Worker spawn inheritance broken: child worker agents do not inherit parent runtime/ network policy

What version of Codex CLI is running?

0.114.0

What subscription do you have?

pro max

Which model were you using?

5.3 codex x high

What platform is your computer?

Darwin 24.6.0 x86_64 i386

What terminal emulator and version are you using (if applicable)?

_No response_

What issue are you seeing?

Child workers spawned from an unrestricted parent session are running with
CODEX_SANDBOX_NETWORK_DISABLED=1 and CODEX_SANDBOX=seatbelt, causing DNS/network
failures. Parent session remains unrestricted and can resolve/connect normally.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Uploaded thread: 019cdd84-c60e-7c23-ac40-18f03b46984c

1. In parent session, run:

cd "/Users/alexwilliamson/Desktop/Development/Genloop/GTG BI AI/MVP"
echo "ROLE=parent"
echo "flag=${CODEX_SANDBOX_NETWORK_DISABLED:-<unset>}"
echo "sandbox=${CODEX_SANDBOX:-<unset>}"
echo "thread=${CODEX_THREAD_ID:-<unset>}"
python3 - <<'PY'
import socket
for h in ["example.com","www.ercot.com","data.sec.gov"]:
try:
print(h, "->", socket.getaddrinfo(h,443)[0][4][0])
except Exception as e:
print(h, "-> ERROR:", e)
PY
curl -I -m 15 https://example.com 2>&1 | head -n 6
curl -I -m 15 https://www.ercot.com 2>&1 | head -n 6
ping -c 1 www.ercot.com 2>&1 | head -n 6

1. Spawn 2 child agents (agent_type=worker, fork_context=true).
2. In each child, run the same block but with ROLE=child_1 / ROLE=child_2.

Expected Behavior

• Children inherit parent runtime/network policy.
• CODEX_SANDBOX_NETWORK_DISABLED unset in children.
• DNS resolves (example.com, www.ercot.com).
• curl and ping resolve/connect.

Actual Behavior

• Parent passes all criteria.
• Both children fail all network criteria and show restrictive env:
• flag=1
• sandbox=seatbelt
• DNS errors
• curl: (6) Could not resolve host
• ping: cannot resolve ... Unknown host

Validation Matrix

• Parent status: PASS
• Child_1 status: FAIL
• Child_2 status: FAIL
• Inheritance verdict: FAIL

Worker spawn inheritance is broken in this environment.

———

### Exact outputs (verbatim)

Parent

ROLE=parent
flag=<unset>
sandbox=<unset>
thread=019cdd84-c60e-7c23-ac40-18f03b46984c
example.com -> 2606:4700::6812:1a78
www.ercot.com -> 45.60.45.66
data.sec.gov -> 2600:1404:1200:b8b::2374
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0
HTTP/2 200
date: Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:11:12 GMT
content-type: text/html
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0
HTTP/2 200
date: Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:11:12 GMT
server: Apache
PING x7nzsje.x.incapdns.net (45.60.45.66): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 45.60.45.66: icmp_seq=0 ttl=55 time=29.247 ms

--- x7nzsje.x.incapdns.net ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 29.247/29.247/29.247/0.000 ms

Child_1

ROLE=child_1
flag=1
sandbox=seatbelt
thread=019cddab-08de-7f41-b88d-3567b1b5c59f
example.com -> ERROR: [Errno 8] nodename nor servname provided, or not known
www.ercot.com -> ERROR: [Errno 8] nodename nor servname provided, or not known
data.sec.gov -> ERROR: [Errno 8] nodename nor servname provided, or not known
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0curl: (6)
Could not resolve host: example.com
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0curl: (6)
Could not resolve host: www.ercot.com
ping: cannot resolve www.ercot.com: Unknown host

Child_2

ROLE=child_2
flag=1
sandbox=seatbelt
thread=019cddab-47c9-7801-a706-444b08d148b4
example.com -> ERROR: [Errno 8] nodename nor servname provided, or not known
www.ercot.com -> ERROR: [Errno 8] nodename nor servname provided, or not known
data.sec.gov -> ERROR: [Errno 8] nodename nor servname provided, or not known
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0curl: (6)
Could not resolve host: example.com
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 0curl: (6)
Could not resolve host: www.ercot.com
ping: cannot resolve www.ercot.com: Unknown host

———

Additional evidence

• Child session log shows turn_context.sandbox_policy={"type":"danger-full-access"}

while child shell env is sandbox=seatbelt + flag=1:

• /Users/alexwilliamson/.codex/sessions/2026/03/11/rollout-2026-03-11T11-11-44-

019cddab-08de-7f41-b88d-3567b1b5c59f.jsonl

• Likely mismatch between configured child policy and execution-time runtime policy

application.

What is the expected behavior?

• Children inherit parent runtime/network policy.
• CODEX_SANDBOX_NETWORK_DISABLED unset in children.
• DNS resolves (example.com, www.ercot.com).
• curl and ping resolve/connect.

Additional information

_No response_