owasp-amass/amass · error

executable path is empty

Error message

executable path is empty

What it means

After os.Executable() succeeds, startEngine guards against an empty string path. An empty path would produce a meaningless child command, so this error is returned. In practice this is nearly unreachable when os.Executable() returns nil error, but it protects against platform quirks.

Source

Thrown at cmd/amass/process.go:36

	c, err := client.NewClient("http://127.0.0.1:4000")
	if err != nil {
		return false
	}
	defer c.Close()

	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 2*time.Second)
	defer cancel()

	return c.HealthCheck(ctx)
}

func startEngine() error {
	p, err := os.Executable()
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to get executable path: %w", err)
	}
	if p == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("executable path is empty")
	}

	cmd := initCmd(p)
	if cmd == nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to initialize command for %s", p)
	}
	cmd.Stdout = io.Discard
	cmd.Stderr = io.Discard
	cmd.Stdin = os.Stdin

	cmd.Dir, err = os.Getwd()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	return cmd.Start()
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 79299dce87)

Solutions

1. Investigate the runtime environment — stock Go on Linux/macOS/Windows will not return an empty path with nil error.
2. Provide an explicit binary path alternative if you control the launch flow, rather than relying on os.Executable().
3. Upgrade the Go toolchain/runtime if using a non-standard port.

p, err := os.Executable()
if err != nil || p == "" {
    return fmt.Errorf("executable path unavailable: %v", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: os.Executable() returning ("", nil) on a non-conforming platform/runtime — extremely rare defensive branch.

Common situations: Custom or embedded Go runtimes, unusual sandboxing layers, or modified os package behavior where the executable path cannot be resolved yet no error is reported.

Related errors

• the Amass engine did not respond within the timeout period
• failed to get executable path: %w
• failed to initialize command for %s
• failed to cast the DomainRecord
• failed to cast the IPNetRecord

AI-assisted analysis of owasp-amass/amass@79299dce87 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/629a4faa4b344142. Report an issue: GitHub.