From eb8aefc0fb17b74a22b3a2243c2a9f5f8efdc525 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Meta Vens <rwvens@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 2026 16:43:59 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] mind-body: directories the writer creates are 0755 ancestors
 included; the probe reports its sweeps

Under the binary's umask 077 a first write would have left /etc/gamecult/minds
0700 and unreadable by the units. The attacker reports how much it swept.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 crates/mind-body/src/control.rs   | 11 ++++++++++-
 crates/mind-body/tests/control.rs | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 38 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/crates/mind-body/src/control.rs b/crates/mind-body/src/control.rs
index f42dfc4..db3ad98 100644
--- a/crates/mind-body/src/control.rs
+++ b/crates/mind-body/src/control.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,13 @@
-//! The operator's brake and burn-rate dial, and the one reader of them.
+        // Every directory this write creates is 0755, ancestors included: a
+        // restrictive process umask would otherwise leave /etc/gamecult/minds
+        // untraversable by the units that only read.
+        let missing: Vec<&Path> = directory.ancestors().take_while(|ancestor| !ancestor.exists()).collect();
+        if !missing.is_empty() {
+            std::fs::create_dir_all(directory).with_context(|| format!("failed to create {}", directory.display()))?;
+            for created in missing {
+                set_mode(created, DIR_MODE)?;
+            }
+        }//! The operator's brake and burn-rate dial, and the one reader of them.
 //!
 //! State is a CultCache single-file store at
 //! `/etc/gamecult/minds/<instance>/control.cc`, root-owned and world-readable.
diff --git a/crates/mind-body/tests/control.rs b/crates/mind-body/tests/control.rs
index 8896b22..1d9131e 100644
--- a/crates/mind-body/tests/control.rs
+++ b/crates/mind-body/tests/control.rs
@@ -364,6 +364,7 @@ mod modes {
                 // Spins on an open-for-write of the live store; any success is a hit.
                 let stop = std::env::var("MIND_BODY_STOP").unwrap();
                 let started = std::time::Instant::now();
+                let (mut sweeps, mut seen) = (0u64, 0usize);
                 while !Path::new(&stop).exists() && started.elapsed() < Duration::from_secs(120) {
                     // The live store, and anything else in its directory (the staged
                     // file CultCache writes before its rename is the wider window).
@@ -372,6 +373,8 @@ mod modes {
                         if let Ok(entries) = std::fs::read_dir(path.parent().unwrap()) {
                             targets.extend(entries.flatten().map(|entry| entry.path()));
                         }
+                        sweeps += 1;
+                        seen = seen.max(targets.len());
                         for target in targets {
                             if std::fs::OpenOptions::new().write(true).open(&target).is_ok() {
                                 std::process::exit(3);
@@ -379,6 +382,7 @@ mod modes {
                         }
                     }
                 }
+                eprintln!("attacker: {sweeps} sweeps, at most {seen} entries seen");
             }
             "intruder" => {
                 assert!(ControlWriter::open(&path).and_then(|mut writer| writer.set_brake(false, at(1), "intruder")).is_err());
@@ -577,3 +581,27 @@ mod unsafe_installs {
         assert_eq!(attacker_status.code(), Some(0), "a non-root process opened the live store for write");
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(unix)]
+#[test]
+fn directories_the_writer_creates_are_0755_ancestors_included_under_a_restrictive_umask() {
+    use std::os::unix::fs::PermissionsExt;
+    let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+    let mode = |path: &Path| std::fs::metadata(path).unwrap().permissions().mode() & 0o777;
+    let top = dir.path().join("gamecult");
+    let path = top.join("minds").join("eureka").join("control.cc");
+    // Create nothing but run the writer; the umask is the test process's own, so
+    // the child role does the write under 077.
+    let status = std::process::Command::new("sh")
+        .args(["-c", "umask 077; exec \"$@\" --exact modes::mode_child --nocapture", "sh"])
+        .arg(std::env::current_exe().unwrap())
+        .env("MIND_BODY_MODE_CHILD", "brake")
+        .env("MIND_BODY_MODE_ROOT", top.join("minds"))
+        .status()
+        .unwrap();
+    assert!(status.success());
+    assert!(path.exists());
+    for created in [&top, &top.join("minds"), &top.join("minds").join("eureka")] {
+        assert_eq!(mode(created), 0o755, "{}", created.display());
+    }
+}