
behavior for a bootstrap script that manages its own environment.
Fixes#21269
- Regenerate uv.lock with sha256 hashes for all 2965 package artifacts
- Add python_version marker to yc-bench (requires >=3.12)
- Update setup-hermes.sh to prefer 'uv sync --locked' for hash-verified
installs, with fallback to 'uv pip install' when lockfile is stale
This completes the supply chain hardening: pyproject.toml bounds the
version ranges, and uv.lock pins exact versions with cryptographic
hashes so tampered packages are rejected at install time.
Drop the mini-swe-agent git submodule. All terminal backends now use
hermes-agent's own environment implementations directly.
Docker backend:
- Inline the `docker run -d` container startup (was 15 lines in
minisweagent's DockerEnvironment). Our wrapper already handled
execute(), cleanup(), security hardening, volumes, and resource limits.
Modal backend:
- Import swe-rex's ModalDeployment directly instead of going through
minisweagent's 90-line passthrough wrapper.
- Bake the _AsyncWorker pattern (from environments/patches.py) directly
into ModalEnvironment for Atropos compatibility without monkey-patching.
Cleanup:
- Remove minisweagent_path.py (submodule path resolution helper)
- Remove submodule init/install from install.sh and setup-hermes.sh
- Remove mini-swe-agent from .gitmodules
- environments/patches.py is now a no-op (kept for backward compat)
- terminal_tool.py no longer does sys.path hacking for minisweagent
- mini_swe_runner.py guards imports (optional, for RL training only)
- Update all affected tests to mock the new direct subprocess calls
- Update README.md, CONTRIBUTING.md
No functionality change — all Docker, Modal, local, SSH, Singularity,
and Daytona backends behave identically. 6093 tests pass.
litellm 1.82.7/1.82.8 contained a credential stealer (.pth auto-exec
payload). PyPI quarantined the entire package, blocking all fresh
hermes-agent installs since litellm was listed as a hard dependency.
These three deps (litellm, typer, platformdirs) are only used by the
mini-swe-agent submodule, which has its own pyproject.toml and manages
its own dependencies. They were redundantly duplicated in hermes-agent's
pyproject.toml.
Also fixes install.sh to not print 'mini-swe-agent installed' on
failure, and updates warning messages in both install scripts to clarify
that only Docker/Modal backends are affected — local terminal is
unaffected.
Ref: https://github.com/BerriAI/litellm/issues/24512
- Removed legacy cron daemon functionality, integrating cron job execution directly into the gateway process for improved efficiency.
- Updated CLI commands to reflect changes, replacing `hermes cron daemon` with `hermes cron status` and enhancing documentation for cron job management.
- Clarified messaging in the README and other documentation regarding the gateway's role in managing cron jobs.
- Removed obsolete terminal_hecate tool and related configurations to simplify the codebase.
- Updated the README to include a new banner image and changed the title emoji from 🦋 to ⚕.
- Modified various CLI outputs and scripts to reflect the new branding, ensuring consistency in the use of the ⚕ emoji.
- Added a new banner image asset for enhanced visual appeal during installation and setup processes.
- Added a new `skill_manager_tool` to enable agents to create, update, and delete their own skills, enhancing procedural memory capabilities.
- Updated the skills directory structure to support user-created skills in `~/.hermes/skills/`, allowing for better organization and management.
- Enhanced the CLI and documentation to reflect the new skill management functionalities, including detailed instructions on creating and modifying skills.
- Implemented a manifest-based syncing mechanism for bundled skills to ensure user modifications are preserved during updates.
- Integrated `uv` as a fast Python package manager for automatic Python provisioning and dependency management.
- Updated installation scripts (`setup-hermes.sh`, `install.sh`, `install.ps1`) to utilize `uv` for installing Python and packages, streamlining the setup process.
- Revised `README.md` to reflect changes in installation steps, including symlinking `hermes` for global access and clarifying Python version requirements.
- Adjusted commands in `doctor.py` and other scripts to recommend `uv` for package installations, ensuring consistency across the project.
- Added `prompt_toolkit` as a direct dependency for interactive CLI support.
- Updated `modal` optional dependency to require `swe-rex[modal]>=1.4.0` for improved cloud execution capabilities.
- Enhanced `messaging` optional dependencies to include `aiohttp>=3.9.0` for WhatsApp bridge communication.
- Refined installation scripts to check for Python version requirements, emphasizing the need for Python 3.11+ for RL training tools.
- Improved setup scripts to ensure proper installation of submodules and dependencies, enhancing user experience during setup.
- Introduced file manipulation capabilities in `model_tools.py`, including functions for reading, writing, patching, and searching files.
- Added a new `file` toolset in `toolsets.py` and updated distributions to include file tools.
- Enhanced `setup-hermes.sh` and `install.sh` scripts to check for and optionally install `ripgrep` for faster file searching.
- Implemented a new `file_operations.py` module to encapsulate file operations using shell commands.
- Updated `doctor.py` and `install.ps1` to check for `ripgrep` and provide installation guidance if not found.
- Added fuzzy matching and patch parsing capabilities to improve file manipulation accuracy and flexibility.
- Updated CLI to load configuration from user-specific and project-specific YAML files, prioritizing user settings.
- Introduced a new command `/platforms` to display the status of connected messaging platforms (Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp).
- Implemented a gateway system for handling messaging interactions, including session management and delivery routing for cron job outputs.
- Added support for environment variable configuration and a dedicated gateway configuration file for advanced settings.
- Enhanced documentation in README.md and added a new messaging.md file to guide users on platform integrations and setup.
- Updated toolsets to include platform-specific capabilities for Telegram, Discord, and WhatsApp, ensuring secure and tailored interactions.
- Updated `.env.example` to include `BROWSER_INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT` for auto-cleanup of inactive sessions.
- Enhanced `cli.py` to load the new inactivity timeout configuration into environment variables.
- Added background thread functionality in `browser_tool.py` to periodically clean up inactive browser sessions based on the configured timeout.
- Improved session management by tracking last activity timestamps and ensuring cleanup occurs when sessions exceed inactivity limits.
