fix(ui): decide Vite 5 → 6 upgrade — closes Dependabot #16 + #17 [vision-review]

[w7-mgfcode]

vision-review — this issue requires explicit project-owner judgment per .claude/rules/product-vision.md. Tagged [vision-review] in the title because the vision-review label does not yet exist in this repo (recommend adding it once for future use).

Summary

Two open Dependabot alerts on @lab/ll-KNOWRAG/apps/ui/package-lock.json cannot be patch-bumped — they require a MAJOR version upgrade of Vite (5 → 6) which the project explicitly chose to defer in Phase 8.

Both alerts trace back to one decision: do we move to Vite 6 now, or accept the medium-severity exposure on a local-dev-only build tool?

Alerts being tracked

#	Sev	Pkg	Vuln range → Patched	Note
#17	MED	vite	<= 6.4.1 → 6.4.2	requires Vite 5 → 6 major bump (current pin: 5.4.21); GHSA-4w7w-66w2-5vf9 — Path Traversal in optimized-deps .map handling
#16	MED 5.3	esbuild	<= 0.24.2 → 0.25.0	transitive via Vite (current resolved: 0.21.5); GHSA-67mh-4wv8-2f99 — dev server allows any website to send arbitrary requests and read responses

Why this is vision-flagged

• Stored agent memory (project_knowrag_phase8_ui_stack): Phase 8 deliberately stays on Tailwind v4 + Vite 5.4 to avoid a churn cascade in the UI bundler/dev-server stack while the design system was being landed.
• Severity context: both alerts are MEDIUM and affect the dev server only — vite dev and the optimized-deps map endpoint. The production nginx-served bundle (apps/ui/Dockerfile) is unaffected at runtime.
• Risk surface: local-only — neither attack vector reaches the operator's deployed stack at *.w7.local. Bypassing the dev server requires a malicious site that the developer also has open in the same browser session.

Decision options

a) Open a vision-review-flagged note and stay on Vite 5

• No code change. Document that Phase 8 accepts the dev-server-only exposure as tolerable.
• Then `@dependabot ignore this major version` on feat(cli): add w7 verify with KNOWRAG end-to-end smoke harness #17 (Dependabot will close chore(knowrag): refresh stale Phase 7 prose in runbook + README (#15) #16 as collateral).
• Pros: zero churn; respects the Phase 8 pin decision.
• Cons: alerts stay visible in the Security tab as "dismissed" rather than "fixed".

b) Bump to Vite 6 (full upgrade)

• `cd @lab/ll-KNOWRAG/apps/ui && npm install vite@^6 esbuild@^0.25` + lockfile regen.
• Run `npm test` (vitest), `npm run build`, then exercise the running UI via the `agent-browser` skill (catalog + chat + operator + URL-state roundtrip — same surface as the iter-1 dogfood report at `dogfood-output/epic5-20260511T082058Z/`).
• Update `@lab/ll-KNOWRAG/CLAUDE.md` and the Phase 8 BLUEPRINT note where Vite 5.4 is mentioned.
• Pros: real fix; closes both alerts cleanly.
• Cons: Phase 8 vision tension; potential plugin churn (`@vitejs/plugin-react`, Tailwind v4 Vite plugin, vite-tsconfig-paths if used) — needs full UI smoke before merge.

c) Per-package overrides (surgical patch)

• Pin esbuild via `overrides` in `package.json` to `^0.25.0` while staying on Vite 5.
• Closes chore(knowrag): refresh stale Phase 7 prose in runbook + README (#15) #16; does NOT close feat(cli): add w7 verify with KNOWRAG end-to-end smoke harness #17 (Vite itself is the vulnerable code path).
• Pros: narrows blast radius without major bump.
• Cons: half-measure; feat(cli): add w7 verify with KNOWRAG end-to-end smoke harness #17 remains open.

d) Combine (a) + (c)

• Override esbuild AND ignore the Vite major. Two-line package.json change + Dependabot ignore.
• Pros: addresses what we can without churn.
• Cons: still leaves Vite 5 dev server exposed to GHSA-4w7w-66w2-5vf9.

Recommendation

(a) defer + Dependabot ignore-major is consistent with the Phase 8 lockdown discipline, given:

• both alerts are dev-only,
• the project owner already locked Vite 5.4 deliberately,
• the next natural upgrade window is the post-Phase-8 `knowrag-v0.x.0` → `v0.x+1` slice.

If the project owner prefers (b), the work fits in one PR (~30 min including dogfood) and would close both alerts as "fixed" (not "dismissed").

Companion: alert #1 (cryptography uv.lock)

Alert #1 (cryptography 46.0.6 → 46.0.7 in .shared/claude-memory-compiler/uv.lock) was just landed in commit 4c0b139 (PR #113). It will auto-dismiss within minutes via Dependabot rescan — no action needed, listing here only for completeness.

Acceptance criteria

This issue is closed when either:

1. A PR lands that bumps Vite + esbuild and the UI smoke passes (option b), OR
2. A @dependabot ignore comment is posted on feat(cli): add w7 verify with KNOWRAG end-to-end smoke harness #17 (option a), and a one-line note is added to @lab/ll-KNOWRAG/CLAUDE.md documenting the dev-server-only acceptance with a target re-evaluation date.