The Vault CSI secrets-store projects /vault/secrets/node-ssh-public-key
as a symlink chain (file -> ..data/file -> ..<timestamp>/file), which
the O_NOFOLLOW hardened reader refuses with ELOOP, crash-looping the
hermes-node-ssh-access key reconciler on most nodes.
Resolve the projection safely instead of relaxing the reader: realpath
the secret strictly (loops and dangling links become a clean refusal),
refuse any resolution that escapes the read-only mount, then apply the
unchanged O_NOFOLLOW regular-file read to the resolved target. Host
account databases and authorized_keys keep the strict no-symlink read.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
