[GH-ISSUE #226] Symlinks break applications or firejail #159

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opened 2026-05-05 05:11:55 -06:00 by gitea-mirror · 1 comment

gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 05:11:55 -06:00

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Originally created by @genodeftest on GitHub (Jan 14, 2016).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues/226

Steps to reproduce:

make sure firejail firefox is working
exit firefox
create a symlink to firefox, e.g. by running ln --symbolic /usr/bin/firefox foo
run firefox from symlink: firejail foo

What happens:
Firefox is not sandboxed. It is not starting either because it cannot access its own config files.

Reason:
Firejail profiles are applied matching executable names. In cases of symlinks the symlink name is the executable name. Some applications make use of that, e.g. vim/vimdiff, bzip2/bunzip2, bzcat/bzip2, …, so disallowing symlinks cannot be done.

Is it possible to follow symlinks before running an application? Note that name resolution depends on the current working directory.

Originally created by @genodeftest on GitHub (Jan 14, 2016). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues/226 Steps to reproduce: 1. make sure `firejail firefox` is working 2. exit firefox 3. create a symlink to firefox, e.g. by running `ln --symbolic /usr/bin/firefox foo` 4. run firefox from symlink: `firejail foo` What happens: Firefox is not sandboxed. It is not starting either because it cannot access its own config files. Reason: Firejail profiles are applied matching executable names. In cases of symlinks the symlink name is the executable name. Some applications make use of that, e.g. vim/vimdiff, bzip2/bunzip2, bzcat/bzip2, …, so disallowing symlinks cannot be done. Is it possible to follow symlinks before running an application? Note that name resolution depends on the current working directory.

gitea-mirror

2026-05-05 05:11:55 -06:00

closed this issue
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gitea-mirror commented

2026-05-05 05:12:00 -06:00

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@netblue30 commented on GitHub (Jan 18, 2016):

Fixed, thanks!

@netblue30 commented on GitHub (Jan 18, 2016): Fixed, thanks!

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Reference: github-starred/firejail#159

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