ruvnet/ruflo · error

namespace contains path traversal

Error message

namespace contains path traversal

What it means

validateIdentifier's PATH_TRAVERSAL check (/\.\.[/\\]/) fires before the charset check, so a namespace containing ../ or ..\ anywhere fails memory_list with 'namespace contains path traversal' (memory-tools.ts:705). This blocks attempts to escape the namespace's storage directory in file-backed memory layouts. A namespace like 'a..b' (dots without a following slash/backslash) is fine; 'a/../b' is not.

Solutions

1. Remove '..' segments — use flat names ('prod', 'data-prod') instead of relative path walks
2. Normalize first: namespace.replace(/\.\.[/\\]/g, '_')
3. If namespaces need hierarchy, use ':' or '-' as the separator (allowed by the charset rule), never '/'
4. Reject '../' in your input layer before the value ever reaches the tool

Example fix

// before
await mcp.callTool('memory_list', { namespace: 'data/../prod' }); // namespace contains path traversal

// after
await mcp.callTool('memory_list', { namespace: 'data:prod' });

function denyTraversal(ns: string): string | null {
  if (/\.\.[/\\]/.test(ns)) return null; // reject
  return ns;
}
const safeNs = denyTraversal(rawNs) ?? rawNs.split('/').filter(Boolean).join(':');

function containsPathTraversal(ns: string): boolean {
  return /\.\.[/\\]/.test(ns);
}
// if (containsPathTraversal(ns)) throw new Error('namespace must not contain ../ or ..\\');

try {
  await memoryList({ namespace: ns });
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.includes('namespace contains path traversal')) {
    // security rejection — never 'fix' automatically beyond stripping ../; prefer rejecting the input
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: memory_list with namespace 'data/../prod', 'a\\..\\b' (Windows-style), or any user-supplied value in which '..' is immediately followed by / or \.

Common situations: Joining namespace segments with '../' shortcuts when composing paths; passing unvalidated user input as a namespace; security-test payloads probing for traversal.

Understand the failure class

Background: Path traversal blocked: "path escapes the workspace" and "outside site root" errors when a path will not stay inside its allowed directory — this error's family across 26 libraries.

Related errors

• namespace contains disallowed characters
• memory path contains disallowed characters
• Namespace contains disallowed characters
• namespace contains invalid characters (allowed…
• namespace exceeds 128 characters

AI-assisted analysis of ruvnet/ruflo@9c61c86f06 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/15529cb52399a281. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at v3/@claude-flow/cli/src/mcp-tools/memory-tools.ts:805

    description: 'Enumerate stored memory entries (optionally filtered by namespace/tags) without semantic search. Use when native Glob is wrong because the entries are not files (they live in .swarm/memory.db). For inspection / audit / "what is in my memory" — pair with memory_search for retrieval-by-meaning.',
    category: 'memory',
    inputSchema: {
      type: 'object',
      properties: {
        namespace: { type: 'string', description: 'Filter by namespace' },
        limit: { type: 'number', description: 'Maximum results (default: 50)' },
        offset: { type: 'number', description: 'Offset for pagination (default: 0)' },
      },
    },
    handler: async (input) => {
      await ensureInitialized();
      const { listEntries } = await getMemoryFunctions();

      const namespace = input.namespace as string | undefined;
      const limit = (input.limit as number) || 50;
      const offset = (input.offset as number) || 0;

      if (namespace) { const vNs = validateIdentifier(namespace, 'namespace'); if (!vNs.valid) throw new Error(vNs.error); }

      try {
        const result = await listEntries({
          namespace,
          limit,
          offset,
        });

        const entries = result.entries.map(e => ({
          key: e.key,
          namespace: e.namespace,
          storedAt: e.createdAt,
          updatedAt: e.updatedAt,
          accessCount: e.accessCount,
          hasEmbedding: e.hasEmbedding,
          size: e.size,
        }));

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