fix(selfhost): bound config lint file reads

[JSONbored]

Motivation

• The self-host config-lint CLI read files unbounded with readFileSync, which could follow symlinks or read special/very large files before the parser's byte cap was applied, risking hangs or excessive memory use.
• Prevent attacker-controlled repository manifests (or CI runs) from causing availability issues by validating file metadata before reading content.

Description

• Add readManifestTextForLint(path) that lstats the path, rejects symlinks, rejects non-regular files, checks stat.size against MAX_FOCUS_MANIFEST_BYTES, and only then calls readFileSync to return the UTF-8 text.
• Import MAX_FOCUS_MANIFEST_BYTES and wire the CLI main() to use the guarded reader and emit the existing usage/error output on pre-read failures.
• Add unit tests covering successful read at/under the limit, missing path, symlink rejection, non-regular file rejection, and oversized-file rejection, and keep the existing formatLintReport tests.

Testing

• Ran git diff --check and it passed.
• Ran the focused test file with npx vitest run test/unit/gittensory-config-lint-script.test.ts and all tests passed.
• Ran npm run typecheck which completed successfully.
• Attempted npm run test:ci; it progressed to test:coverage but the run stalled due to pre-existing RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded in test/unit/queue.test.ts unrelated to this change, preventing a full gate run.
• Attempted npm audit --audit-level=moderate but the registry audit endpoint returned 403 Forbidden, so the audit could not be completed.

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Codex Task

[superagent-security]

Superagent didn't find any vulnerabilities or security issues in this PR.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 93.66%. Comparing base (1ce4364) to head (e442709).
⚠️ Report is 15 commits behind head on main.
✅ All tests successful. No failed tests found.

Additional details and impacted files

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  Coverage   93.66%   93.66%           
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  Files         372      372           
  Lines       34856    34856           
  Branches    12743    12743           
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  Hits        32649    32649           
  Misses       1588     1588           
  Partials      619      619           

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Warning

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⏸️ Gittensory review result - manual review recommended

_{Review updated: 2026-07-07 07:54:02 UTC}

2 files · 1 AI reviewer · 2 blockers · readiness 93/100 · CI green · clean

⏸️ Suggested Action - Manual Review

• No linked issue detected — If this PR is intended to solve an issue, link it explicitly in the PR body.
• Maintainer requires a linked issue — Link the relevant issue (for example Closes #123) before opening the PR.

Review summary
This PR replaces an unbounded existsSync+readFileSync CLI read with a guarded readManifestTextForLint() that lstats the path, rejects symlinks and non-regular files, and enforces the existing MAX_FOCUS_MANIFEST_BYTES cap before reading, wiring main() to surface these pre-read failures through the existing usage/error path. The logic is correct, reuses an existing constant rather than introducing a new magic number, and the new tests exercise the real exported function (success, missing file, symlink, non-regular file, oversized file) rather than fabricating impossible states. This is a narrow, well-scoped hardening fix tied to a referenced regression (#2923) with no scope creep.

Nits — 4 non-blocking

• scripts/gittensory-config-lint.ts: there's a TOCTOU gap between lstatSync and readFileSync — an attacker who can swap the path to a symlink after the check but before the read defeats the guard; consider opening with a file descriptor (fs.openSync with O_NOFOLLOW or fstat-after-open) instead of stat-then-read by path for a fully race-free check.
• test/unit/gittensory-config-lint-script.test.ts: the oversized-file test writes MAX_FOCUS_MANIFEST_BYTES + 1 bytes to disk on every run, which is fine functionally but is unnecessary I/O if MAX_FOCUS_MANIFEST_BYTES is large — worth a comment noting the size is intentional if it's more than a few hundred KB.
• Consider extracting the O_NOFOLLOW-safe read pattern into src/selfhost or a shared fs helper if other self-host CLIs read user-controlled manifest paths, to avoid re-implementing this guard elsewhere.
• scripts/gittensory-config-lint.ts:20 could annotate the return type of lstatSync's stat variable explicitly instead of relying on inference, for readability at the call site.

Concerns raised — review before merging

• No linked issue detected — If this PR is intended to solve an issue, link it explicitly in the PR body.
• Maintainer requires a linked issue — Link the relevant issue (for example Closes #123) before opening the PR.

Signal	Result	Evidence
Code review	❌ 2 blockers	1 reviewer
Linked issue	⚠️ Missing	No linked issue or no-issue rationale found.
Related work	✅ No active overlap found	No same-issue or scoped active PR overlap found.
Change scope	✅ 20/20	Low review scope from cached public metadata (no linked issue context).
Validation posture	✅ 25/25	PR body includes validation/test evidence.
Contributor workload	✅ 10/10	Author activity: 51 registered-repo PR(s), 43 merged, 343 issue(s).
Contributor context	✅ Confirmed Gittensor contributor	JSONbored; Gittensor profile; 51 PR(s), 343 issue(s).
Gate result	❌ Blocking	Repo-configured hard blocker found.

Review context

• Author: JSONbored
• Role context: owner (maintainer lane)
• Public audience mode: oss maintainer
• Lane context: Repository is configured for direct PR review.
• Public profile languages: Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, Ruby, Go, Kotlin, MDX, Shell
• Official Gittensor activity: 51 PR(s), 343 issue(s).
• PR-specific overlap: none found.

Contributor next steps

• Treat this as maintainer-lane context rather than normal contributor-lane activity.
• Explain no-issue PR.
• Link the issue being solved, or explicitly explain why this is a no-issue PR.

Signal definitions

• Related work = same linked issue, overlapping active PRs, or title/path similarity.
• Change scope = cached public metadata such as size labels, draft state, and review-burden hints.
• Validation posture = whether the PR provides enough public validation/test evidence for maintainer review.
• Contributor workload = public contributor activity and cleanup pressure, not a repo-wide quality failure.
• Contributor context = public GitHub/Gittensor identity context; non-Gittensor status is not a blocker.

_{🟩 Safe / merged · 🟦 Advisory · 🟨 Held for review · 🟥 Blocked / closed}

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