ssh-mcp 2.11.0 → 2.13.0

package/build/policy/classifier.js

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { AWK_NAMES, readAwkInvocation } from './awk.js';
+import { matchesGrammar } from './reader-grammar.js';
 /**
  * Anything through which the shell can start a second command.
  *
@@ -17,18 +18,525 @@ import { AWK_NAMES, readAwkInvocation } from './awk.js';
  * write: run-command still accepts it under policy.
  */
 const SHELL_CONTROL_CHARS = /[;&|<>`$(){}\n\r]/;
-const READ_ONLY_ALLOWLIST = new Set([
-    'ls', 'cat', 'grep', 'find', 'stat', 'df', 'du', 'head', 'tail', 'wc',
-    'ps', 'uname', 'uptime', 'hostname', 'id', 'who', 'whoami', 'date',
-    'printenv', 'pwd', 'echo', 'printf', 'test', 'true', 'false',
-    'which', 'whereis', 'file', 'readlink', 'realpath', 'basename', 'dirname',
-    'seq', 'sort', 'uniq', 'cut', 'tr', 'diff', 'comm',
-    'systemctl status', 'journalctl', 'docker ps', 'docker logs', 'docker inspect',
-    'docker stats', 'docker images', 'free', 'top', 'htop', 'iostat', 'vmstat',
-    'netstat', 'ss', 'ifconfig', 'ip addr', 'ip route', 'arp', 'dig', 'nslookup',
-    'host', 'ping', 'traceroute', 'git status', 'git log',
-    'git diff', 'git branch', 'git show', 'git remote',
-]);
+/**
+ * The first word in `command` carrying an unquoted, unescaped shell glob
+ * character — `*`, `?` or `[` — or null when no word does.
+ *
+ * A glob character is not a shell control character (it starts no command),
+ * so `SHELL_CONTROL_CHARS` rightly ignores it — but the host shell expands
+ * it before the binary sees argv, and the grammar matcher reads dequoted
+ * words, where `find -name '*.conf'` and `find -name *.conf` have become the
+ * same string. They are not the same command: the quoted word is one operand
+ * of data, the unquoted one expands to every matching filename and turns one
+ * counted operand into several real ones (`uniq /root/.ssh/id_ed25519*`
+ * counted one operand; measured on debian:12, the expansion made the `.pub`
+ * uniq's OUTFILE and it was overwritten with the private key). This scan
+ * keeps the tokeniser's own quote and escape state, so the judgement happens
+ * at the one layer that can still tell the two apart.
+ *
+ * Deliberately word-scoped and whole-command: a glob inside `$()` or
+ * backticks never reaches this helper's caller (those carry
+ * SHELL_CONTROL_CHARS and return early), and a glob in the command word
+ * itself makes the allowlist lookup miss, so the caller — the allowlist
+ * branch, which only runs when the command words matched a READERS key
+ * exactly — never sees one either.
+ */
+function firstUnquotedGlobWord(command, honorQuotes = true) {
+    let quote = null;
+    let escaped = false;
+    let word = '';
+    let globInWord = false;
+    for (const ch of command) {
+        if (escaped) {
+            // A backslash-quoted glob character is data the shell passes through.
+            word += ch;
+            escaped = false;
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (quote) {
+            // Backslash is literal inside single quotes; inside double quotes it
+            // escapes — the same distinction the tokeniser makes.
+            if (ch === '\\' && quote === '"') {
+                escaped = true;
+                continue;
+            }
+            if (ch === quote)
+                quote = null;
+            else
+                word += ch;
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (ch === '\\') {
+            escaped = true;
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (honorQuotes && (ch === '"' || ch === "'")) {
+            quote = ch;
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (/\s/.test(ch)) {
+            if (globInWord)
+                return word;
+            word = '';
+            globInWord = false;
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (ch === '*' || ch === '?' || ch === '[')
+            globInWord = true;
+        word += ch;
+    }
+    // A quote left open at the end is not a command a shell would run, and the
+    // tokeniser re-reads such a string with quotes demoted to text (see
+    // `tokenizeSegmentsDetailed`). Judge it the same way here: in that reading
+    // the glob character is unquoted.
+    if (honorQuotes && quote !== null)
+        return firstUnquotedGlobWord(command, false);
+    return globInWord ? word : null;
+}
+/**
+ * The binaries this classifier will vouch for, and what it vouches for about them.
+ *
+ * Three questions, kept apart because one Set answering all of them is how #217
+ * turned the interpreter carrier scan off for two verbs by adding them to a list
+ * about classes:
+ *
+ *   readOnly         does this binary only read?  -> decides the class
+ *   operandsAreData  can its operands hide a command?  -> decides whether the
+ *                    carrier scan runs
+ *   grammar          which of its argv words does `matchesGrammar` accept?  ->
+ *                    decides `read-only` versus `safe`
+ *
+ * `readOnly` and `operandsAreData` are `true` for every entry today. The value is
+ * not the contents but that the type will not let the next person add a name
+ * without answering all three.
+ *
+ * `grammar` decides only that one boundary, not the class outright: a command
+ * whose grammar rejects falls no lower than `safe`, and `DISQUALIFYING_ARGS`
+ * still runs before the allowlist branch, so it can still raise a rejected — or
+ * an accepted — reader past `safe` (`sort -o /tmp/x /etc/passwd` is
+ * `destructive` regardless of what `sort`'s grammar says). An `'any'` grammar
+ * accepts every word and carries an `audit` string saying why that trust is
+ * believed sound; every other entry lists the flags and operand shape its
+ * grammar accepts, and starts with none of either — see `reader-grammar.ts`.
+ *
+ * Two mechanisms answer the second question outside this table and are not
+ * affected by it — `DISQUALIFYING_ARGS` and `FIND_EXEC_FLAGS` — which is why
+ * `find` can carry `operandsAreData: true` while `find … -exec sudo id +` is
+ * still `privileged`.
+ *
+ * The two-word entries are looked up only for the class: `operandsAreData` reads
+ * a single word, so those rows never reach the second question. Their `grammar`
+ * reads the words after the two-word prefix (`classifyOuter` applies the offset).
+ */
+const READERS = {
+    // arp: `-a`/`-e`/`-n`/`-v` only display; `-H`/`-t` (hardware type) and `-i`
+    // (interface) filter the display, not set anything. Excludes `-d` (deletes an
+    // entry), `-s`/`-S` (adds one — BSD man synopsis) and `-f` (loads entries from
+    // a file — net-tools arp(8)). Measured: busybox --help + `arp -a`; macOS man
+    // arp read; net-tools arp(8) documented only (die.net). Windows 11 build
+    // 26200 measurement: `arp.exe` accepts the slash form (`/a` measured),
+    // `/d`/`/s` inferred (not run — a state-changing form is never executed to
+    // confirm it) as delete/add. A `/X` switch is an operand under this POSIX
+    // grammar and cannot be told apart from a path like `/etc`; `each` refuses
+    // any single-segment `/word` operand, with or without a trailing slash
+    // (see the design's Windows section) — the trailing-slash tolerance of
+    // `arp /d/`-style forms cannot be measured without running a state-changing
+    // form, so it is refused fail-closed. The cost is that a legitimate
+    // slash-form display like `arp /a` also falls to `safe`.
+    "arp": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-a', '-e', '-n', '-v'],
+            valueFlags: ['-H', '-t', '-i'],
+            operands: { max: 1, each: /^(?!\/[^/]*\/?$)/ } } },
+    "basename": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: pure string manipulation of its argument; no filesystem access at all' } },
+    "cat": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: "measured GNU/busybox/BSD: writes file contents to stdout; BSD's -l is a transient advisory lock on cat's own stdout fd, not a lasting write, and clears at exit" } },
+    "comm": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: compares two sorted files and prints the differences; no output-file operand or flag' } },
+    "cut": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: "measured GNU/BSD: extracts byte/field ranges to stdout; --output-delimiter only changes what's printed, not where" } },
+    // date: `-u`/`--utc`/`--universal` and `-R`/`--rfc-2822`/`--rfc-email` only
+    // change display format; `-r`/`--reference` reads a file's mtime (GNU) or an
+    // epoch value (BSD); `--rfc-3339` picks a display format; `-v` (BSD) only
+    // shows the adjusted time ("not actually set", man). `-I`/`--iso-8601` is
+    // optional-value (getopt's `::`): it IS listed, in `optionalValueFlags`, so a
+    // bare `-I`/`--iso-8601` or an attached form (`-Iseconds`, `--iso-8601=date`)
+    // stays read-only — the matcher just never consumes a following SEPARATE
+    // word as its value. A bare `+FMT` operand is accepted (`max: 1`, `each:
+    // /^\+/`); excludes `-s`/`--set` (sets the clock),
+    // `-d`/`--date` (read the same way on GNU/busybox but historically set the
+    // kernel DST flag on BSD — man HISTORY / FreeBSD "added and then removed
+    // again" — dropped because implementations disagree) and BSD-only
+    // `-D`/`-f`/`-j`/`-n`. Measured: GNU d12+trixie --help, busybox (`date -d
+    // 2020-01-01` displayed), macOS man; FreeBSD date(1) documented only.
+    "date": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-u', '--utc', '--universal', '-R', '--rfc-2822', '--rfc-email'],
+            valueFlags: ['-r', '--reference', '--rfc-3339', '-v'],
+            optionalValueFlags: ['-I', '--iso-8601'],
+            operands: { max: 1, each: /^\+/ } } },
+    "df": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/busybox/BSD: reports space usage read from mounted filesystems; --output= selects columns to print, not a file' } },
+    // diff: comparison/output-format flags only, plus value flags that read or
+    // match (`-D`/`--ifdef` merges to stdout, not a file). `-C`/`-U` ARE
+    // required-value (`valueFlags`) — GNU, BSD and busybox all take the short
+    // form with a count, attached or as a separate word; only the long
+    // spellings `--context`/`--unified`/`--color` are optional-value
+    // (`optionalValueFlags`: bare or `=value`, never a separate word). Moved
+    // here from the design round's 'any' guess: `-l`/`--paginate` pipes output
+    // through
+    // `/usr/bin/pr` — measured on debian:12, removing `/usr/bin/pr` turns it into
+    // "subsidiary program '/usr/bin/pr' not found", and it runs the absolute path
+    // regardless of PATH, so it is excluded rather than listed. Measured: GNU
+    // --help (d12 + trixie 3.10) and the -l behaviour; BSD man (also has -l);
+    // busybox --help (no -l).
+    "diff": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-q', '--brief', '-s', '--report-identical-files', '-c', '-u', '-e', '--ed', '-n', '--rcs',
+                '-y', '--side-by-side', '--left-column', '--suppress-common-lines', '-p', '--show-c-function',
+                '-t', '--expand-tabs', '-T', '--initial-tab', '--suppress-blank-empty', '-r', '--recursive',
+                '--no-dereference', '-N', '--new-file', '--unidirectional-new-file', '--ignore-file-name-case',
+                '--no-ignore-file-name-case', '-i', '--ignore-case', '-E', '--ignore-tab-expansion', '-b',
+                '--ignore-space-change', '-w', '--ignore-all-space', '-B', '--ignore-blank-lines', '-a', '--text',
+                '--strip-trailing-cr', '-d', '--minimal'],
+            valueFlags: ['-C', '-U', '-W', '--width', '--tabsize', '-F', '--show-function-line', '-I',
+                '--ignore-matching-lines', '-D', '--ifdef', '--label', '-x', '--exclude', '-X', '--exclude-from',
+                '-S', '--starting-file', '--from-file', '--to-file', '--line-format'],
+            optionalValueFlags: ['--context', '--unified', '--color'],
+            operands: { max: 2 } } },
+    "dig": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured BIND 9.10.6 (BSD): sends a DNS query and prints the answer; writes nothing locally (DNS egress tracked separately)' } },
+    "dirname": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: pure string manipulation of its argument; no filesystem access at all' } },
+    "docker images": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured docker CLI 29.7.2 --help: lists local images from the daemon; every option only changes what is listed, no state change' } }, // two-word: class only
+    "docker inspect": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: "measured docker CLI 29.7.2 --help: prints low-level JSON about an object; no state change" } }, // two-word: class only
+    "docker logs": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: "measured docker CLI 29.7.2 --help: prints a container's captured output; no state change" } }, // two-word: class only
+    "docker ps": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured docker CLI 29.7.2 --help: lists containers; no state change' } }, // two-word: class only
+    "docker stats": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured docker CLI 29.7.2 --help: streams live resource-usage numbers; no state change' } }, // two-word: class only
+    "du": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/busybox/BSD: walks a directory tree and reports disk usage; no write mode' } },
+    "echo": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: writes its arguments to stdout only; a file write needs shell redirection, which the outer gate already refuses' } },
+    "false": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU: exits 1 immediately; no I/O of any kind' } },
+    // file: display/format flags, plus value flags that name what to read (a list
+    // of files, a magic database, an exclusion). Excludes `-C`/`--compile`, which
+    // was **measured to write**: on the local macOS file 5.41, `file -C -m
+    // /usr/share/file/magic/magic` created `magic.mgc` (2256 bytes) in a
+    // throwaway directory. GNU is documented only (file(1), die.net 5.04: "-C …
+    // is the only option that creates a file") — GNU file is absent from every
+    // measured image (see spec Question 3). Also excludes `-z`/`-Z`
+    // (uncompress/uncompress-noreport — audit.md lists them as no-value):
+    // libmagic may run an external decompressor program when it isn't built
+    // against the matching decompression library (documented, not measured;
+    // the contract forbids executing another program), so they stay off this
+    // list even though audit.md's own per-entry table has them. No
+    // optional-value option in this set; `-p`/`--preserve-date` is excluded as
+    // unnecessary rather than unsafe.
+    "file": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-b', '--brief', '-c', '--checking-printout', '-i', '--mime', '--mime-type', '--mime-encoding',
+                '-k', '--keep-going', '-L', '--dereference', '-h', '--no-dereference', '-n', '--no-buffer',
+                '-r', '--raw', '-s', '--special-files', '-0', '--print0'],
+            valueFlags: ['-f', '--files-from', '-m', '--magic-file', '-M', '-e', '--exclude', '-F', '--separator'] } },
+    // find: `exact` because find parses its own predicates rather than through
+    // getopt and recognises no clustering or abbreviation — measured, `find .
+    // -exe` is "unknown predicate `-exe`". No-value predicates/operators plus
+    // value predicates that read metadata to test against; `-printf` writes to
+    // stdout, not a file (its file-writing sibling `-fprintf` is excluded, see
+    // below). Excludes the writing/executing family — `-delete`, `-exec`,
+    // `-execdir`, `-ok`, `-okdir` (also caught by DISQUALIFYING_ARGS first),
+    // `-fprint`, `-fprint0`, `-fprintf`, `-fls` (write to a file) — and a handful
+    // of read-only-but-unnecessary predicates left out rather than
+    // exhaustively listed (`-files0-from`, `-quit`, `-prune`, `-fstype`,
+    // `-newerXY`, `-regextype`, `-D`). No operand rule: start paths and `(`/`)`
+    // pass through as operands, and the Windows `find.exe` measurement in the
+    // design round found it read-only, so no `each` rule is needed here.
+    // Measured: GNU d12 --help; busybox (`find /tmp/t -name '*.conf' -type f`
+    // ran; `-ls`/`-printf` are absent from busybox find, which refuses them
+    // itself, fail-closed); BSD man.
+    "find": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'exact',
+            flags: ['-H', '-L', '-P', '-print', '-print0', '-ls', '-not', '-a', '-and', '-o', '-or', '-true', '-false',
+                '-empty', '-xdev', '-mount', '-depth', '-daystart', '-executable', '-readable', '-writable'],
+            valueFlags: ['-name', '-iname', '-path', '-ipath', '-wholename', '-iwholename', '-regex', '-iregex',
+                '-type', '-perm', '-user', '-group', '-uid', '-gid', '-size', '-mtime', '-mmin', '-atime', '-amin',
+                '-ctime', '-cmin', '-newer', '-anewer', '-cnewer', '-links', '-inum', '-maxdepth', '-mindepth',
+                '-printf'] } },
+    "free": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured busybox; documented (procps free(1)): reports memory usage parsed from /proc; every option only changes units or format' } },
+    // git branch: listing/display flags plus optional-value flags kept out of
+    // valueFlags (rule 1; `--contains HEAD`'s operand is refused by `max: 0`
+    // anyway — an accepted cost). `--sort=<key>` is the one required-value flag.
+    // `max: 0` excludes the operand form: a bare `git branch NAME` CREATES a
+    // branch (measured, `refs/heads/side` was created), so no operand budget is
+    // safe to grant here. Excludes `-d`/`-D` (deletes; `git branch -D main`
+    // measured elsewhere in this advisory round), `-m`/`-M` (moves/renames —
+    // already blocked by `max: 0` since both need an operand) and
+    // `--edit-description` (opens an editor). Measured: git 2.55.0 on macOS
+    // (`git branch side` + `git for-each-ref`; `--help`).
+    "git branch": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-a', '--all', '-r', '--remotes', '-v', '--verbose', '-q', '--quiet', '--list', '--show-current'],
+            valueFlags: ['--sort'],
+            optionalValueFlags: ['--color', '--contains', '--merged', '--no-merged'],
+            operands: { max: 0 } } },
+    // git diff: display/format flags, plus `-M`/`--find-renames`,
+    // `-C`/`--find-copies`, `-U`/`--unified`, `--color`, `--word-diff` and
+    // `--stat` as optional-value (`optionalValueFlags`): `-U5` and `--unified=5` both stay
+    // read-only (the attached value is fine); only a following SEPARATE word is
+    // never consumed as the value, which is why the plain `-u` still exists as
+    // the no-value form. `--diff-filter`/`-S`/`-G`/`-O` all read or search, never
+    // write. No operand
+    // rule (revision/path). Excludes `--output` — **measured to write**: on a
+    // scratch checkout, `git diff --output=diffout.txt` created a 93-byte file
+    // (the design round had this only as documented). Measured: git 2.55.0.
+    "git diff": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-p', '-u', '--patch', '--name-only', '--name-status', '--cached', '--staged', '--raw', '-w',
+                '--ignore-all-space', '-b', '--ignore-space-change', '--summary', '--shortstat', '--exit-code',
+                '--quiet', '-R', '--no-color', '--first-parent'],
+            valueFlags: ['--diff-filter', '-S', '-G', '-O'],
+            optionalValueFlags: ['-M', '--find-renames', '-C', '--find-copies', '-U', '--unified', '--color',
+                '--word-diff', '--stat'] } },
+    // git log: display/format flags, plus optional-value flags kept out of
+    // valueFlags (rule 1). No operand rule (revision/path, including anything
+    // after `--`). Excludes `--output` — **measured to write**: `git log
+    // --output=out.txt HEAD` created a 113-byte file on a scratch checkout
+    // (`.git/index` unchanged). `numericShort: true` is required because the
+    // corpus needs `git log --oneline -20`: git's own `-<n>` revision-limit
+    // shortcut is scanned character by character by real getopt, so no
+    // `flags`/`valueFlags` entry can name the word `-20` itself — this is the
+    // matcher capability the design round's audit asked for, harmless for `git
+    // show` too. Measured: git 2.55.0 (`git log --oneline` called; index
+    // unchanged).
+    "git log": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['--oneline', '--graph', '--all', '-p', '-u', '--patch', '--name-only', '--name-status',
+                '--abbrev-commit', '--relative-date', '--reverse', '--topo-order', '--date-order', '--parents',
+                '--merges', '--no-merges'],
+            valueFlags: ['-n', '--max-count', '--since', '--until', '--author', '--grep', '--date', '-S', '-G',
+                '--skip'],
+            optionalValueFlags: ['--pretty', '--format', '--decorate', '--branches', '--tags', '--remotes',
+                '--stat', '-L'],
+            numericShort: true } },
+    // git remote: `-v`/`--verbose` and the two verbose-adjacent no-value flags
+    // only display. `first: ['get-url']`, `max: 2` — a bare `git remote`
+    // and `git remote -v` are both valid (0 operands). `show` was removed from
+    // `first` by the final review: `git remote show <URL>` accepts a URL
+    // (measured, git 2.55.0) and runs ssh / `git-remote-<helper>` against the
+    // caller-chosen target, so the subcommand is excluded and a viewer loses
+    // `git remote show origin` (priced cost). Excludes `add` (writes
+    // config — measured, `git remote add` wrote `[remote "origin"]` into
+    // `.git/config`), `rename`, `remove`/`rm`, `set-url`, `set-head` (all write),
+    // `prune` (deletes remote-tracking refs) and `update` (fetches — changes
+    // refs). Measured: git 2.55.0.
+    "git remote": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-v', '--verbose', '-n', '--push'],
+            operands: { max: 2, first: ['get-url'] } } },
+    // git show: display/format flags, plus `--pretty`, `--format`, `--decorate`
+    // and `--stat` as optional-value (`optionalValueFlags`: bare or `=value`, a
+    // following separate word is never consumed) and `--date` as the one
+    // required-value flag. No operand rule (HEAD, commit, tag, …). Excludes
+    // `--output` — same write measured for `git log`/`git diff`, same option
+    // family. `numericShort: true` for the same `-<n>` shortcut `git log` needs
+    // (`git show -3`). Measured: git 2.55.0 (the sibling `--output` write was
+    // re-measured this round).
+    "git show": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-s', '--no-patch', '--name-only', '--name-status', '--oneline', '--abbrev-commit', '--raw'],
+            valueFlags: ['--date'],
+            optionalValueFlags: ['--pretty', '--format', '--decorate', '--stat'],
+            numericShort: true } },
+    "git status": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured git 2.55.0: opportunistically refreshes cached stat data in .git/index when stale; writes no content, ref or config; host can disable via GIT_OPTIONAL_LOCKS=0' } }, // two-word: class only
+    "grep": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/busybox/BSD: searches input for a pattern and prints matches; no option writes a file or runs a program' } },
+    "head": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/busybox/BSD: prints the first lines of a file; no write mode' } },
+    "host": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured BIND 9.10.6 (BSD): sends a DNS query and prints the answer; writes nothing locally (DNS egress tracked separately)' } },
+    // hostname: display flags only, no value flags. `operands: { max: 0 }` — a
+    // bare `hostname NAME` SETS the hostname on every implementation (GNU --help
+    // usage line, busybox `[-sidf] [HOSTNAME | -F FILE]`, BSD man), so no operand
+    // budget above zero is safe. Excludes `-F`/`--file` (sets from a file),
+    // `-b`/`--boot` (sets a default hostname when none is configured — GNU
+    // --help) and `-y`/`--yp`/`--nis` (sets the NIS domain via an operand `max:
+    // 0` already refuses — left out as unnecessary rather than unsafe). Measured:
+    // GNU hostname 3.21/3.25 --help; busybox (`hostname -s`); macOS man (`[-f]
+    // [-s | -d]`).
+    "hostname": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-a', '--alias', '-A', '--all-fqdns', '-d', '--domain', '-f', '--fqdn', '--long', '-i',
+                '--ip-address', '-I', '--all-ip-addresses', '-s', '--short'],
+            operands: { max: 0 } } },
+    "htop": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: "documented (htop(1) + FILES section, 2.x/3.x): no CLI option writes or executes; kill/renice are interactive keys (F7/F8/F9), unreachable by a read-only caller; ~/.config/htop/htoprc is written only after an interactive Setup change on clean exit; not measured — htop is absent from every image and from macOS" } },
+    "id": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: "measured GNU/BSD: prints the caller's uid/gid/groups; no write mode" } },
+    // ifconfig: display flags/filters only (BSD's `-l -m -d -u -v -L -r -C`
+    // format the listing), plus a BSD output-format value flag. `operands: { max:
+    // 1 }` — a bare `ifconfig eth0` only SHOWS that interface's status; a second
+    // operand (address, `up`/`down`, `netmask`, `hw`, `mtu`, `add`/`del`,
+    // `destroy`, …) configures it and is refused. `optionsBeforeOperands:
+    // true` (final-review fix): BSD ifconfig reads options only before the
+    // interface operand, and macOS accepts the same letters after it as
+    // interface settings — `ifconfig en0 -av`/`-dad` change settings from
+    // letters this grammar lists — so an option-looking word after the operand
+    // is refused rather than read as a listed flag. Measured: busybox --help +
+    // `ifconfig -a` (usage line is `[-a] [IFACE] [ADDRESS]` — everything from
+    // ADDRESS on is a write); BSD man synopsis; net-tools ifconfig(8) documented
+    // only ("Otherwise, it configures the interface").
+    "ifconfig": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-a', '-s', '-l', '-m', '-d', '-u', '-v', '-L', '-r', '-C'],
+            valueFlags: ['-f'],
+            optionsBeforeOperands: true,
+            operands: { max: 1 } } },
+    "iostat": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured busybox; documented (sysstat iostat(1)): reports kernel I/O statistics; no write mode' } },
+    // ip addr: no options at all — a global flag like `-4`/`-6`/`-o` sits before
+    // the two-word prefix, so `ip -4 addr show` never even reaches the two-word
+    // match and is refused visibly (accepted cost). `first: ['show', 'list']`:
+    // "add"/"del"/"flush" cannot be the first operand; after `show`/`list`,
+    // operands like `dev eth0`, `to PREFIX`, `label`, `scope` are free, and a
+    // bare `ip addr` is valid (vacuous `first`). Abbreviations (`ip a`, `ip ad
+    // sh`) are documented in GNU but refused here since the grammar requires the
+    // full two words — accepted cost. Measured: busybox (`ip addr show`, `ip
+    // addr list`, bare `ip addr` all ran); GNU ip(8) documented only (man7: "show
+    // (or list)").
+    "ip addr": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'exact', operands: { first: ['show', 'list'] } } }, // two-word: class only
+    // ip route: `first: ['show', 'list', 'get']` — `get ADDR` is a read-only
+    // query (ip-route(8): "no packets are actually sent"). Excludes `add`,
+    // `del`, `change`, `append`, `replace`, `flush`, `restore` (all write) and
+    // `save` (dumps to stdout, but its sibling `restore` writes, so the verb pair
+    // is left out entirely rather than split). Measured: busybox (`ip route
+    // list`, `ip route show` ran; `ip route get 10.0.0.1` queried without
+    // writing); GNU ip(8) + ip-route(8) documented only.
+    "ip route": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'exact', operands: { first: ['show', 'list', 'get'] } } }, // two-word: class only
+    // journalctl: display/filter flags, plus `-n`/`--lines`, `-b`/`--boot` and
+    // `--facility` as optional-value (`optionalValueFlags`; journalctl(1): the
+    // argument may be omitted) — a bare word or an attached form (`-b1`,
+    // `--boot=2`) stays read-only, but the matcher never consumes a following
+    // SEPARATE word as the value, so `-b -1` still refuses on the unrecognised
+    // `-1` (an accepted cost, not a claim that every attached spelling is
+    // refused). No operand rule (unit names/match patterns — reads). Excludes
+    // the archive-mutating
+    // family — `--vacuum-time`/`--vacuum-size` (deletes archived journals;
+    // `--vacuum-time=1s` measured destructive elsewhere in this advisory round),
+    // `--rotate` (measured elsewhere too), `--flush`/`--sync`/`--relinquish-var`
+    // (redirect the daemon's disk writes), `--setup-keys` (generates FSS keys)
+    // and `--verify`/`--verify-key`/`--root` (left out as unnecessary). Entirely
+    // documented only — journalctl(1) (man7, systemd 262~devel) — journalctl is
+    // absent from every measured image and from macOS.
+    "journalctl": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-f', '--follow', '-e', '--pager-end', '-r', '--reverse', '-k', '--dmesg', '-q', '--quiet',
+                '-x', '--catalog', '-a', '--all', '-l', '--full', '-m', '--merge', '--no-pager', '--no-hostname',
+                '--no-tail', '--disk-usage', '--header', '--list-boots', '--system', '--user'],
+            valueFlags: ['-u', '--unit', '--since', '--until', '-S', '-U', '-o', '--output', '-p', '--priority',
+                '-g', '--grep', '-t', '--identifier', '-D', '--directory'],
+            optionalValueFlags: ['-n', '--lines', '-b', '--boot', '--facility'] } },
+    "ls": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/busybox/BSD: lists directory entries; no write mode' } },
+    // netstat: ledger correction — moved from the design round's 'any' guess to
+    // a grammar; audit.md's main table still records this entry as 'any'
+    // ("every option is display"). The corrected reasons (progress.md ledger):
+    // FreeBSD netstat(1) documents `-z` as resetting counters (documented, not
+    // measured — excluded, not listed below), and `-p` is put in `flags` rather
+    // than `valueFlags` because it takes a value on BSD/Windows but takes none
+    // on net-tools (Linux) — listing it as a required-value flag would
+    // force-consume the next word on the implementation where it takes none.
+    // `-f`/`-I` are optional-value (`optionalValueFlags`). No operand rule
+    // needed. Measured: busybox + BSD (`netstat -rn`, etc.); net-tools
+    // netstat(8) documented only for anything beyond the measured set.
+    "netstat": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-a', '-n', '-t', '-u', '-l', '-p', '-r', '-i', '-s', '-e', '-W', '-x', '-w', '-4', '-6',
+                '-v', '-b', '-d', '-m'],
+            optionalValueFlags: ['-f', '-I'] } },
+    "nslookup": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured busybox/BSD: sends a DNS query; interactive mode does nothing beyond querying, and interactive input is unreachable by design (out of scope)' } },
+    "ping": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured busybox; documented (BSD man): sends ICMP echo requests and prints replies; writes nothing locally (ICMP egress tracked separately)' } },
+    "printenv": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: prints environment variables; no write mode' } },
+    "printf": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: writes formatted text to stdout only; a file write needs shell redirection, which the outer gate already refuses' } },
+    "ps": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: "measured busybox; documented (procps ps(1): 'works by reading /proc'): lists processes; no write mode" } },
+    "pwd": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: prints the working directory; no write mode' } },
+    "readlink": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: resolves a symlink; no write mode' } },
+    "realpath": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: resolves a canonical path; no write mode' } },
+    "seq": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: prints a numeric sequence to stdout; no write mode' } },
+    // sort: display/comparison flags only, plus `--check` as optional-value
+    // (`optionalValueFlags`): a bare `--check`, or an attached
+    // `--check=diagnose-first`/`--check=silent`, both stay read-only — a
+    // following SEPARATE word is never consumed as the value, which is why the
+    // plain `-c` still exists as the no-value form. Value flags read a key
+    // spec, a field separator, a buffer size or a parallelism count. No
+    // operand-count limit (multiple input files are legitimate). Windows 11
+    // build 26200 measurement: `sort.exe /O FILE IN` writes FILE,
+    // case-insensitive (`/o`), abbreviations accepted (`/OU`, `/OUTPUT`) — `-O`
+    // is not a switch, so nothing here already excludes it. A `/X` switch is an
+    // operand under this POSIX grammar and cannot be told apart from a path
+    // like `/etc`; `each` refuses any single-segment `/word` operand, with or
+    // without a trailing slash — the trailing-slash form re-measured on the VM
+    // 2026-09-26 (build 10.0.26200.9550, confined to %TEMP%): `/O/`, `/o/`,
+    // `/OU/`, `/OUTPUT/`, `/T/`, `/A/` are all "Invalid switch" and write
+    // nothing (control `/O` writes), but the rule is shared with `arp`, whose
+    // `/d`/`/s` slash tolerance cannot be measured without running a
+    // state-changing form, so it stays fail-closed. The cost is that an
+    // operand naming a file directly under `/` (`sort /data`), or such a
+    // directory with a trailing slash (`sort /etc/`), is refused too. Excludes `-o`/`--output`
+    // (writes — this advisory's own finding), `--compress-program` (executes a
+    // program — measured 14,224 times in the same finding), `-T`/`--temporary-directory`
+    // (chooses a write location; a viewer has no use for it, decided in the
+    // friction table) and `--random-source`/`--files0-from` (read a file but are
+    // unnecessary). `DISQUALIFYING_ARGS`'s own sort rule still runs before this
+    // grammar and can still raise the class; the grammar only ever draws the
+    // read-only/safe line. Measured: GNU d12 + trixie --help; busybox --help
+    // (rejects sort's long options itself: `sort: unrecognized option:
+    // key=2`); BSD man (same option family; BSD's own `-o` never reaches this
+    // grammar since it is not listed).
+    "sort": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-b', '-c', '-d', '-f', '-g', '-h', '-i', '-M', '-m', '-n', '-R', '-r', '-s', '-u', '-V', '-z',
+                '--ignore-leading-blanks', '--dictionary-order', '--ignore-case', '--general-numeric-sort',
+                '--human-numeric-sort', '--ignore-nonprinting', '--month-sort', '--merge', '--numeric-sort',
+                '--random-sort', '--reverse', '--stable', '--unique', '--version-sort', '--debug',
+                '--zero-terminated'],
+            valueFlags: ['-k', '--key', '-t', '--field-separator', '-S', '--buffer-size', '--sort', '--parallel'],
+            optionalValueFlags: ['--check'],
+            operands: { each: /^(?!\/[^/]*\/?$)/ } } },
+    // ss: entirely documented only — ss(8) (man7, iproute2); ss is absent from
+    // every measured image and from macOS. Display flags only, plus value flags
+    // that name a socket family/query/filter. Excludes `-K`/`--kill` (forcibly
+    // closes sockets), `-D`/`--diag` (dumps raw TCP info to a file), `-N`/`--net`
+    // (switches network namespace via setns) and `-b`/`--bpf` (admin); a handful
+    // of display-only-but-unnecessary flags left out rather than exhaustively
+    // listed (`-E`/`-T`/`-Q`/`-S`/`-M`/`-Z`/`-z`/`--tos`/`--cgroup`/…).
+    "ss": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-H', '--no-header', '-O', '--oneline', '-n', '--numeric', '-r', '--resolve', '-a', '--all',
+                '-l', '--listening', '-o', '--options', '-e', '--extended', '-m', '--memory', '-p', '--processes',
+                '-i', '--info', '-s', '--summary', '-t', '--tcp', '-u', '--udp', '-d', '--dccp', '-w', '--raw',
+                '-x', '--unix', '-4', '-6', '-0', '--packet'],
+            valueFlags: ['-f', '--family', '-A', '--query', '--socket', '-F', '--filter'] } },
+    "stat": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/busybox/BSD: prints file or filesystem status; no write mode' } },
+    // systemctl status: ledger correction — moved from the design round's 'any'
+    // guess to a grammar; audit.md's main table still records this entry as
+    // 'any' ("only reports run state and log; subcommands that mutate state are
+    // outside the two-word match"). The corrected reason (progress.md ledger):
+    // systemctl(1) documents `-H`/`--host` as running the operation over SSH
+    // (executes another program on another host) and `-M`/`--machine` as
+    // targeting a container/VM — both excluded, not listed below. `-n`/
+    // `--lines` and `-o`/`--output` are optional-value (`optionalValueFlags`).
+    // Entirely documented only — systemctl(1) (man7, systemd 262~devel) —
+    // absent from every measured image and from macOS.
+    "systemctl status": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-l', '--full', '--no-pager', '-a', '--all', '-q', '--quiet', '--user', '--system', '-r',
+                '--recursive', '--no-legend'],
+            optionalValueFlags: ['-n', '--lines', '-o', '--output'] } }, // two-word: class only
+    "tail": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/busybox/BSD: prints the last lines of a file; -f/-F only follow, they do not write' } },
+    "test": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: evaluates a conditional expression and sets exit status; no I/O of any kind' } },
+    "top": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: "measured busybox/BSD; documented (procps top(1)): no non-interactive write mode in any implementation — kill/renice/config-write keys are interactive-only, and batch mode ('top will not accept input') takes none of them" } },
+    "tr": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: translates or deletes characters from stdin to stdout; no write mode' } },
+    "traceroute": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured busybox; documented (BSD man): sends probe packets and prints the path; writes nothing locally (ICMP/UDP egress tracked separately)' } },
+    "true": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU: exits 0 immediately; no I/O of any kind' } },
+    "uname": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: prints system identification; no write mode' } },
+    // uniq: display flags only, plus `--all-repeated` kept optional-value out of
+    // valueFlags (rule 1). `operands: { max: 1 }` — INPUT only; a second operand
+    // is OUTFILE and is OVERWRITTEN (measured elsewhere in this advisory:
+    // `uniq /etc/passwd /root/.ssh/authorized_keys`; GNU's own usage line is
+    // `[INPUT [OUTPUT]]`, busybox's `[FILE [OUTFILE]]`). `optionsBeforeOperands:
+    // true` (final-review fix): macOS's optstring is `+`-prefixed (`+D::cdif:s:u`,
+    // POSIX order), so `uniq IN -c` does not read `-c` as the count flag there —
+    // it is the OUTFILE, and uniq overwrites it; GNU permutes, so the spelling
+    // is only harmless there, and the grammar must hold for every
+    // implementation. Excludes `--group` (optional-value, reads, but left out as
+    // unnecessary — not a minimal grammar addition). Measured: GNU d12 --help;
+    // busybox --help; BSD man (same option family plus `-D --all-repeated
+    // [septype]`).
+    "uniq": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'getopt',
+            flags: ['-c', '--count', '-d', '--repeated', '-u', '--unique', '-i', '--ignore-case', '-z',
+                '--zero-terminated', '-D'],
+            valueFlags: ['-f', '--skip-fields', '-s', '--skip-chars', '-w', '--check-chars'],
+            optionalValueFlags: ['--all-repeated'],
+            optionsBeforeOperands: true,
+            operands: { max: 1 } } },
+    "uptime": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured busybox/BSD: prints load average and boot time; no write mode' } },
+    "vmstat": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: "documented (procps vmstat(8): 'requires read access to /proc'): reports virtual-memory statistics; no write mode" } },
+    "wc": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: counts lines, words and bytes of input; no write mode' } },
+    "whereis": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: searches PATH directories for binaries, sources and manuals; no write mode' } },
+    "which": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: locates a binary on PATH; no write mode' } },
+    "who": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: lists logged-in sessions from utmp; no write mode' } },
+    "whoami": { readOnly: true, operandsAreData: true, grammar: { args: 'any', audit: 'measured GNU/BSD: prints the effective username; no write mode' } },
+};
+/** The class half of READERS, as the shape its consumers already expect. */
+const READ_ONLY_ALLOWLIST = new Set(Object.entries(READERS).filter(([, e]) => e.readOnly).map(([name]) => name));
 // Deliberately NOT read-only: `env`, because it is an exec wrapper. `env <cmd>`
 // runs <cmd>, so allowlisting the name `env` vouched for a command the
 // classifier never looked at — `env sudo rm -f /etc/passwd` classified
@@ -177,44 +685,123 @@ const CLASS_RANK = {
     destructive: 2,
     privileged: 3,
 };
+const INTERPRETERS = Object.assign(Object.create(null), {
+    sh: { programBearingWords: ['-c'], readable: true },
+    bash: { programBearingWords: ['-c'], readable: true },
+    dash: { programBearingWords: ['-c'], readable: true },
+    zsh: { programBearingWords: ['-c'], readable: true },
+    ksh: { programBearingWords: ['-c'], readable: true },
+    ash: { programBearingWords: ['-c'], readable: true },
+    python: { programBearingWords: ['-c'], readable: false },
+    python2: { programBearingWords: ['-c'], readable: false },
+    python3: { programBearingWords: ['-c'], readable: false },
+    perl: { programBearingWords: ['-e', '-E'], readable: false },
+    ruby: { programBearingWords: ['-e'], readable: false },
+    // `-p`/`--print` evaluate exactly as `-e` does and then print the result.
+    node: { programBearingWords: ['-e', '--eval', '-p', '--print'], readable: false },
+    php: { programBearingWords: ['-r'], readable: false },
+    // Measured on 2.11.0: each of these classified `safe` while the identical
+    // attack through python3 -c classified `destructive` (GHSA-qmx6-47vm-3vf7).
+    // `readable: false` throughout, matching python/perl/node: the program is not
+    // shell text, so its presence is what counts rather than its content.
+    osascript: { programBearingWords: ['-e'], readable: false },
+    lua: { programBearingWords: ['-e'], readable: false },
+    Rscript: { programBearingWords: ['-e'], readable: false },
+    bun: { programBearingWords: ['-e'], readable: false },
+    // No program-bearing flag: real tclsh takes a script FILE as its positional
+    // argument or reads one from stdin, unlike sh/bash/python/pwsh, none of
+    // which have a `-c` of its own. An empty list still marks tclsh as an
+    // unreadable interpreter for `readsProgramFromStdin` (`echo … | tclsh`),
+    // which is the genuine carrier; it is simply never handed a program inline
+    // on its own command line, so there is no flag to name here.
+    tclsh: { programBearingWords: [], readable: false },
+    // `eval` is a subcommand, not a flag — the field is named for what it holds.
+    deno: { programBearingWords: ['eval'], readable: false },
+    pwsh: { programBearingWords: ['-c', '-Command', '-e', '-EncodedCommand'], readable: false },
+    powershell: { programBearingWords: ['-c', '-Command', '-e', '-EncodedCommand'], readable: false },
+});
 /**
- * Interpreters, the flags that hand them a program, and whether this file can read it.
+ * Every `INTERPRETERS` entry, keyed by its name lower-cased.
  *
- * One table rather than three overlapping name lists: adding an interpreter here is the
- * whole change, and a shell list that drifts out of step with a readability list is how a
- * new shell ends up treated as an unreadable interpreter.
+ * A second index rather than lower-casing the lookup key against `INTERPRETERS`
+ * directly, because that table's own keys are not uniformly lower-case —
+ * `Rscript` is not `rscript` — so folding only the *input* would still miss it.
+ * Built once at module load: the table is fixed, so there is nothing to keep in
+ * sync.
+ */
+const INTERPRETERS_BY_LOWERCASE_NAME = Object.assign(Object.create(null), Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(INTERPRETERS).map(([name, spec]) => [name.toLowerCase(), spec])));
+/** A Windows executable suffix this table's keys never carry. */
+const WINDOWS_EXE_SUFFIX = /\.(exe|cmd|bat)$/i;
+/**
+ * Resolve an interpreter table entry for a command word already stripped of
+ * its path (`stripPath(unquote(word))`, as every call site already computes
+ * it for the exact-match case below).
  *
- * `readable` means the program is shell, so classifying it is this same job done again
- * and the class it earns is real. Python, Perl, Ruby, Node and PHP are not: their program
- * is a different language, and `os.system('sudo id')` carries an elevation the shell
- * classifier cannot see. Pretending to parse them would be a worse answer than admitting
- * we cannot, so an unreadable program makes the command `destructive` — "we cannot tell",
- * not "this is root", the same answer `hasUnnameableCommand` gives.
+ * The table's keys are exact, case-sensitive, extension-free spellings, so a
+ * direct lookup is tried first and is the whole cost for the common case —
+ * `sh`, `python3`, the bare lowercase `pwsh`. The fallback strips a trailing
+ * `.exe`/`.cmd`/`.bat` and folds case, which is what a Windows target's own
+ * shell hands back for the *same* binary: `powershell.exe`, `PWSH.EXE` and
+ * `PowerShell` all name the interpreter this table already lists under
+ * `powershell`/`pwsh`.
  *
- * `busybox` is not here: it takes an applet name, not `-c`, so `busybox sh -c …` is an
- * `sh` invocation behind a wrapper. It is in EXEC_WRAPPERS instead, which is what it is.
+ * Applied to every entry, not only pwsh/powershell. The measured bug is
+ * about those two, but the gap is not specific to them: a target running
+ * `python.exe` or `Node.EXE` carries the identical mismatch, and scoping the
+ * fix to two names would leave the rest of the table exactly as blind as it
+ * was. This is the binary-*name* question, answered once — it does not touch
+ * flag matching, which stays case-sensitive per interpreter (`perl -E` and
+ * `perl -e` are still two different flags) via the existing, separate
+ * `caseInsensitive` parameter threaded through `programAfterFlag` and
+ * friends.
  */
-// Null-prototype for the reason `mergePolicyRules` spells out (#172): this is indexed by
-// a command word, which is a free string, so on a plain object `INTERPRETERS['toString']`
-// resolves to a function and reading `.flags` off it throws inside the policy gate.
-const INTERPRETERS = Object.assign(Object.create(null), {
-    sh: { flags: ['-c'], readable: true },
-    bash: { flags: ['-c'], readable: true },
-    dash: { flags: ['-c'], readable: true },
-    zsh: { flags: ['-c'], readable: true },
-    ksh: { flags: ['-c'], readable: true },
-    ash: { flags: ['-c'], readable: true },
-    python: { flags: ['-c'], readable: false },
-    python2: { flags: ['-c'], readable: false },
-    python3: { flags: ['-c'], readable: false },
-    perl: { flags: ['-e', '-E'], readable: false },
-    ruby: { flags: ['-e'], readable: false },
-    // `-p`/`--print` evaluate exactly as `-e` does and then print the result.
-    node: { flags: ['-e', '--eval', '-p', '--print'], readable: false },
-    php: { flags: ['-r'], readable: false },
-});
+function resolveInterpreter(word) {
+    const exact = INTERPRETERS[word];
+    if (exact !== undefined)
+        return exact;
+    return INTERPRETERS_BY_LOWERCASE_NAME[word.replace(WINDOWS_EXE_SUFFIX, '').toLowerCase()];
+}
 /** `find … -exec <cmd> +` runs cmd. */
 const FIND_EXEC_FLAGS = new Set(['-exec', '-execdir', '-ok', '-okdir']);
+/**
+ * GNU sort's own long-option table, spelled in full — every entry `sort
+ * --help` lists (coreutils 9.11, `docker exec ssh-mcp-ssh-admin-1 sort
+ * --help`). Used only to compute which prefixes of `--output` and
+ * `--compress-program` `getopt_long` treats as unambiguous.
+ *
+ * `getopt_long` resolves a `--` word to the option whose name it is an
+ * unambiguous prefix of: a prefix shared with another option name is
+ * refused outright ("option '--c' is ambiguous; possibilities: '--check'
+ * '--compress-program'") rather than run, so it must not be treated as a
+ * write. Measured against the binary: `sort --c=x k` exits 2 with no file
+ * created; `sort --co=x k` — the second letter is where `--check` and
+ * `--compress-program` diverge — runs.
+ */
+const SORT_LONG_OPTIONS = [
+    'ignore-leading-blanks', 'dictionary-order', 'ignore-case',
+    'general-numeric-sort', 'ignore-nonprinting', 'month-sort',
+    'human-numeric-sort', 'numeric-sort', 'random-sort', 'random-source',
+    'reverse', 'sort', 'version-sort', 'batch-size', 'check',
+    'compress-program', 'debug', 'files0-from', 'key', 'merge', 'output',
+    'stable', 'buffer-size', 'field-separator', 'temporary-directory',
+    'parallel', 'unique', 'zero-terminated', 'help', 'version',
+];
+/**
+ * The regex-alternation source matching any prefix of `full` that names
+ * exactly one entry of `SORT_LONG_OPTIONS` — every prefix `getopt_long`
+ * would accept for it, from the shortest unambiguous one up to `full`
+ * itself — each optionally followed by `=value`.
+ */
+function unambiguousLongOptionSource(full) {
+    const prefixes = [];
+    for (let len = 1; len <= full.length; len++) {
+        const prefix = full.slice(0, len);
+        if (SORT_LONG_OPTIONS.filter((opt) => opt.startsWith(prefix)).length === 1) {
+            prefixes.push(prefix);
+        }
+    }
+    return `--(?:${prefixes.join('|')})(?:=|$)`;
+}
 /**
  * How deep a substitution may nest before we stop reading and refuse to guess.
  *
@@ -406,8 +993,22 @@ function matchesEitherForm(command, test) {
  * Four carriers, all of which a remote shell expands and runs:
  *   `$(...)`, backticks, process substitution `<(...)` / `>(...)`, and a shell
  *   given `-c`.
+ *
+ * @param speculativeOperands Whether the catch-all below — any multi-word,
+ *   non-flag operand of a segment no more specific reader claimed — should be
+ *   pushed. That catch-all is a guess about a binary this file does not
+ *   recognise; the four carriers above are not guesses, the shell really does
+ *   run what they hold, and are pushed regardless of this flag. Defaults to
+ *   `true` for `classifyCommand`'s own recursion, where a guess may raise a
+ *   command's *class* and leave role, tier and approval to weigh in.
+ *   `findForbiddenMatch` passes `false`: its recursion feeds
+ *   `FORBIDDEN_RULES`, the one unconditional denylist, and a guess must not
+ *   be able to produce a refusal nobody can override (the maintainer's
+ *   ruling — see the block comment above `findForbiddenMatch`). `$()`,
+ *   backticks and `sh -c` are certain carriers and keep reaching the
+ *   denylist either way.
  */
-export function nestedCommands(command) {
+export function nestedCommands(command, speculativeOperands = true) {
     const found = [];
     // `$(...)`, `<(...)`, `>(...)` — scanned rather than matched, because a regex
     // cannot balance parentheses and `echo $(echo $(sudo id))` is the case that
@@ -468,13 +1069,86 @@ export function nestedCommands(command) {
         for (const inner of awk?.pipedInto ?? [])
             found.push(inner);
         if (!operandsAreData(words)) {
+            // Which operand *indices* an interpreter actually consumed as a program —
+            // not whether the segment's head happens to be a name in the table, and not
+            // a single segment-wide flag either. A set of indices rather than a boolean:
+            // `unknownbin sh -c true 'sudo id'` has `sh -c` consume `true` (harmless,
+            // pushed below) and leave `'sudo id'` untouched, and a boolean here defused
+            // the catch-all for that second operand too — measured, it classified
+            // `safe`. Only the specific word an interpreter actually read should be
+            // excluded from the catch-all; every other operand in the segment is still
+            // this binary's own, unclaimed by anything more specific.
+            //
+            // A binary being recognised is also not the same as this segment's
+            // invocation of it being one the loop could parse:
+            // `pwsh -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command 'sudo id'` has a recognised head
+            // and a program on the line, but `-ExecutionPolicy` takes a value
+            // (`Bypass`) that isn't itself a flag, and `programAfterFlag` gives up
+            // rather than guess past it. Gating the catch-all below on "head is in the
+            // table" excluded exactly the binaries this file just learned, and for
+            // precisely the invocations its own flag-walk cannot follow — a net
+            // regression, not a wash.
+            const consumedOperands = new Set();
             for (let i = 0; i < words.length; i++) {
-                const spec = INTERPRETERS[stripPath(unquote(words[i]))];
-                if (spec === undefined || isFlagValue(words, i, spec.flags))
+                const spec = resolveInterpreter(stripPath(unquote(words[i])));
+                // pwsh/powershell's own parameter binder resolves `-ENC`/`-Enc`/`-enc` to the
+                // same parameter; every other interpreter's flags are exact letters (`-E` and
+                // `-e` are different flags to perl). `-EncodedCommand` only ever appears on
+                // the two entries whose own parameter binder works this way, so its presence
+                // is the signal for which interpreter this is, not a hardcoded name check.
+                const caseInsensitive = spec?.programBearingWords.includes('-EncodedCommand') ?? false;
+                if (spec === undefined || isFlagValue(words, i, spec.programBearingWords, caseInsensitive))
                     continue;
-                const program = programAfterFlag(words, i, spec.flags);
-                if (program !== null)
-                    found.push(program);
+                // Same signal, second job: pwsh/powershell's argument parser also does not stop
+                // at an unrecognised option's bare value (`-ExecutionPolicy Bypass`) the way a
+                // POSIX interpreter stops at its first positional argument. See
+                // `programAfterFlag`'s `tolerateUnknownWordsAtHead` for why this is scoped to
+                // `i === 0` there rather than here.
+                const result = programAfterFlag(words, i, spec.programBearingWords, caseInsensitive, caseInsensitive);
+                if (result !== null) {
+                    consumedOperands.add(result.index);
+                    found.push(result.program);
+                    // An encoded program is opaque to every text scan until it is decoded. Gated on
+                    // the word `programAfterFlag` actually matched — the table's own canonical
+                    // spelling, so every case-folded or clustered form of `-EncodedCommand`/`-e`
+                    // reaches this the same way a literal `-EncodedCommand` does — not a scan of
+                    // the whole segment for one long spelling.
+                    if (caseInsensitive && (result.flag === '-EncodedCommand' || result.flag === '-e')) {
+                        const decoded = decodedPowerShellCommand(result.program);
+                        if (decoded !== null)
+                            found.push(decoded);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            // An operand of a binary nothing more specific has read is classified as a
+            // command in its own right, rather than scanned as text.
+            //
+            // The gate is the awk reader's own result, and now which specific operands
+            // an interpreter actually consumed, rather than a list of names: a name
+            // list here would be the defect this change exists to fix
+            // (GHSA-qmx6-47vm-3vf7), and "the head is a name in the table" turned out
+            // to be one too — it answers a different question than "did this
+            // invocation's program-bearing word actually resolve". `awk` is already
+            // null for every non-awk segment.
+            //
+            // Whitespace is what separates an operand worth classifying from one that is
+            // not: a single token is a path, a flag value or a subcommand, while a
+            // multi-word operand has the shape of a command. Flags are skipped.
+            //
+            // Deliberately NOT a text scan for `sudo`. That version asserted elevations
+            // the awk reader and the variable-command-word logic refuse to assert — both
+            // cap at `destructive` on purpose — and it out-ranked the nested
+            // classification that names the elevated binary, reporting `awk` where `id`
+            // was correct.
+            if (speculativeOperands && awk === null) {
+                for (let i = 1; i < words.length; i++) {
+                    if (consumedOperands.has(i))
+                        continue;
+                    if (words[i].startsWith('-'))
+                        continue;
+                    if (/\s/.test(words[i]))
+                        found.push(words[i]);
+                }
             }
         }
         // `-exec` is a flag rather than a command word, so this one is still a scan.
@@ -541,7 +1215,58 @@ const EXEC_WRAPPERS = new Set([
  * the `+` terminator carries none.
  */
 // Null-prototype for the same reason as INTERPRETERS: indexed by the command word.
-const DISQUALIFYING_ARGS = Object.assign(Object.create(null), { find: /^-(exec|execdir|ok|okdir|delete|fprintf?|fls)$/ });
+const DISQUALIFYING_ARGS = Object.assign(Object.create(null), {
+    find: /^-(exec|execdir|ok|okdir|delete|fprintf?|fls)$/,
+    // GNU sort execs this for every temporary file it spills, so a reader
+    // becomes a launcher. Measured against coreutils 9.11: an attacker-named
+    // script ran 14,224 times for one 200k-line input, and the whole command
+    // classified `read-only` — which a `readOnly` viewer is allowed to run,
+    // while running that same program directly is denied.
+    //
+    // `-o FILE` / `--output=FILE` is the same shape of bug with a plainer
+    // payoff: it creates and truncates FILE, which is a write a `readOnly`
+    // profile must never reach through a command classified `read-only`.
+    // Measured on HEAD before this rule: `sort -o /root/.ssh/authorized_keys
+    // /tmp/key.pub` classified `read-only`.
+    //
+    // Targeted round (2026-09-24, R2+R3): the version above closed the exact
+    // spellings `-o`, `--output` and `--compress-program` and left the CLASS
+    // open — GNU sort's own option grammar has two escapes past a fixed
+    // spelling, both measured against the real binary:
+    //
+    //  - A short-option cluster is scanned left to right, and any of sort's
+    //    own *argument-less* short flags may sit ahead of `-o` without
+    //    consuming it: `sort -mo out in` writes `out` exactly as `sort -o out
+    //    in` does. `-m` (merge) is itself argument-less, and its absence from
+    //    the char class below is exactly what let `sort -mo …` through as
+    //    `read-only`.
+    //  - `getopt_long` resolves a `--` word by unambiguous-prefix matching:
+    //    `--o`, `--ou`, `--out`, `--outp`, `--outpu` all mean `--output`
+    //    (nothing else starts with `o`), and `--co` through
+    //    `--compress-progra` all mean `--compress-program` (`--c` alone is
+    //    ambiguous with `--check` and sort refuses to run at all —
+    //    `unambiguousLongOptionSource` excludes it for exactly that reason,
+    //    computed from sort's own option table rather than hand-picked).
+    //
+    // The cluster branch is still deliberately narrower than "any `o` in a
+    // dash word": `-[bcCdfghiMmnRrsuVz]*o` only allows GNU sort's own
+    // argument-less short flags ahead of the `o`, so it stops at the first
+    // flag that takes a value of its own. Without that, `-tofile` — `-t`
+    // (field separator) with its value attached, not `-o` — would be
+    // misread as a write. `-t`, `-k`, `-S` and `-T` are exactly the short
+    // flags this excludes, because each consumes the rest of a clustered
+    // word as its own argument, so a following `o` is that argument's text,
+    // not `-o` invoked.
+    //
+    // `find`'s entry above does not get the same prefix-abbreviation
+    // treatment: `find` parses its predicates itself rather than through
+    // `getopt_long`, and accepts no abbreviated spelling of `-exec` — `find .
+    // -exe` is "unknown predicate `-exe`", measured. There is no class to
+    // close there.
+    sort: new RegExp(`^(?:${unambiguousLongOptionSource('compress-program')}`
+        + `|${unambiguousLongOptionSource('output')}`
+        + '|-[bcCdfghiMmnRrsuVz]*o)'),
+});
 /** A leading `NAME=value`, which a shell treats as an assignment, not a command. */
 const ASSIGNMENT = /^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*=/;
 /** `timeout 5s`, `nice 10` — a bare argument some wrappers take before the command. */
@@ -673,11 +1398,26 @@ function elevatedBinaryOf(command) {
  * behind a wrapper, behind an assignment, or after a separator all reached root
  * with the command classified `safe` or `read-only`.
  */
-/** An allowlisted binary carrying a flag that makes it write or execute. */
+/**
+ * An allowlisted binary carrying a flag that makes it write or execute.
+ *
+ * Keyed on `effectiveCommandIndex`, not `parseSegments`. `parseSegments`
+ * (`parseWords`) only steps over a privilege prefix (`sudo`, `su`, …), not an
+ * exec wrapper (`env`, `nohup`, `timeout`, …), so `env sort
+ * --compress-program=X` read `head` as `"env"` — not in `DISQUALIFYING_ARGS`
+ * — and the flag went unnoticed. `effectiveCommandIndex` already reads past
+ * both, which is what `operandsAreData` and `readsProgramFromStdin` use it
+ * for. Deliberately not fixed by changing `parseWords` itself:
+ * `invokedWords` also reads it, and widening what counts as "the command"
+ * there is a different, larger change this fix does not take on.
+ */
 function hasDisqualifyingArgs(command) {
-    return parseSegments(command).some(({ head, args }) => {
-        const rule = DISQUALIFYING_ARGS[head];
-        return rule !== undefined && args.some((arg) => rule.test(arg));
+    return tokenizeSegments(command).some((words) => {
+        const idx = effectiveCommandIndex(words);
+        if (idx === -1)
+            return false;
+        const rule = DISQUALIFYING_ARGS[stripPath(words[idx])];
+        return rule !== undefined && words.slice(idx + 1).some((arg) => rule.test(arg));
     });
 }
 function invokedWords(command) {
@@ -769,9 +1509,21 @@ export function findForbiddenMatch(command, depth = 0) {
     // They still classified `destructive`, which on the `prod` tier degrades an
     // absolute `deny` into `require-approval`: a rule that answers "never" became
     // one a human can click through.
+    //
+    // `speculativeOperands: false` — the maintainer's ruling. `nestedCommands`'
+    // catch-all is a guess about an unrecognised binary's operands, and this loop
+    // feeds the one unconditional rule in the policy: a guess may raise a
+    // command's class, which role, tier and approval still get to weigh in on,
+    // but it must not manufacture a refusal nobody can override. Measured before
+    // this parameter existed: `git commit -m 'reboot the worker pool'` was a hard
+    // deny on an admin profile with `approvalPolicy: 'auto'`, because the catch-all
+    // read the quoted commit message as an operand starting with a forbidden word.
+    // `$()`, backticks and `sh -c` are certain carriers, not guesses — the shell
+    // really does run what they hold — and are unaffected: they are pushed by
+    // `nestedCommands` regardless of this flag.
     if (depth >= MAX_NESTING_DEPTH)
         return null;
-    for (const inner of nestedCommands(command)) {
+    for (const inner of nestedCommands(command, false)) {
         const match = findForbiddenMatch(inner, depth + 1);
         if (match !== null)
             return match;
@@ -874,7 +1626,9 @@ function effectiveCommandIndex(words) {
  */
 function operandsAreData(words) {
     const idx = effectiveCommandIndex(words);
-    return idx !== -1 && READ_ONLY_ALLOWLIST.has(stripPath(unquote(words[idx])));
+    if (idx === -1)
+        return false;
+    return READERS[stripPath(unquote(words[idx]))]?.operandsAreData === true;
 }
 /**
  * Whether an interpreter name is the value of the flag before it rather than a command.
@@ -904,59 +1658,169 @@ function operandsAreData(words) {
 function skippableBetweenFlags(word) {
     return word === '' || word.startsWith('-');
 }
-function isFlagValue(words, i, flags) {
+/**
+ * Whether `word` is a spelling of `flag`, honouring case-insensitivity when asked.
+ *
+ * Scoped per call, never globally: pwsh/powershell's own parameter binder resolves
+ * `-ENC`, `-Enc` and `-enc` to the same parameter, but `-E` and `-e` are two different
+ * flags to perl. Every caller here is told explicitly, per invocation, whether the
+ * interpreter it is matching against is one of the case-insensitive ones — folding case
+ * is never the default.
+ */
+function sameFlag(word, flag, caseInsensitive) {
+    return caseInsensitive ? word.toLowerCase() === flag.toLowerCase() : word === flag;
+}
+function isFlagValue(words, i, flags, caseInsensitive = false) {
     if (i === 0)
         return false;
     const previous = words[i - 1];
-    return previous.length > 1 && previous.startsWith('-') && flags.includes(previous);
+    if (!(previous.length > 1 && previous.startsWith('-')))
+        return false;
+    return flags.some((f) => sameFlag(previous, f, caseInsensitive));
 }
 /**
  * The program an interpreter was handed on its command line, or null.
  *
  * Only flags may sit between the interpreter and its flag; anything else means this was
  * not that kind of invocation, which is what keeps `python3 script.py` — a program this
- * cannot read either, but one every deployment runs — out of the gate.
+ * cannot read either, but one every deployment runs — out of the gate. That rule holds
+ * for every interpreter here except pwsh/powershell (see `tolerateUnknownWordsAtHead`):
+ * real POSIX interpreters stop parsing their own options at the first positional
+ * argument — `python3 script.py -c 'evil'` hands `-c evil` to the script as `argv`, not
+ * to python — so treating a bare word as "not this kind of invocation" is correct for
+ * them, not merely convenient.
+ *
+ * Returns which of `flags` matched alongside the program, not just the program text, so
+ * a caller can tell `-EncodedCommand` from its `-e` abbreviation apart from every other
+ * program-bearing word — decoding is specific to that one flag, and both spellings reach
+ * here as an ordinary match.
+ *
+ * @param tolerateUnknownWordsAtHead pwsh/powershell's own argument parser walks the
+ *   whole command line looking for named parameters it recognises and does not stop at
+ *   an unrecognised one's value (`-ExecutionPolicy Bypass`) the way a POSIX interpreter
+ *   stops at its first positional argument. Only takes effect when `from` is the
+ *   segment's *effective* command word — `effectiveCommandIndex(words)`, which reads
+ *   past a privilege prefix or an exec wrapper (`env`, `nohup`, `timeout`, …), not merely
+ *   position 0. `from === 0` missed exactly the shape those wrappers exist to describe:
+ *   `env pwsh -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -EncodedCommand …` put `pwsh` at index 1, the
+ *   tolerance never engaged, and the interpreter loop's own flag-walk gave up at
+ *   `Bypass` before ever reaching `-EncodedCommand` — classified `safe`. Still unambiguous
+ *   about *which* word is being invoked, not a value or a search term this file has no
+ *   business reinterpreting (`grep -e perl -e python` never reaches here with this set,
+ *   because `perl` is not the segment's effective command word and isn't pwsh-family
+ *   regardless; nor is `customtool --search pwsh …`, where `customtool` is). Structural,
+ *   not a list of pwsh's value-taking flags: this file does not need to know
+ *   `-ExecutionPolicy` exists to stop being confused by it.
  */
-function programAfterFlag(words, from, flags) {
+function programAfterFlag(words, from, flags, caseInsensitive = false, tolerateUnknownWordsAtHead = false) {
+    const tolerateUnknownWords = tolerateUnknownWordsAtHead && from === effectiveCommandIndex(words);
     for (let j = from + 1; j < words.length; j++) {
         const word = words[j];
-        if (flags.includes(word))
-            return words[j + 1] ?? null;
+        const exact = flags.find((f) => sameFlag(word, f, caseInsensitive));
+        if (exact !== undefined) {
+            // A subcommand — a program-bearing word that is not itself a `-` flag, such as
+            // `deno`'s `eval` — may still have its own options before the code: `deno eval
+            // --unstable <code>` is one invocation, not two. A real flag like `-c` or
+            // `-Command` never has anything of its own between it and the program, so this
+            // only widens the subcommand case.
+            let k = j + 1;
+            if (!exact.startsWith('-')) {
+                while (k < words.length && skippableBetweenFlags(words[k]))
+                    k++;
+            }
+            const program = words[k];
+            return program === undefined ? null : { program, flag: exact, index: k };
+        }
+        // Deliberately case-SENSITIVE even for pwsh/powershell: this branch exists for a
+        // value glued directly onto a short flag with no separating space (`-csudo id`).
+        // Folding case here as well made `-ExecutionPolicy` — a real pwsh option this file
+        // does not otherwise track — case-insensitively start with `-e` and get read as
+        // `-e` plus an attached `xecutionPolicy`, which swallowed `-ExecutionPolicy Bypass
+        // -Command 'sudo id'` into `destructive` and, worse, made `foundProgram` true so
+        // the catch-all below never ran. Every case-insensitive spelling the table needs
+        // to accept (`-enc`, `-ec`, `-EC`, `-ENC`, `-E`, `-EncodedCOMMAND`, `-COMMAND`,
+        // `-C`, …) is already reached through the exact match above or the cluster match
+        // below, so this branch does not need to fold case to cover them.
         const attached = flags.find((f) => word.startsWith(f) && word.length > f.length);
         if (attached !== undefined) {
             const rest = word.slice(attached.length);
             // `sh -c'sudo id'` tokenises to `-csudo id`, so the program is attached. `bash -cx`
             // is a flag cluster and the program is the next word. A space, or the `=` of
             // `--eval=…`, is what tells them apart: a cluster is letters only.
-            if (/\s/.test(rest) || rest.startsWith('='))
-                return rest.replace(/^=/, '');
-            return words[j + 1] ?? null;
+            if (/\s/.test(rest) || rest.startsWith('=')) {
+                return { program: rest.replace(/^=/, ''), flag: attached, index: j };
+            }
+            const program = words[j + 1];
+            return program === undefined ? null : { program, flag: attached, index: j + 1 };
         }
         // The program flag need not lead the cluster: `bash -xc 'sudo id'` runs exactly what
         // `bash -cx 'sudo id'` runs, and a prefix test saw the second and missed the first.
-        if (clusterCarriesFlag(word, flags))
-            return words[j + 1] ?? null;
-        if (!skippableBetweenFlags(word))
+        const clusterFlag = clusterCarriesFlag(word, flags, caseInsensitive);
+        if (clusterFlag !== null) {
+            const program = words[j + 1];
+            return program === undefined ? null : { program, flag: clusterFlag, index: j + 1 };
+        }
+        if (!skippableBetweenFlags(word) && !tolerateUnknownWords)
             return null;
     }
     return null;
 }
+/** How much base64 is worth decoding before the answer stops changing. */
+const MAX_ENCODED_CHARS = 64 * 1024;
 /**
- * What follows a short flag inside a single-dash cluster, or null if it holds none.
+ * The command inside `-EncodedCommand`, or null.
+ *
+ * PowerShell encodes UTF-16LE, so decoding as utf8 yields text with a NUL between
+ * every character and no pattern matches it. `Buffer.from(x, 'base64')` never
+ * throws — it drops characters outside the alphabet — so malformed input produces
+ * a wrong answer rather than an exception, and the caller must treat null and
+ * nonsense alike: the flag alone has already made the command `destructive`.
+ *
+ * Reads a bounded, 4-aligned PREFIX rather than refusing outright past the limit. A
+ * refusal is a downgrade path: it turns "pad the payload past 64 KiB" into a way to
+ * trade `privileged` for `destructive`, which is strictly better for whoever is padding
+ * it. 4-aligned because base64 decodes in groups of four characters to three bytes;
+ * truncating mid-group corrupts the last partial character instead of just dropping
+ * trailing content the decode was never going to reach anyway.
+ */
+function decodedPowerShellCommand(operand) {
+    const prefix = operand.length > MAX_ENCODED_CHARS
+        ? operand.slice(0, MAX_ENCODED_CHARS - (MAX_ENCODED_CHARS % 4))
+        : operand;
+    const decoded = Buffer.from(prefix, 'base64').toString('utf16le');
+    return decoded.includes('�') || decoded.trim() === '' ? null : decoded;
+}
+/**
+ * What follows a short flag inside a single-dash cluster, or the `flags` entry it
+ * carries, or null if it carries none.
  *
  * Clusters only — a run of single letters after one dash. Long flags and attached values
- * are handled before this is reached.
+ * are handled before this is reached. Returns the canonical flag rather than a boolean
+ * for the same reason `programAfterFlag` does: a caller deciding whether to decode
+ * compares against the table's own spellings, not against whatever letters happened to
+ * be clustered together.
  */
-function clusterCarriesFlag(word, flags) {
+function clusterCarriesFlag(word, flags, caseInsensitive = false) {
     // Three letters at most. `/^-[A-Za-z]+$/` alone also matches every single-dash long
     // option, and `find`'s predicates are full of them: `-type` contains perl's `-e`, so
     // `find . -name perl -type f` read as a carrier and asked for approval.
     if (!/^-[A-Za-z]{2,3}$/.test(word))
-        return false;
-    const body = word.slice(1);
+        return null;
+    const body = caseInsensitive ? word.slice(1).toLowerCase() : word.slice(1);
+    const shortFlags = flags.filter((flag) => flag.length === 2);
     // A cluster is letters only, so whatever follows the program flag is more flags — the
     // program itself is always the next word.
-    return flags.some((flag) => flag.length === 2 && body.includes(flag[1]));
+    //
+    // Scanned by the BODY's own character order, not the table's order: `-ec` must
+    // resolve to `-e` (so a caller deciding whether to decode sees `-e`), not to `-c`
+    // just because `-c` happens to sit first in pwsh's `programBearingWords`. The first
+    // letter in the cluster is the one the invocation leads with.
+    for (const letter of body) {
+        const match = shortFlags.find((flag) => (caseInsensitive ? flag[1].toLowerCase() : flag[1]) === letter);
+        if (match !== undefined)
+            return match;
+    }
+    return null;
 }
 /** Spellings of "the program is on standard input" that look like a file operand. */
 const STDIN_PATHS = new Set(['-', '/dev/stdin', '/dev/fd/0', '/proc/self/fd/0']);
@@ -975,10 +1839,10 @@ function readsProgramFromStdin(words) {
     const bin = stripPath(words[idx]);
     // Interpreters only. awk's one program-from-stdin form is `awk -f -`, already gated as a
     // file flag; every other piped awk reads data, not a program.
-    const spec = INTERPRETERS[bin];
+    const spec = resolveInterpreter(bin);
     if (spec === undefined)
         return false;
-    const flags = spec.flags;
+    const flags = spec.programBearingWords;
     let sawStdinFlag = false;
     for (let j = idx + 1; j < words.length; j++) {
         const word = words[j];
@@ -1074,12 +1938,16 @@ function hasUnreadableProgram(command) {
             return true;
         if (!operandsAreData(words)) {
             for (let j = 0; j < words.length; j++) {
-                const spec = INTERPRETERS[stripPath(unquote(words[j]))];
+                const spec = resolveInterpreter(stripPath(unquote(words[j])));
                 if (spec === undefined || spec.readable)
                     continue;
-                if (isFlagValue(words, j, spec.flags))
+                // Same case-insensitivity as `nestedCommands`'s interpreter loop, and for the
+                // same reason: pwsh/powershell's own parameter binder does not distinguish
+                // `-EC` from `-ec`, so neither should this.
+                const caseInsensitive = spec.programBearingWords.includes('-EncodedCommand');
+                if (isFlagValue(words, j, spec.programBearingWords, caseInsensitive))
                     continue;
-                if (programAfterFlag(words, j, spec.flags) !== null)
+                if (programAfterFlag(words, j, spec.programBearingWords, caseInsensitive, caseInsensitive) !== null)
                     return true;
             }
         }
@@ -1190,7 +2058,19 @@ export function classifyCommand(command, depth = 0) {
         if (CLASS_RANK[parsed.class] > CLASS_RANK[highest.class])
             highest = parsed;
     }
-    return { binary: highest.binary, fullCommand: trimmed, class: highest.class };
+    // `readOnlyRejection` only ever describes the outer command's own grammar
+    // rejection, and only means anything when that is also what decided the
+    // final class. `highest === outer` (reference equality) is exactly that
+    // condition: the synthetic floor and the nested-command loop above only
+    // ever replace `highest` with something of strictly higher rank than
+    // `outer`'s, so if either one fired, `highest` is no longer `outer` and the
+    // rejection — which was never a fact about the synthetic verb or the nested
+    // command anyway — is correctly left off.
+    const result = { binary: highest.binary, fullCommand: trimmed, class: highest.class };
+    if (highest === outer && outer.readOnlyRejection) {
+        result.readOnlyRejection = outer.readOnlyRejection;
+    }
+    return result;
 }
 /** The class of the command itself, reading none of what it carries. */
 function classifyOuter(trimmed) {
@@ -1218,14 +2098,74 @@ function classifyOuter(trimmed) {
     if (hasUnnameableCommand(trimmed)) {
         return { binary, fullCommand, class: 'destructive' };
     }
-    const twoWordPrefix = (tokenizeSegments(fullCommand)[0] ?? []).slice(0, 2).join(' ');
+    const words = tokenizeSegments(fullCommand)[0] ?? [];
+    const twoWordPrefix = words.slice(0, 2).join(' ');
     if (READ_ONLY_ALLOWLIST.has(binary) || READ_ONLY_ALLOWLIST.has(twoWordPrefix)
         || READ_ONLY_SYNTHETIC.has(binary)) {
         if (SHELL_CONTROL_CHARS.test(trimmed)) {
             return { binary, fullCommand, class: 'safe' };
         }
+        // The SFTP verbs are synthesised by the tool layer, never typed by a caller,
+        // so there is no argv for a grammar to read — READ_ONLY_SYNTHETIC stays
+        // exactly as it was.
+        if (READ_ONLY_SYNTHETIC.has(binary)) {
+            return { binary, fullCommand, class: 'read-only' };
+        }
+        // Whichever key matched decides both which entry answers and how many
+        // leading words are the command name rather than an argument: a two-word
+        // entry's grammar reads words[2..], a one-word entry's reads words[1..].
+        const matchedTwoWord = READ_ONLY_ALLOWLIST.has(twoWordPrefix);
+        const readerName = matchedTwoWord ? twoWordPrefix : binary;
+        const entry = READERS[readerName];
+        const argWords = words.slice(matchedTwoWord ? 2 : 1);
+        // An unquoted glob word is not a word this grammar can vouch for: the
+        // shell replaces it with however many filenames it matches, and the
+        // grammar's operand count — the thing it was about to prove — is false
+        // before the binary runs. `'any'` entries are exempt: their claim is that
+        // no option or operand of the binary writes or executes, so extra
+        // operands from an expansion are still data.
+        if (entry.grammar.args !== 'any') {
+            const globWord = firstUnquotedGlobWord(fullCommand);
+            if (globWord !== null) {
+                return {
+                    binary,
+                    fullCommand,
+                    class: 'safe',
+                    readOnlyRejection: { binary: readerName, word: globWord },
+                };
+            }
+        }
+        const match = matchesGrammar(argWords, entry.grammar);
+        if (!match.ok) {
+            return {
+                binary,
+                fullCommand,
+                class: 'safe',
+                readOnlyRejection: { binary: readerName, word: match.word },
+            };
+        }
         return { binary, fullCommand, class: 'read-only' };
     }
     return { binary, fullCommand, class: 'safe' };
 }
-export { READ_ONLY_ALLOWLIST, READ_ONLY_SYNTHETIC, isDestructive };
+/**
+ * The sentence a refusal appends when it carries a `readOnlyRejection`, worded
+ * so the reason names the binary that would have qualified and the argv word
+ * that cost it: "is not accepted there" rather than "is not one of them",
+ * because most rejections are operand rules (`hostname NAME`, `sort /data`) or
+ * a listed value flag missing its value, where "is not one of them" would be
+ * false — it may be a perfectly good flag name, just not one bare or in this
+ * position. One function so the engine's role-binding denial and
+ * `read-command`'s `enforceClass` refusal never drift into two spellings of
+ * the same sentence.
+ */
+function formatReadOnlyRejection(rejection) {
+    // The rejected word can be the empty string — a quoted empty operand
+    // (`hostname ""`) — and two bare backticks would render as a blank where
+    // the word that cost the class should be. `""` is the shell's own spelling
+    // of that operand.
+    const word = rejection.word === '' ? '""' : rejection.word;
+    return `\`${rejection.binary}\` is read-only only with the options and operands its grammar lists; ` +
+        `\`${word}\` is not accepted there.`;
+}
+export { READ_ONLY_ALLOWLIST, READERS, READ_ONLY_SYNTHETIC, isDestructive, formatReadOnlyRejection, };