René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"Permission model `--permission-audit` inconsistencies","articleBody":"### Version\n\nv26.7.0\n\n### Platform\n\n```text\nLinux localhostage 7.0.0-29-generic #29-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Jul 17 20:52:35 UTC 2026 x86_64 GNU/Linux\n```\n\n### Subsystem\n\npermission model\n\n### What steps will reproduce the bug?\n\n[p_a_repro.js](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/31260863/p_a_repro.js)\n[p_a_run.sh](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/31260862/p_a_run.sh)\n\n```\n====================================================\nRunning p_a_repro.js normally\n>dlopen> /path/to/any.node: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory\n====================================================\nRunning p_a_repro.js with permission\n[AUDIT] node:permission-model:fs: FileSystemRead /etc/hosts\n>lstat> Access to this API has been restricted\n[AUDIT] node:permission-model:fs: FileSystemRead /etc/hosts\n>stat> Access to this API has been restricted. Use --allow-fs-read to manage permissions.\n[AUDIT] node:permission-model:fs: FileSystem \n>symlink> fs.symlink API requires full fs.read and fs.write permissions.\n>dlopen> Cannot load native addon because loading addons is disabled.\n====================================================\nRunning p_a_repro.js with permission-audit\n[AUDIT] node:permission-model:fs: FileSystemRead /etc/hosts\n>lstat> Access to this API has been restricted\n[AUDIT] node:permission-model:fs: FileSystemRead /etc/hosts\n[AUDIT] node:permission-model:fs: FileSystem \n>symlink> fs.symlink API requires full fs.read and fs.write permissions.\n>dlopen> Cannot load native addon because loading addons is disabled.\n====================================================\nRunning p_a_repro.js with permission-audit with allow\n>dlopen> /path/to/any.node: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory\n(node:61707) [PERM0001] SecurityWarning: The flag --allow-addons must be used with extreme caution. It could invalidate the permission model.\n(Use `node --trace-warnings ...` to show where the warning was created)\n```\n\n\n### How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?\n\nalways\n\n### What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?\n\nAudit mode aka `--permission-audit`  is documented as:\n> The [--permission-audit](https://nodejs.org/api/cli.html#--permission-audit) flag enables audit mode for the Permission Model. In audit mode, permission checks are performed but access is not denied — no ERR_ACCESS_DENIED error is thrown. Instead, each permission violation is published through the node:diagnostics_channel module, allowing the application to observe and log which operations would be denied under enforce mode. Execution continues normally.\n\nThe `Running p_a_repro.js normally` and `Running p_a_repro.js with permission-audit` should have the same outcomes/errors\n\n\n### What do you see instead?\n\n`--permission-audit` is enough to trigger some permission enforcement - namely on lstat, symlink and dlopen \n\n### Additional information\n\nI'm interested in contributing a fix. Might need some pointers.","author":{"url":"https://github.com/naugtur","@type":"Person","name":"naugtur"},"datePublished":"2026-08-20T09:58:42Z","url":"https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/65419"}