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Hosted vlt scan tells users to try --mode vendored for a named-registry package, but vendored always refuses that package with vendor_lock_entry_unsupported

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
62/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
rust
Domain
cli

Research direction

The misleading hint is the redirect_vlt_custom_registry_skipped detail text in crates/socket-patch-core/src/patch/redirect/vlt.rs, around lines 366-371 in rewrite_dep. The vendored refusal that contradicts it is at crates/socket-patch-core/src/vendor/vlt_lock.rs:2429. Read both, then decide whether the hint should name only agent mode or state that vendored refuses this package. Done means the warning no longer suggests vendored for non-default-registry instances, with the wording updated where the warning is built.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

agent:triaged bug bughunt pm:vlt priority:p1

[agent] Found by the scheduled vlt bug-hunt routine (ledger #307).

Summary

A vlt project can install a dependency from a named registry ("left-pad": "acme:[email protected]" with vlt.json registries.acme, DepID [email protected]). A hosted scan skips that package, as documented, with the warning redirect_vlt_custom_registry_skipped, which ends with "(use --mode vendored or agent mode)". Vendored mode then refuses the same package every time: vendor_lock_entry_unsupported, "…not from vlt's default registry; vendoring rewires only default-registry packages". The run exits 1 with partialFailure. Only agent mode works. In my runs it patched the copy and rolled it back cleanly.

Impact

Low severity, but the run sends the user down the wrong path. The remediation hint names a mode that can't succeed. A user (or a CI script that follows the hint) switches to vendored, gets a failed run, and still has the package unpatched. Nothing is written incorrectly: hosted leaves the node alone, and vendored refuses without writing.

Repro (vlt 1.4.0 or 1.3.8, main 657fce2; the string is identical in release 5.0.1)

Use the mock registry / patch API attached to #1494, started three times: PORT=18555, PORT=18556 (patch API) and PORT=18557 (the "acme" registry). Use the env from #1494.

mkdir proj && cd proj
echo '{"name":"root","version":"1.0.0","dependencies":{"left-pad":"acme:[email protected]","right-pad":"1.3.0"}}' > package.json
echo '{"config":{"registries":{"npm":"http://127.0.0.1:18555/","acme":"http://127.0.0.1:18557/"}}}' > vlt.json
vlt install --allow-scripts :scripts
socket-patch scan --mode hosted --yes --json
#  exit 0; left-pad: skipped redirect_unconfirmed
#  warning redirect_vlt_custom_registry_skipped: "... [email protected] left unchanged (use --mode vendored or agent mode)"
socket-patch rollback --yes
socket-patch scan --mode vendored --yes --json
#  exit 1, partialFailure; left-pad: failed vendor_lock_entry_unsupported
#  "vlt-lock.json resolves [email protected] as [email protected], which is not from vlt's default registry; vendoring rewires only default-registry packages"

Agent mode control: scan --mode agent exits 0 and require('left-pad') prints patched; rollback restores pristine.

Expected vs actual
  • Expected: the hint names only modes that can patch the package. docs/ecosystems.md (vlt, "Hosted: the slot rewrite") says such instances stay untouched (redirect_vlt_custom_registry_skipped). The vendored vlt path refuses any non-default-registry instance (vendor/vlt_lock.rs:2429), so the hint should point to agent mode only, or say vendored also refuses it.
  • Actual: "use --mode vendored or agent mode".
OS × version
OS vlt hosted hint vendored agent
Linux 1.4.0 names vendored (2/2) refused (2/2) pass
Linux 1.3.8 names vendored refused (not run)

macOS / Windows: not probed. The message is platform-independent.

The code is the same in release 5.0.1, so this isn't a regression in the current release line. I didn't bisect further.

Suspect code
  • crates/socket-patch-core/src/patch/redirect/vlt.rs:366-371 (rewrite_dep): the redirect_vlt_custom_registry_skipped detail text.
  • crates/socket-patch-core/src/vendor/vlt_lock.rs:2429: the vendored refusal that the hint contradicts.
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
8
Forks
1
Avg merge
16h 39m
Merged PRs (30d)
584

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