fix(target): decode app Info.plist executables with an XML parser

The pattern-based reader decoded entities twice, ignored numeric
character references and CDATA, and could match a commented or nested
CFBundleExecutable key, so valid app bundles reported a missing program.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/application/BinaryTargetResolver.ts

@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import { execFile } from "node:child_process";
 import { extname, isAbsolute, join, resolve } from "node:path";
 import { promisify } from "node:util";
 
+import { parse as parsePlist } from "plist";
+
 import { isPathWithinRoot } from "../domain/localPath.js";
 import { BinaryTargetError } from "../domain/configurationErrors.js";
 import type { BinaryTarget } from "../domain/binaryTargetTypes.js";
@@ -264,14 +266,21 @@ const resolveAppBundle = async (
   }
 };
 
+/** Decode the top-level executable name with an XML parser, not a pattern. */
 const parseXmlPlistExecutable = (plist: string): string => {
-  const match =
-    /<key>\s*CFBundleExecutable\s*<\/key>\s*<string>([^<]+)<\/string>/u.exec(
-      plist,
-    );
-  if (match?.[1] === undefined)
+  const value = parsePlist(plist);
+  const executable =
+    typeof value === "object" &&
+    value !== null &&
+    !Array.isArray(value) &&
+    !(value instanceof Date) &&
+    !(value instanceof Uint8Array) &&
+    Object.hasOwn(value, "CFBundleExecutable")
+      ? value.CFBundleExecutable
+      : undefined;
+  if (typeof executable !== "string")
     throw new Error("CFBundleExecutable is missing");
-  return decodeXml(match[1]);
+  return executable;
 };
 
 const readBinaryPlistExecutable = async (plistPath: string): Promise<string> =>
@@ -295,14 +304,6 @@ const isSafeExecutableName = (name: string): boolean =>
   !name.includes("\0") &&
   !/[/\\]/u.test(name);
 
-const decodeXml = (value: string): string =>
-  value
-    .replaceAll("&amp;", "&")
-    .replaceAll("&lt;", "<")
-    .replaceAll("&gt;", ">")
-    .replaceAll("&quot;", '"')
-    .replaceAll("&apos;", "'");
-
 const readExecutableMetadata = async (
   handle: FileHandle,
   hostArchitecture: NodeJS.Architecture,

tests/boundary/filesystem/binaryTarget.test.ts

@@ -187,6 +187,62 @@ describe("app executable filename fidelity", () => {
     },
   );
 
+  it.each([
+    ["an escaped entity reference", "a<b", "a<b"],
+    ["a numeric character reference", "a b", "a b"],
+    ["a CDATA section", "<![CDATA[a&b]]>", "a&b"],
+  ])(
+    "decodes an XML plist executable name containing %s",
+    async (_case, encoded, name) => {
+      const directory = await createTestTempDirectory("rea-app-xml-name-");
+      const app = join(directory, "Encoded.app");
+      const contents = join(app, "Contents");
+      const executable = join(contents, "MacOS", name);
+      await mkdir(join(contents, "MacOS"), { recursive: true });
+      await writeFile(
+        join(contents, "Info.plist"),
+        `<plist><dict><key>CFBundleExecutable</key><string>${encoded}</string></dict></plist>`,
+      );
+      await writeFile(executable, thinMach(0xfeedfacf, 0x0100000c));
+      const result = await parseBinaryTarget(app, directory, "arm64");
+      expect(result.ok && result.value).toMatchObject({
+        path: await realpath(executable),
+        format: "mach-o",
+      });
+    },
+  );
+
+  it("reads the top-level executable key rather than commented or nested text", async () => {
+    const directory = await createTestTempDirectory("rea-app-xml-key-");
+    const app = join(directory, "Nested.app");
+    const contents = join(app, "Contents");
+    const executable = join(contents, "MacOS", "App");
+    await mkdir(join(contents, "MacOS"), { recursive: true });
+    await writeFile(
+      join(contents, "Info.plist"),
+      [
+        "<plist><dict>",
+        "<!-- <key>CFBundleExecutable</key><string>Old</string> -->",
+        "<key>NSExtension</key><dict><key>CFBundleExecutable</key><string>Inner</string></dict>",
+        "<key>CFBundleExecutable</key><string>App</string>",
+        "</dict></plist>",
+      ].join(""),
+    );
+    await writeFile(executable, thinMach(0xfeedfacf, 0x0100000c));
+    await writeFile(
+      join(contents, "MacOS", "Old"),
+      thinMach(0xfeedfacf, 0x0100000c),
+    );
+    await writeFile(
+      join(contents, "MacOS", "Inner"),
+      thinMach(0xfeedfacf, 0x0100000c),
+    );
+    const result = await parseBinaryTarget(app, directory, "arm64");
+    expect(result.ok && result.value).toMatchObject({
+      path: await realpath(executable),
+    });
+  });
+
   it.skipIf(process.platform !== "darwin")(
     "preserves executable filename whitespace from native binary plists",
     async () => {