execute_code: pass through Windows OS-essential env vars

The sandbox's env scrubbing was dropping SYSTEMROOT, WINDIR, COMSPEC,
APPDATA, etc. On Windows this broke the child process before any RPC
could happen:

    OSError: [WinError 10106] The requested service provider could not
    be loaded or initialized

Python's socket module uses SYSTEMROOT to locate mswsock.dll during
Winsock initialization. Without it, socket.socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)
fails — and the existing loopback-TCP fallback for Windows couldn't work.

Fix: add a small Windows-only allowlist (_WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS)
matched by exact uppercase name, after the existing secret-substring
block. The secret block still runs first, so the allowlist cannot be
used to exfiltrate credentials. Also extract the env scrubber into a
testable helper (_scrub_child_env) that takes is_windows as a parameter,
so the logic can be unit-tested on any OS.

Live Winsock smoke test verifies that a child spawned with the scrubbed
env can now create an AF_INET socket on a real Windows host; the test
is guarded by sys.platform == 'win32' so POSIX CI stays green.
This commit is contained in:
Teknium 2026-05-07 18:39:38 -07:00
parent f0d2516a30
commit fab984c7f8
2 changed files with 327 additions and 23 deletions

View file

@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
"""Tests for execute_code env scrubbing on Windows.
On Windows the child process needs a small set of OS-essential env vars
(SYSTEMROOT, WINDIR, COMSPEC, ...) to run. Without SYSTEMROOT in particular,
``socket.socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)`` fails inside the sandbox with
WinError 10106 (Winsock can't locate mswsock.dll) and no tool call over
loopback TCP can ever succeed.
These tests cover ``_scrub_child_env`` directly so they run on every OS
the logic is conditional on a passed-in ``is_windows`` flag, not on
the host platform. We also keep a live Winsock smoke test that only runs
on a real Windows host.
"""
import os
import socket
import subprocess
import sys
import textwrap
import unittest.mock as mock
import pytest
from tools.code_execution_tool import (
_SAFE_ENV_PREFIXES,
_SECRET_SUBSTRINGS,
_WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS,
_scrub_child_env,
)
def _no_passthrough(_name):
return False
class TestWindowsEssentialAllowlist:
"""The allowlist itself — contents, shape, and invariants."""
def test_contains_winsock_required_vars(self):
# Without SYSTEMROOT the child cannot initialize Winsock.
assert "SYSTEMROOT" in _WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS
def test_contains_subprocess_required_vars(self):
# Without COMSPEC, subprocess can't resolve the default shell.
assert "COMSPEC" in _WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS
def test_contains_user_profile_vars(self):
# os.path.expanduser("~") on Windows uses USERPROFILE.
assert "USERPROFILE" in _WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS
assert "APPDATA" in _WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS
assert "LOCALAPPDATA" in _WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS
def test_contains_only_uppercase_names(self):
# Windows env var names are case-insensitive but we canonicalize to
# uppercase for the membership check (``k.upper() in _WINDOWS_...``).
for name in _WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS:
assert name == name.upper(), f"{name!r} should be uppercase"
def test_no_overlap_with_secret_substrings(self):
# Sanity: none of the essential OS vars should look like secrets.
# If this ever fires, we'd have a precedence ordering bug (secrets
# are blocked *before* the essentials check).
for name in _WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS:
assert not any(s in name for s in _SECRET_SUBSTRINGS), (
f"{name!r} looks secret-like — would be blocked before the "
"essentials allowlist can match"
)
class TestScrubChildEnvWindows:
"""Verify _scrub_child_env passes Windows essentials through when
is_windows=True and blocks them when is_windows=False (so POSIX hosts
don't inherit pointless Windows vars)."""
def _sample_windows_env(self):
"""A realistic subset of what os.environ looks like on Windows."""
return {
"SYSTEMROOT": r"C:\Windows",
"SystemDrive": "C:", # Windows preserves native case
"WINDIR": r"C:\Windows",
"ComSpec": r"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe",
"PATHEXT": ".COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.PY",
"USERPROFILE": r"C:\Users\alice",
"APPDATA": r"C:\Users\alice\AppData\Roaming",
"LOCALAPPDATA": r"C:\Users\alice\AppData\Local",
"PATH": r"C:\Windows\System32;C:\Python311",
"HOME": r"C:\Users\alice",
"TEMP": r"C:\Users\alice\AppData\Local\Temp",
# Should still be blocked:
"OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-secret",
"GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_secret",
"MY_PASSWORD": "hunter2",
# Not matched by any rule — should be dropped on both OSes:
"RANDOM_UNKNOWN_VAR": "value",
}
def test_windows_essentials_passed_through_when_is_windows_true(self):
env = self._sample_windows_env()
scrubbed = _scrub_child_env(env,
is_passthrough=_no_passthrough,
is_windows=True)
# Every essential var from the sample env should survive.
assert scrubbed["SYSTEMROOT"] == r"C:\Windows"
assert scrubbed["SystemDrive"] == "C:" # case preserved
assert scrubbed["WINDIR"] == r"C:\Windows"
assert scrubbed["ComSpec"] == r"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe"
assert scrubbed["PATHEXT"] == ".COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.PY"
assert scrubbed["USERPROFILE"] == r"C:\Users\alice"
assert scrubbed["APPDATA"].endswith("Roaming")
assert scrubbed["LOCALAPPDATA"].endswith("Local")
# Safe-prefix vars still pass (baseline behavior).
assert "PATH" in scrubbed
assert "HOME" in scrubbed
assert "TEMP" in scrubbed
def test_secrets_still_blocked_on_windows(self):
"""The Windows allowlist must NOT defeat the secret-substring block.
This is the key security invariant: essentials are allowed by
*exact name*, and the secret-substring block runs before the
essentials check anyway, so a variable named e.g. ``API_KEY`` can
never sneak through just because we added Windows support.
"""
env = self._sample_windows_env()
scrubbed = _scrub_child_env(env,
is_passthrough=_no_passthrough,
is_windows=True)
assert "OPENAI_API_KEY" not in scrubbed
assert "GITHUB_TOKEN" not in scrubbed
assert "MY_PASSWORD" not in scrubbed
def test_unknown_vars_still_dropped_on_windows(self):
env = self._sample_windows_env()
scrubbed = _scrub_child_env(env,
is_passthrough=_no_passthrough,
is_windows=True)
assert "RANDOM_UNKNOWN_VAR" not in scrubbed
def test_essentials_blocked_when_is_windows_false(self):
"""On POSIX hosts, Windows-specific vars should not pass — they
have no meaning and could confuse child tooling."""
env = self._sample_windows_env()
scrubbed = _scrub_child_env(env,
is_passthrough=_no_passthrough,
is_windows=False)
# Safe prefixes still match (PATH, HOME, TEMP).
assert "PATH" in scrubbed
assert "HOME" in scrubbed
assert "TEMP" in scrubbed
# But Windows OS vars should be dropped.
assert "SYSTEMROOT" not in scrubbed
assert "WINDIR" not in scrubbed
assert "ComSpec" not in scrubbed
assert "APPDATA" not in scrubbed
def test_case_insensitive_essential_match(self):
"""Windows env var names are case-insensitive at the OS level but
Python preserves whatever case os.environ reported. The scrubber
must normalize to uppercase for the membership check."""
env = {
"SystemRoot": r"C:\Windows", # mixed case
"comspec": r"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe", # lowercase
"APPDATA": r"C:\Users\x\AppData\Roaming", # uppercase
}
scrubbed = _scrub_child_env(env,
is_passthrough=_no_passthrough,
is_windows=True)
assert "SystemRoot" in scrubbed
assert "comspec" in scrubbed
assert "APPDATA" in scrubbed
class TestScrubChildEnvPassthroughInteraction:
"""The passthrough hook runs *before* the secret block, so a skill
can legitimately forward a third-party API key. The Windows
essentials addition must not interfere with that."""
def test_passthrough_wins_over_secret_block(self):
env = {"TENOR_API_KEY": "x", "PATH": "/bin"}
scrubbed = _scrub_child_env(env,
is_passthrough=lambda k: k == "TENOR_API_KEY",
is_windows=False)
assert scrubbed.get("TENOR_API_KEY") == "x"
assert scrubbed.get("PATH") == "/bin"
def test_passthrough_still_works_on_windows(self):
env = {
"TENOR_API_KEY": "x",
"SYSTEMROOT": r"C:\Windows",
"OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-secret", # not passthrough
}
scrubbed = _scrub_child_env(
env,
is_passthrough=lambda k: k == "TENOR_API_KEY",
is_windows=True,
)
assert scrubbed.get("TENOR_API_KEY") == "x"
assert scrubbed.get("SYSTEMROOT") == r"C:\Windows"
assert "OPENAI_API_KEY" not in scrubbed
@pytest.mark.skipif(
sys.platform != "win32",
reason="Winsock-specific regression — only meaningful on Windows",
)
class TestWindowsSocketSmokeTest:
"""Integration-ish smoke test: spawn a child Python with a scrubbed
env and confirm it can create an AF_INET socket. This is the
regression that motivated the fix without SYSTEMROOT the child
hits WinError 10106 before any RPC is attempted."""
def test_child_can_create_socket_with_scrubbed_env(self):
scrubbed = _scrub_child_env(os.environ, is_passthrough=_no_passthrough)
# Build a tiny child script that simply opens an AF_INET socket.
script = textwrap.dedent("""
import socket, sys
try:
s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
s.close()
print("OK")
sys.exit(0)
except OSError as exc:
print(f"FAIL: {exc}")
sys.exit(1)
""").strip()
result = subprocess.run(
[sys.executable, "-c", script],
env=scrubbed,
capture_output=True,
text=True,
timeout=15,
)
assert result.returncode == 0, (
f"Child failed to create socket with scrubbed env:\n"
f" stdout={result.stdout!r}\n"
f" stderr={result.stderr!r}\n"
f" scrubbed keys={sorted(scrubbed.keys())}"
)
assert "OK" in result.stdout

View file

@ -73,6 +73,85 @@ DEFAULT_MAX_TOOL_CALLS = 50
MAX_STDOUT_BYTES = 50_000 # 50 KB
MAX_STDERR_BYTES = 10_000 # 10 KB
# Environment variable scrubbing rules (shared between the local + remote
# backends). Secret-substring block is applied first; anything left must
# match either a safe prefix or, on Windows, an OS-essential name.
_SAFE_ENV_PREFIXES = ("PATH", "HOME", "USER", "LANG", "LC_", "TERM",
"TMPDIR", "TMP", "TEMP", "SHELL", "LOGNAME",
"XDG_", "PYTHONPATH", "VIRTUAL_ENV", "CONDA",
"HERMES_")
_SECRET_SUBSTRINGS = ("KEY", "TOKEN", "SECRET", "PASSWORD", "CREDENTIAL",
"PASSWD", "AUTH")
# Windows-only: a handful of variables are required by the OS/CRT itself.
# Without them, even stdlib calls like ``socket.socket()`` fail with
# WinError 10106 (Winsock can't locate mswsock.dll) and ``subprocess``
# can't resolve cmd.exe. These are well-known OS paths, not secrets, so
# we allow them through by exact name. The _SECRET_SUBSTRINGS block
# still runs as a safety net (none of these names match those substrings).
_WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS = frozenset({
"SYSTEMROOT", # %SYSTEMROOT%\System32 — Winsock needs this
"SYSTEMDRIVE", # C: (or wherever Windows lives)
"WINDIR", # usually same as SYSTEMROOT
"COMSPEC", # cmd.exe path — subprocess shell=True needs it
"PATHEXT", # .COM;.EXE;.BAT;... — shell lookup
"OS", # "Windows_NT" — some tools gate on this
"PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE",
"NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS",
"PUBLIC", # C:\Users\Public
"ALLUSERSPROFILE", # C:\ProgramData — some stdlib paths use it
"PROGRAMDATA", # C:\ProgramData
"PROGRAMFILES",
"PROGRAMFILES(X86)",
"PROGRAMW6432",
"APPDATA", # %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming — Python uses it
"LOCALAPPDATA", # %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local
"USERPROFILE", # C:\Users\<name> — Python's expanduser uses it
"USERDOMAIN",
"USERNAME",
"HOMEDRIVE", # C:
"HOMEPATH", # \Users\<name>
"COMPUTERNAME",
})
def _scrub_child_env(source_env, is_passthrough=None, is_windows=None):
"""Produce the scrubbed child-process env for execute_code.
Rules (order matters):
1. Passthrough vars (skill- or config-declared) always pass.
2. Secret-substring names (KEY/TOKEN/etc.) are blocked.
3. Names matching a safe prefix pass.
4. On Windows, a small OS-essential allowlist passes by exact name
without these the child can't even create a socket or spawn a
subprocess.
Extracted into a helper so tests can exercise the logic without
spawning a subprocess.
"""
if is_passthrough is None:
try:
from tools.env_passthrough import is_env_passthrough as _ep
except Exception:
_ep = lambda _: False # noqa: E731
is_passthrough = _ep
if is_windows is None:
is_windows = _IS_WINDOWS
scrubbed = {}
for k, v in source_env.items():
if is_passthrough(k):
scrubbed[k] = v
continue
if any(s in k.upper() for s in _SECRET_SUBSTRINGS):
continue
if any(k.startswith(p) for p in _SAFE_ENV_PREFIXES):
scrubbed[k] = v
continue
if is_windows and k.upper() in _WINDOWS_ESSENTIAL_ENV_VARS:
scrubbed[k] = v
return scrubbed
def check_sandbox_requirements() -> bool:
"""Code execution sandbox requires a POSIX OS for Unix domain sockets."""
@ -1079,29 +1158,11 @@ def execute_code(
# generated scripts. The child accesses tools via RPC, not direct API.
# Exception: env vars declared by loaded skills (via env_passthrough
# registry) or explicitly allowed by the user in config.yaml
# (terminal.env_passthrough) are passed through.
_SAFE_ENV_PREFIXES = ("PATH", "HOME", "USER", "LANG", "LC_", "TERM",
"TMPDIR", "TMP", "TEMP", "SHELL", "LOGNAME",
"XDG_", "PYTHONPATH", "VIRTUAL_ENV", "CONDA",
"HERMES_")
_SECRET_SUBSTRINGS = ("KEY", "TOKEN", "SECRET", "PASSWORD", "CREDENTIAL",
"PASSWD", "AUTH")
try:
from tools.env_passthrough import is_env_passthrough as _is_passthrough
except Exception:
_is_passthrough = lambda _: False # noqa: E731
child_env = {}
for k, v in os.environ.items():
# Passthrough vars (skill-declared or user-configured) always pass.
if _is_passthrough(k):
child_env[k] = v
continue
# Block vars with secret-like names.
if any(s in k.upper() for s in _SECRET_SUBSTRINGS):
continue
# Allow vars with known safe prefixes.
if any(k.startswith(p) for p in _SAFE_ENV_PREFIXES):
child_env[k] = v
# (terminal.env_passthrough) are passed through. On Windows, a small
# OS-essential allowlist (SYSTEMROOT, WINDIR, COMSPEC, ...) is also
# passed through — without those, the child can't create a socket
# or spawn a subprocess. See ``_scrub_child_env`` for the rules.
child_env = _scrub_child_env(os.environ)
child_env["HERMES_RPC_SOCKET"] = rpc_endpoint
child_env["PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE"] = "1"
# Ensure the hermes-agent root is importable in the sandbox so