fix(llm-security): compileRules coerces a non-string pattern instead of dropping the rule

new RegExp(pattern, 'i') never throws when pattern is a truthy non-string
(e.g. an object) — it ToString-coerces it first. The truthy-only guard
(`!rule.pattern`) let such a rule through as a real, compiled RegExp,
bypassing the try/catch meant to drop malformed rules. Worse than a silent
drop: `new RegExp("[object Object]", "i")` is parsed as a character class
over o/b/j/e/c/t/space, so the "dropped" rule instead becomes a
near-universal false-positive matcher. Same path for the built-in
commons-backed ruleset and the operator's sig.custom_rules_path (both
route through compileRules).

Fix: require typeof rule.pattern === 'string' before compiling. Verified
the golden dump pins no rule that exists only because of this coercion —
it regenerates byte-identically after the fix.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_019iWrdLSVgRhgPzTB29rQGD

scanners/lib/malware-signatures.mjs

@@ -51,10 +51,15 @@ import { loadArtifact } from './commons-loader.mjs';
  * this defaulting logic would drift, and the custom path is the one an
  * operator can get wrong.
  *
- * Each rule's `pattern` is compiled case-insensitively; rules lacking `id` or
+ * Each rule's `pattern` is compiled case-insensitively; rules lacking `id`,
- * `pattern`, and rules whose pattern fails to compile, are dropped. The
+ * lacking a non-empty string `pattern`, or whose pattern fails to compile, are
- * defaults below are loader tolerance, recorded in the artifact under
+ * dropped. The string check matters on its own: `new RegExp` does not throw on
- * `missing-field-defaults` — not an optional-field contract.
+ * a non-string `pattern` (e.g. `{source: 'x'}`) — it coerces the value via
+ * ToString first, so a vendored or operator-supplied rule with a malformed
+ * (non-string) pattern would otherwise compile into a real, unintended regex
+ * instead of being caught by the try/catch below. The defaults below are
+ * loader tolerance, recorded in the artifact under `missing-field-defaults` —
+ * not an optional-field contract.
  *
  * @param {object} parsed
  * @returns {Array<{id: string, family: string, severity: string, re: RegExp,
@@ -63,7 +68,7 @@ import { loadArtifact } from './commons-loader.mjs';
 export function compileRules(parsed) {
   const compiled = [];
   for (const rule of parsed?.rules || []) {
-    if (!rule || !rule.id || !rule.pattern) continue;
+    if (!rule || !rule.id || typeof rule.pattern !== 'string' || !rule.pattern) continue;
     let re;
     try {
       re = new RegExp(rule.pattern, 'i');

tests/lib/malware-signatures.test.mjs

@@ -159,5 +159,21 @@ describe('malware-signatures (commons known-bad-identity ruleset)', () => {
     it('returns an empty array for a ruleset with no rules array', () => {
       assert.deepEqual(compileRules({}), []);
     });
+
+    it('drops a rule whose pattern is not a string, instead of stringifying it', () => {
+      // `new RegExp(pattern, 'i')` does not throw when `pattern` is a non-string
+      // object: the RegExp constructor coerces it via ToString, so
+      // `{source: 'x'}` silently becomes the literal pattern "[object Object]"
+      // rather than raising the compile error the `try/catch` below is there to
+      // catch. A truthy-only guard (`!rule.pattern`) lets that coerced rule
+      // through as a real, matching RegExp instead of dropping it.
+      const compiled = compileRules({
+        rules: [
+          { id: 'OBJ-PATTERN-001', pattern: { source: 'x' } },
+          { id: 'A', pattern: 'a' },
+        ],
+      });
+      assert.deepEqual(compiled.map((r) => r.id), ['A']);
+    });
   });
 });

tests/scanners/signature-scanner-custom-rules.test.mjs

@@ -99,6 +99,43 @@ describe('signature-scanner: custom_rules_path (#36)', () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it('drops a custom rule whose pattern is not a string, instead of coercing it', async () => {
+    // Same coercion bug as tests/lib/malware-signatures.test.mjs, exercised
+    // through the operator-facing path: JSON.parse of a JSON object pattern
+    // yields a JS object, and `new RegExp(pattern, 'i')` does not throw on it —
+    // it stringifies via ToString to the literal "[object Object]" and
+    // compiles THAT as a regex. The leading/trailing brackets make it a
+    // character class, not a literal match: `[object Object]` matches any
+    // single occurrence of o/b/j/e/c/t/space, which is nearly every file. So
+    // the rule must be dropped by compileRules's type check, not left for the
+    // compile try/catch, which never sees an error here.
+    const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'sig-custom-'));
+    try {
+      writePolicy(dir, { sig: { custom_rules_path: 'custom-sigs.json' } });
+      writeFileSync(join(dir, 'custom-sigs.json'), JSON.stringify({
+        rules: [{
+          id: 'CUSTOM-OBJ-001',
+          family: 'webshell',
+          severity: 'high',
+          pattern: { source: 'EVILCUSTOMMARKER_[0-9]+' },
+          description: 'Malformed: pattern is an object, not a string',
+        }],
+      }));
+
+      resetCounter();
+      const discovery = await discoverFiles(dir);
+      const result = await scan(dir, discovery);
+      assert.equal(result.status, 'ok');
+      const bad = result.findings.find(f => f.evidence && f.evidence.includes('CUSTOM-OBJ-001'));
+      assert.equal(
+        bad, undefined,
+        'a rule with a non-string pattern must be dropped, not coerced into a matching regex',
+      );
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
   it('fails gracefully when the custom ruleset is invalid JSON', async () => {
     const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'sig-custom-'));
     try {