Change formatting to prevent UI redressing attacks (#17611)

packages/cli/src/services/FileCommandLoader.ts

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ import {
   ShellProcessor,
 } from './prompt-processors/shellProcessor.js';
 import { AtFileProcessor } from './prompt-processors/atFileProcessor.js';
-import { sanitizeForListDisplay } from '../ui/utils/textUtils.js';
+import { sanitizeForDisplay } from '../ui/utils/textUtils.js';
 
 interface CommandDirectory {
   path: string;
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ export class FileCommandLoader implements ICommandLoader {
     const defaultDescription = `Custom command from ${path.basename(filePath)}`;
     let description = validDef.description || defaultDescription;
 
-    description = sanitizeForListDisplay(description, 100);
+    description = sanitizeForDisplay(description, 100);
 
     if (extensionName) {
       description = `[${extensionName}] ${description}`;

packages/cli/src/ui/components/Help.tsx

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { Box, Text } from 'ink';
 import { theme } from '../semantic-colors.js';
 import { type SlashCommand, CommandKind } from '../commands/types.js';
 import { KEYBOARD_SHORTCUTS_URL } from '../constants.js';
-import { sanitizeForListDisplay } from '../utils/textUtils.js';
+import { sanitizeForDisplay } from '../utils/textUtils.js';
 
 interface Help {
   commands: readonly SlashCommand[];
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ export const Help: React.FC<Help> = ({ commands }) => (
               <Text color={theme.text.secondary}> [MCP]</Text>
             )}
             {command.description &&
-              ' - ' + sanitizeForListDisplay(command.description, 100)}
+              ' - ' + sanitizeForDisplay(command.description, 100)}
           </Text>
           {command.subCommands &&
             command.subCommands
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ export const Help: React.FC<Help> = ({ commands }) => (
                     {subCommand.name}
                   </Text>
                   {subCommand.description &&
-                    ' - ' + sanitizeForListDisplay(subCommand.description, 100)}
+                    ' - ' + sanitizeForDisplay(subCommand.description, 100)}
                 </Text>
               ))}
         </Box>

packages/cli/src/ui/components/SuggestionsDisplay.tsx

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { theme } from '../semantic-colors.js';
 import { ExpandableText, MAX_WIDTH } from './shared/ExpandableText.js';
 import { CommandKind } from '../commands/types.js';
 import { Colors } from '../colors.js';
-import { sanitizeForListDisplay } from '../utils/textUtils.js';
+import { sanitizeForDisplay } from '../utils/textUtils.js';
 
 export interface Suggestion {
   label: string;
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ export function SuggestionsDisplay({
             {suggestion.description && (
               <Box flexGrow={1} paddingLeft={3}>
                 <Text color={textColor} wrap="truncate">
-                  {sanitizeForListDisplay(suggestion.description, 100)}
+                  {sanitizeForDisplay(suggestion.description, 100)}
                 </Text>
               </Box>
             )}

packages/cli/src/ui/components/messages/ToolConfirmationMessage.tsx

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import type { RadioSelectItem } from '../shared/RadioButtonSelect.js';
 import { useToolActions } from '../../contexts/ToolActionsContext.js';
 import { RadioButtonSelect } from '../shared/RadioButtonSelect.js';
 import { MaxSizedBox, MINIMUM_MAX_HEIGHT } from '../shared/MaxSizedBox.js';
+import { sanitizeForDisplay } from '../../utils/textUtils.js';
 import { useKeypress } from '../../hooks/useKeypress.js';
 import { theme } from '../../semantic-colors.js';
 import { useSettings } from '../../contexts/SettingsContext.js';
@@ -257,7 +258,7 @@ export const ToolConfirmationMessage: React.FC<
       if (executionProps.commands && executionProps.commands.length > 1) {
         question = `Allow execution of ${executionProps.commands.length} commands?`;
       } else {
-        question = `Allow execution of: '${executionProps.rootCommand}'?`;
+        question = `Allow execution of: '${sanitizeForDisplay(executionProps.rootCommand)}'?`;
       }
     } else if (confirmationDetails.type === 'info') {
       question = `Do you want to proceed?`;
@@ -346,7 +347,7 @@ export const ToolConfirmationMessage: React.FC<
             <Box flexDirection="column">
               {commandsToDisplay.map((cmd, idx) => (
                 <Text key={idx} color={theme.text.link}>
-                  {cmd}
+                  {sanitizeForDisplay(cmd)}
                 </Text>
               ))}
             </Box>

packages/cli/src/ui/utils/textUtils.test.ts

@@ -13,31 +13,34 @@ import {
   escapeAnsiCtrlCodes,
   stripUnsafeCharacters,
   getCachedStringWidth,
-  sanitizeForListDisplay,
+  sanitizeForDisplay,
 } from './textUtils.js';
 
 describe('textUtils', () => {
   describe('sanitizeForListDisplay', () => {
     it('should strip ANSI codes and replace newlines/tabs with spaces', () => {
       const input = '\u001b[31mLine 1\nLine 2\tTabbed\r\nEnd\u001b[0m';
-      expect(sanitizeForListDisplay(input)).toBe('Line 1 Line 2 Tabbed End');
+      expect(sanitizeForDisplay(input)).toBe('Line 1 Line 2 Tabbed End');
     });
 
     it('should collapse multiple consecutive whitespace characters into a single space', () => {
       const input = 'Multiple \n\n newlines and \t\t tabs';
-      expect(sanitizeForListDisplay(input)).toBe('Multiple newlines and tabs');
+      expect(sanitizeForDisplay(input)).toBe('Multiple newlines and tabs');
     });
 
     it('should truncate long strings', () => {
       const longInput = 'a'.repeat(50);
-      expect(sanitizeForListDisplay(longInput, 20)).toBe(
-        'a'.repeat(17) + '...',
-      );
+      expect(sanitizeForDisplay(longInput, 20)).toBe('a'.repeat(17) + '...');
     });
 
     it('should handle empty or null input', () => {
-      expect(sanitizeForListDisplay('')).toBe('');
-      expect(sanitizeForListDisplay(null as unknown as string)).toBe('');
+      expect(sanitizeForDisplay('')).toBe('');
+      expect(sanitizeForDisplay(null as unknown as string)).toBe('');
+    });
+
+    it('should strip control characters like backspace', () => {
+      const input = 'Hello\x08 World';
+      expect(sanitizeForDisplay(input)).toBe('Hello World');
     });
   });
 

packages/cli/src/ui/utils/textUtils.ts

@@ -124,18 +124,16 @@ export function stripUnsafeCharacters(str: string): string {
 }
 
 /**
- * Sanitize a string for display in list-like UI components (e.g. Help, Suggestions).
- * Removes ANSI codes, collapses whitespace characters into a single space, and optionally truncates.
+ * Sanitize a string for display in inline UI components (e.g. Help, Suggestions).
+ * Removes ANSI codes, dangerous control characters, collapses whitespace
+ * characters into a single space, and optionally truncates.
  */
-export function sanitizeForListDisplay(
-  str: string,
-  maxLength?: number,
-): string {
+export function sanitizeForDisplay(str: string, maxLength?: number): string {
   if (!str) {
     return '';
   }
 
-  let sanitized = stripAnsi(str).replace(/\s+/g, ' ');
+  let sanitized = stripUnsafeCharacters(str).replace(/\s+/g, ' ');
 
   if (maxLength && sanitized.length > maxLength) {
     sanitized = sanitized.substring(0, maxLength - 3) + '...';