File Safety
Review path traversal protection, preview-session capability checks, private runtime directories, startup cleanup, and atomic archive output.
Avikal includes file-safety controls around extraction, preview access, runtime storage, temporary files, startup cleanup, and archive output.
These controls reduce risk during normal workflows. They should be understood as safety measures, not as a promise that a compromised endpoint can protect every local secret or temporary artifact.
Path Traversal Protection
Extraction paths are validated to prevent unsafe path traversal such as ../ escapes or Windows reserved device names.
This prevents archive entries from writing outside the intended extraction target during save or extract operations.
Preview Path Capabilities
Electron only allows renderer actions on approved file paths or preview-session paths. This limits arbitrary file opening and export from the renderer.
Preview files are temporary decrypted files. They should be closed and cleaned when no longer needed, especially on shared or sensitive systems.
Private Runtime Directories
Avikal creates runtime, log, preview, and temporary directories with private-directory handling where supported by the OS.
These directories support local app operation and diagnostics while keeping runtime files organized under controlled locations.
Startup Cleanup
Avikal runs cleanup for registered temporary artifacts and stale preview sessions. This helps remove leftovers from interrupted operations.
Cleanup is damage reduction. It is not the same as assured deletion on every filesystem, storage device, or compromised machine.
Atomic Archive Output
Large archive creation writes to a temporary archive and only replaces the final destination after successful completion.
This improves crash safety during archive creation because a failed encode should not replace the intended final output as though it completed successfully.
Container Validation
The backend validates archive structure and rejects malformed archives, missing required members, duplicate members, unexpected entries, and other unsafe layout problems.
This validation works together with extraction path checks and preview capability checks to keep archive handling constrained.