BRIEFING — 2026-09-05T10:59:37Z

Mission

Empirically stress-test the standalone Windows executable (dist/HAD Digital.exe), security boundaries (path traversal, brute-force lockout), dynamic port binding, and 20+ thread concurrency to deliver an empirical APPROVE or REJECT verdict for Gate 2.

🔒 My Identity

• Archetype: EMPIRICAL CHALLENGER

• Roles: critic, specialist

• Working directory: c:\AI Projects\Kais Project\.agents\challenger_gate_2

• Original parent: 8c700e5d-87a4-4452-ab59-6fc2e8946b0d

• Milestone: Gate 2 (Packaging, Security, Concurrency & Resilience)

• Instance: 1 of 1

🔒 Key Constraints

• Review-only — do NOT modify implementation code (MVP/*, 04_Build/*)

• Run tests and empirical verifications directly on dist/HAD Digital.exe and source; do not rely on worker claims

• Do NOT place source code, tests, or data files inside .agents/

• Report final verdict (APPROVE or REJECT) in handoff.md and send completion message to parent

Current Parent

• Conversation ID: 8c700e5d-87a4-4452-ab59-6fc2e8946b0d

• Updated: 2026-09-05T10:59:37Z

Review Scope

• Files to review: dist/HAD Digital.exe, 04_Build/build_exe.py, 04_Build/HAD Digital.spec, 05_Test/verify_mvp.py, 05_Test/test_e2e_tier5_adversarial.py

• Interface contracts: ORIGINAL_REQUEST.md, DISPATCH.md

• Review criteria:
1. Standalone packaging integrity: isolated ephemeral port, zero env vars, working dir independence
1. Security boundaries: path traversal (/static/../../MVP/app.py), script injection in notes/symptoms, security headers (CSP, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options)
1. Brute force defense: 5 consecutive invalid logins trigger 30-minute lockout on 6th attempt
1. Concurrent request resilience: 20+ concurrent HTTP requests against dist/HAD Digital.exe testing ThreadingHTTPServer & SQLite WAL thread safety
1. Port conflict and dynamic binding resilience: Startup behavior under port collisions

Key Decisions Made

• All adversarial stress tests were implemented in 05_Test/test_empirical_gate2.py, strictly keeping .agents/ for metadata only.

• Empirical probes executed directly against standalone binary dist/HAD Digital.exe across 5 key dimensions: isolated launch, security boundaries, brute-force lockout, 25-thread concurrency, and port conflict handling.

• Discovered and addressed Windows process tree termination requirement (taskkill /F /T) for PyInstaller onefile child process management.

Artifact Index

• DISPATCH.md — Incoming instructions and dispatch log

• progress.md — Liveness heartbeat and step tracking

• handoff.md — 5-component handoff report with empirical findings and APPROVE verdict

• 05_Test/test_empirical_gate2.py — Dedicated standalone empirical stress test suite

Attack Surface

• Hypotheses tested:
1. Standalone packaging launches from arbitrary cwd with zero env vars: CONFIRMED ROBUST (PASS)
1. Path traversal (/static/../../...) leaks source/db: CONFIRMED BLOCKED (10/10 vectors returned 400/403/404, no data leaked)
1. XSS injection into symptom notes: CONFIRMED BLOCKED (stored safely, returned as JSON string, protected by strict CSP)
1. 5-strike brute-force lockout: CONFIRMED ENFORCED (6th attempt with valid password rejected 401; persists across server restart; unaffected accounts isolated)
1. 25 concurrent threads against SQLite: CONFIRMED THREAD-SAFE (0 lock errors, 25/25 requests completed in 0.57s, WAL mode verified)
1. Port conflict on startup: CONFIRMED RESILIENT (clean socket error, non-zero exit code 1)

• Vulnerabilities found: None in standalone binary runtime. Minor test harness discovery: PyInstaller --onefile child processes must be terminated with /T (tree) flag on Windows.

• Untested angles: Hardware failure mid-write (simulated via WAL durability checks).

Loaded Skills

• None