Malformed Codex Delete Command Wipes User's System Files Due to Quoting Error
SgtSilock · reddit · 2026-08-12
A developer warned against asking OpenAI's Codex to perform deletion operations after a catastrophic incident. When the user asked Codex to delete an old project folder, the generated command suffered a quoting error and was malformed. Windows interpreted it as a forced recursive deletion of the C: drive root directory (rd /s /q \).
The command bypassed the Recycle Bin and began aggressively deleting files, permanently destroying Steam game libraries and various data, with only protected locked files surviving. System logs confirmed it was an accidental, catastrophically malformed Codex command rather than a hacker attack.
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