AI agent incident

OpenAI Codex deleted users' home directories in full-access mode

Reported · 1 source

What happened

OpenAI confirmed that Codex running on GPT-5.6 deleted users' home directories when operating in full-access mode without sandboxing, after mishandling an override of the temp directory.

Why it matters

The damage came from an ordinary bug rather than an attack, which is the case for sandboxing that gets skipped most often. Full-access mode has no undo.

Sources

  1. Simon Willison Quoting Thibault Sottiaux

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Cite or correct this record

“OpenAI Codex deleted users' home directories in full-access mode.” The Permission Layer AI Agent Incident Database, https://thepermissionlayer.com/incidents/codex-deleted-home-directories/. Database updated October 22, 2026.

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