fix(security): isolate API keys to specific child processes to prevent env pollution

Author: dumko2001

bin/lib/credentials.js

@@ -44,8 +44,7 @@ function prompt(question) {
 async function ensureApiKey() {
   let key = getCredential("NVIDIA_API_KEY");
   if (key) {
-    process.env.NVIDIA_API_KEY = key;
-    return;
+    return key;
   }
 
   console.log("");
@@ -67,10 +66,10 @@ async function ensureApiKey() {
   }
 
   saveCredential("NVIDIA_API_KEY", key);
-  process.env.NVIDIA_API_KEY = key;
   console.log("");
   console.log("  Key saved to ~/.nemoclaw/credentials.json (mode 600)");
   console.log("");
+  return key;
 }
 
 function isRepoPrivate(repo) {
@@ -85,15 +84,13 @@ function isRepoPrivate(repo) {
 async function ensureGithubToken() {
   let token = getCredential("GITHUB_TOKEN");
   if (token) {
-    process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN = token;
-    return;
+    return token;
   }
 
   try {
     token = execSync("gh auth token 2>/dev/null", { encoding: "utf-8" }).trim();
     if (token) {
-      process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN = token;
-      return;
+      return token;
     }
   } catch {}
 
@@ -114,10 +111,10 @@ async function ensureGithubToken() {
   }
 
   saveCredential("GITHUB_TOKEN", token);
-  process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN = token;
   console.log("");
   console.log("  Token saved to ~/.nemoclaw/credentials.json (mode 600)");
   console.log("");
+  return token;
 }
 
 module.exports = {

bin/lib/onboard.js

@@ -189,8 +189,9 @@ async function createSandbox(gpu) {
   console.log(`  Creating sandbox '${sandboxName}' (this takes a few minutes on first run)...`);
   const chatUiUrl = process.env.CHAT_UI_URL || 'http://127.0.0.1:18789';
   const envArgs = [`CHAT_UI_URL=${chatUiUrl}`];
-  if (process.env.NVIDIA_API_KEY) {
-    envArgs.push(`NVIDIA_API_KEY=${process.env.NVIDIA_API_KEY}`);
+  const nvKey = getCredential("NVIDIA_API_KEY");
+  if (nvKey) {
+    envArgs.push(`NVIDIA_API_KEY=${nvKey}`);
   }
   run(`openshell sandbox create ${createArgs.join(" ")} -- env ${envArgs.join(" ")} nemoclaw-start 2>&1 | awk '/Sandbox allocated/{if(!seen){print;seen=1}next}1'`);
 
@@ -350,9 +351,10 @@ async function setupInference(sandboxName, model, provider) {
 
   if (provider === "nvidia-nim") {
     // Create nvidia-nim provider
+    const nvKey = getCredential("NVIDIA_API_KEY");
     run(
       `openshell provider create --name nvidia-nim --type openai ` +
-      `--credential "NVIDIA_API_KEY=${process.env.NVIDIA_API_KEY}" ` +
+      `--credential "NVIDIA_API_KEY=${nvKey}" ` +
       `--config "OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1" 2>&1 || true`,
       { ignoreError: true }
     );

bin/nemoclaw.js

@@ -38,13 +38,13 @@ async function setup() {
   console.log("  ⚠  `nemoclaw setup` is deprecated. Use `nemoclaw onboard` instead.");
   console.log("     Running legacy setup.sh for backwards compatibility...");
   console.log("");
-  await ensureApiKey();
-  run(`bash "${SCRIPTS}/setup.sh"`);
+  const key = await ensureApiKey();
+  run(`bash "${SCRIPTS}/setup.sh"`, { env: { NVIDIA_API_KEY: key } });
 }
 
 async function setupSpark() {
-  await ensureApiKey();
-  run(`sudo -E NVIDIA_API_KEY="${process.env.NVIDIA_API_KEY}" bash "${SCRIPTS}/setup-spark.sh"`);
+  const key = await ensureApiKey();
+  run(`sudo -E bash "${SCRIPTS}/setup-spark.sh"`, { env: { NVIDIA_API_KEY: key } });
 }
 
 async function deploy(instanceName) {
@@ -57,10 +57,14 @@ async function deploy(instanceName) {
     console.error("    nemoclaw deploy nemoclaw-test");
     process.exit(1);
   }
-  await ensureApiKey();
+
+  const env = { ...process.env };
+  env.NVIDIA_API_KEY = await ensureApiKey();
+
   if (isRepoPrivate("NVIDIA/OpenShell")) {
-    await ensureGithubToken();
+    env.GITHUB_TOKEN = await ensureGithubToken();
   }
+
   const name = instanceName;
   const gpu = process.env.NEMOCLAW_GPU || "a2-highgpu-1g:nvidia-tesla-a100:1";
 
@@ -83,12 +87,12 @@ async function deploy(instanceName) {
 
   if (!exists) {
     console.log(`  Creating Brev instance '${name}' (${gpu})...`);
-    run(`brev create ${name} --gpu "${gpu}"`);
+    run(`brev create ${name} --gpu "${gpu}"`, { env });
   } else {
     console.log(`  Brev instance '${name}' already exists.`);
   }
 
-  run(`brev refresh`, { ignoreError: true });
+  run(`brev refresh`, { ignoreError: true, env });
 
   console.log("  Waiting for SSH...");
   for (let i = 0; i < 60; i++) {