Google updates CodeMender sandbox controls and repository protections
Google Cloud's October 28 release notes list CodeMender v0.17.0 changes to sandbox controls, repository protections and diagnostics. The release separates container isolation from command-policy settings rather than treating the two controls as a single unrestricted mode.
The notes say the overloaded unrestricted flag is replaced with separate sandbox and configurable command-policy controls. They also describe a warning when commands run with both sandbox isolation disabled and interactive approval skipped. A warning is not the same as preventing every unsafe configuration.
During fix and verify work, CodeMender now mounts Git hooks, Git configuration and its own configuration directory read-only inside otherwise writable execution sandboxes. Google says this prevents changes to repository security policies in those locations.
The release also enforces allowed-root path boundaries during host discovery and remediation file work to prevent traversal through dangling symbolic links. Another fix supplies exact finding line ranges to remediation agents rather than requiring them to scan files manually.
For diagnostics, the update adds a support-bundle command, plain output and distinct setup-failure exit codes. Its statistics command can emit single-line JSON records with model and team attribution for logging systems. These are observability and workflow changes, not independently measured vulnerability-detection gains.
The release notes also list fixes for regional session cancellation, findings without location data and local status updates after an unexploitable verdict. They do not establish a new free-usage allowance, an all-customer rollout guarantee or the price of model inference. Teams should check their own deployment and billing terms before running workloads.