When security.redact_secrets is on (default), read_file/search_files/cat
applied redact_sensitive_text(code_file=True) to file content, which still
ran prefix masking. An API key in config.yaml (ghp_..., sk-..., xai-..., etc.)
came back as a head/tail mask like `ghp_S1...Pn2T` — a plausible-looking
truncated key. When an agent read that and wrote it back to config, the masked
value replaced the real credential, silently breaking auth (401). Production
evidence: a config.yaml found containing the exact 13-char masked GitHub PAT.
The two community PRs (#35529, #35534) fixed the corruption by NOT redacting
prefixes for config reads — but that exposes the user's real keys to the agent
context, model, and logs (a security regression). This takes the safer route:
keep redacting, but for file content emit a NON-REUSABLE sentinel.
- New `_mask_token_nonreusable`: prefix secrets -> `«redacted:ghp_…»` (vendor
label preserved for debuggability; zero secret bytes; angle-bracket/ellipsis
wrapper is syntactically invalid as a token so it can't be mistaken for or
written back as a usable key).
- New `redact_sensitive_text(file_read=True)` routes prefix matches through it
(implies code_file=True). Default/log/display mode is UNCHANGED — `_mask_token`
still keeps head/tail (fine for logs, never written back).
- Wired the 3 file_tools.py call sites (read_file / search_files / cat) to
file_read=True.
Fixes both the corruption AND avoids the secret-exposure of the un-redact
approach. 6 new tests (sentinel shape, no-leak, not-a-plausible-key, default
mode unchanged, file_read implies code_file, sk- prefix); 88 redact tests pass;
mutation-verified (reverting to the old mask fails the sentinel/leak tests).
Co-authored-by: liuhao1024 <sunsky.lau@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: adammatski1972 <289282750+adammatski1972@users.noreply.github.com>
Closes#35519. Supersedes #35529, #35534.
kshitijk4poor
de928bccde