From 3922056b2569ece6b90e92d30397021e5a251dc7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Peter.Morton" <peter.morton@verint.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:15:28 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] fix: preserve Markdown code fences by escaping backticks
 instead of removing them (fixes #6)
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Backticks were being stripped entirely by the sanitizer, destroying
Markdown code fences (```) in note content.

The real injection risk is backtick command substitution inside
double-quoted shell strings (e.g. content=`rm -rf /`). The fix is to
escape backticks as \` in formatParam — exactly as we already do for
double quotes — so the shell never interprets them while the content
is preserved intact.

Changes:
- sanitizer.ts: remove ` from DANGEROUS_CHARS and the backtick command
  substitution pattern from COMMAND_INJECTION_PATTERNS (now handled at
  the quoting layer, not the stripping layer)
- cli-helpers.ts: escape backticks as \` in formatParam alongside the
  existing double-quote escaping

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 src/utils/cli-helpers.ts    | 9 ++++++---
 src/validation/sanitizer.ts | 7 ++++---
 2 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/utils/cli-helpers.ts b/src/utils/cli-helpers.ts
index f68dcbe..d0f2de1 100644
--- a/src/utils/cli-helpers.ts
+++ b/src/utils/cli-helpers.ts
@@ -14,9 +14,12 @@ export function formatParam(key: string, value: string | number): string {
   // Always quote string values to handle spaces and special characters safely
   // Note: Obsidian CLI docs say: "Quote values with spaces: name="My Note""
   
-  // Escape any double quotes in the value to prevent shell interpretation issues
-  // This prevents truncation when content contains quotes like "Bot QM"
-  const escapedValue = String(value).replace(/"/g, '\\"');
+  // Escape double quotes and backticks to prevent shell interpretation inside double-quoted strings.
+  // In bash double-quoted strings: \" prevents quote termination, \` prevents command substitution.
+  // This preserves Markdown code fences (``` ` ```) while blocking injection via backticks.
+  const escapedValue = String(value)
+    .replace(/"/g, '\\"')
+    .replace(/`/g, '\\`');
   
   return `${key}="${escapedValue}"`;
 }
diff --git a/src/validation/sanitizer.ts b/src/validation/sanitizer.ts
index d7bff0c..3c38636 100644
--- a/src/validation/sanitizer.ts
+++ b/src/validation/sanitizer.ts
@@ -11,13 +11,14 @@ import { logger } from '../utils/logger.js';
  * Note: Brackets [], parentheses (), and braces {} are safe because values are quoted and passed as array args
  * They're essential for Obsidian markdown (wikilinks [[link]], tasks - [ ] Task, templates {{...}}, etc.)
  * Note: Single & is safe in quoted args (filenames like "Research & Development.md")
- * We only block: ; | ` $ < > (command separators, pipes, substitution, redirects)
+ * Note: Backticks are safe because formatParam escapes them as \` inside double-quoted strings,
+ *       preventing shell command substitution while preserving Markdown code fences (``` ```)
+ * We only block: ; | $ < > (command separators, pipes, substitution, redirects)
  * Command injection patterns (&&, ||, etc.) are handled separately
  */
-const DANGEROUS_CHARS = /[;|`$<>]/g;
+const DANGEROUS_CHARS = /[;|$<>]/g;
 const COMMAND_INJECTION_PATTERNS = [
   /\$\(/g,      // Command substitution $(...)
-  /`[^`]*`/g,   // Command substitution `...`
   /\|\|/g,      // OR operator
   /&&/g,        // AND operator
   /;/g,         // Command separator