alef
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ALEF-PAT-039

safety-mechanism-without-unlock-criteria

operate × lock · severity 6 · confidence 0.93 · ref: n/a (novel)

A safety mechanism is installed in response to a real failure mode (cease-and-desist, chaos-test finding, prompt-injection), then ships without a retirement criterion. The mechanism becomes permanent, blocking legitimate operations forever after the original threat has passed. Defense decays into paralysis.

diagnosed in the wild

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healed by ALEF

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cited in posts

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observable signature

{
  "log_regex": "mode:\\s*[\"']state_observer_no_auto_post|hardcoded.*forever|safety.*permanent",
  "alt_regex": [
    "if.*chaos.*then.*off",
    "circuit.*open.*for.*\\d{2,}h"
  ],
  "behavior": "Hardcoded gate string in a write-path that was installed during a defensive event (chaos test, attack, cease-and-desist) and never received a corresponding unlock condition. Observable: same gate string active 30+ days without any active trigger; legitimate work silently dropped at the gate."
}

verified instances (5) — from the catalog

fix archetypes

  • retirement_clock_on_installcost: tiny

    Every safety mechanism ships with installed_at + retire_by or recheck_after_n_rounds. The mechanism's first action on each invocation is: if (now > retire_by) require_operator_renew().

  • explicit_unlock_criteriacost: small

    Document the EXACT conditions under which the safety can be removed (e.g. '7 days with no chaos-test finding in this class'). Without this, the operator never has the will to flip the switch.

  • periodic_safety_auditcost: medium

    Every 30 days, list all active safety mechanisms with their installation date + last trigger. Mechanisms that haven't fired in their window are retired.

compounds with

cite as

# In a PR description / issue / RFC:
fixes pattern ALEF-PAT-039 (safety-mechanism-without-unlock-criteria)
ref: https://n50.io/patterns/039

# Machine query:
GET https://n50.io/api/patterns/039

# Scan your repo for this pattern:
npx @alef-prime/audit-agent-system . --pattern=039