Gemini CLI destroyed a user's files after misreading a failed command

Individual user, disclosed 25 Jul 2025. Agent misbehaviour Data destroyed Medium

Asked to reorganize a folder, Google's Gemini CLI coding agent assumed a directory it had failed to create existed, then ran a series of move commands that overwrote all but one of the user's files. Recovery attempts failed and the agent admitted a catastrophic failure.

Disclosed

25 Jul 2025

Organization

Individual user

Vendor

Google

Model

Gemini

Product

Gemini CLI

Kind of AI

Coding agent

AI's role

Rogue agent

How it happened

Agent misbehaviour: Destructive action

Harm

Data destroyed

Data involved

Unknown

Reach

Limited

Severity

Medium

Model at fault

Yes

Status

Confirmed

Sources

1. https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/1178/
2. https://winbuzzer.com/2025/07/26/googles-gemini-cli-deletes-user-files-confesses-catastrophic-failure-xcxwbn/