ci: pin torch to 2.6.0+cpu (close CVE-2025-32434 gap in CI)

[CGFixIT]

Problem

.github/workflows/ci.yml installs the test environment with:

pip install torch==2.4.1+cpu --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu

But the project's documented security gate requires torch ≥ 2.6.0:

• pyproject.toml → [torch-cpu] / [full]: torch==2.6.0+cpu
  with the comment "Minimum safe version post CVE-2025-32434 (weights_only=True RCE bypass in torch<2.6)."
• retrieval/embeddings.py security note: "We now pin torch==2.6.0+cpu … CVE-2025-32434 showed that torch.load(..., weights_only=True) was bypassable for RCE on torch<2.6.0."

CI was running its full test + RAG smoke suite against torch 2.4.1, a version below that gate and still exposed to CVE-2025-32434. That means the "reproducible CI security gate" was validating against a different, vulnerable torch than the one shipped to users — and a regression that depends on 2.6.0 behavior could pass or fail inconsistently.

Also, problem 2:

config.yaml → security.allowed_origins contained:

• “null” #DevSkim: ignore DS162092,DS137138
  The quotes around null are curly/smart quotes (“ ”), not straight quotes. YAML therefore parses this as the literal 6-character string “null” (curly quotes included), which gate.py feeds straight into Starlette's CORSMiddleware allow_origins.

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Recommendation for problem #2: use straight quotes around null instead of "null"

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Change

1. Bump the CI torch install to torch==2.6.0+cpu and add a comment tying it back to the pyproject.toml pin and the CVE.

2. make relevant changes to requirements.txt and constraints.txt to reflect the prior change, if needed

3. for problem Bump the pip group across 1 directory with 3 updates #2: use straight quotes around null instead of "null" in config.yaml

Benefit

• CI now tests against the same hardened torch version the project documents and ships.
• Closes the CVE-2025-32434 exposure in the CI environment.
• Removes the silent drift between ci.yml and pyproject.toml.
  -config.yaml null origins allowed will be allowed haha