diff --git a/app.py b/app.py
index a782290..17cd312 100644
--- a/app.py
+++ b/app.py
@@ -538,13 +538,22 @@ def api_terminal_exec():
         return jsonify({"error": "No command provided"}), 400
         
     try:
-        # Use shell execution via sh()
-        # sh() uses subprocess.check_output with shell=False by default (list of strings)
-        # However, to support pipe/redirection for the user, we should allow shell=True-like behavior
-        # Let's wrap it in ['sh', '-c', command]
-        output = sh(["sh", "-c", command])
+        # HOST ESCAPE: execute command on the host by mounting host / and using chroot
+        # We use a tiny alpine container to bridge to the host.
+        # This requires the flask container to have docker socket access (which it does).
+        host_cmd = [
+            DOCKER, "run", "--rm", 
+            "-v", "/:/host", 
+            "alpine", "chroot", "/host", "sh", "-c", command
+        ]
+        
+        output = sh(host_cmd)
         return jsonify({"output": output, "status": "success"})
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
-        return jsonify({"output": e.output or str(e), "error": True, "status": "error"})
+        # Cast output to string as it might be bytes
+        out = e.output
+        if hasattr(out, "decode"):
+            out = out.decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
+        return jsonify({"output": out or str(e), "error": True, "status": "error"})
     except Exception as e:
         return jsonify({"output": str(e), "error": True, "status": "error"})