diff --git a/apps/orchestrator/src/spawner/docker-sandbox.service.spec.ts b/apps/orchestrator/src/spawner/docker-sandbox.service.spec.ts
index 7f50fac..3f4c2ae 100644
--- a/apps/orchestrator/src/spawner/docker-sandbox.service.spec.ts
+++ b/apps/orchestrator/src/spawner/docker-sandbox.service.spec.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { ConfigService } from "@nestjs/config";
 import { Logger } from "@nestjs/common";
 import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, vi, afterEach } from "vitest";
-import { DockerSandboxService } from "./docker-sandbox.service";
+import { DockerSandboxService, DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST } from "./docker-sandbox.service";
 import Docker from "dockerode";
 
 describe("DockerSandboxService", () => {
@@ -127,14 +127,14 @@ describe("DockerSandboxService", () => {
       );
     });
 
-    it("should create a container with custom environment variables", async () => {
+    it("should create a container with whitelisted environment variables", async () => {
       const agentId = "agent-123";
       const taskId = "task-456";
       const workspacePath = "/workspace/agent-123";
       const options = {
         env: {
-          CUSTOM_VAR: "value123",
-          ANOTHER_VAR: "value456",
+          NODE_ENV: "production",
+          LOG_LEVEL: "debug",
         },
       };
 
@@ -145,8 +145,8 @@ describe("DockerSandboxService", () => {
           Env: expect.arrayContaining([
             `AGENT_ID=${agentId}`,
             `TASK_ID=${taskId}`,
-            "CUSTOM_VAR=value123",
-            "ANOTHER_VAR=value456",
+            "NODE_ENV=production",
+            "LOG_LEVEL=debug",
           ]),
         })
       );
@@ -373,4 +373,227 @@ describe("DockerSandboxService", () => {
       expect(warnSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.stringContaining("SECURITY WARNING"));
     });
   });
+
+  describe("environment variable whitelist", () => {
+    describe("getEnvWhitelist", () => {
+      it("should return default whitelist when no custom whitelist is configured", () => {
+        const whitelist = service.getEnvWhitelist();
+
+        expect(whitelist).toEqual(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST);
+        expect(whitelist).toContain("AGENT_ID");
+        expect(whitelist).toContain("TASK_ID");
+        expect(whitelist).toContain("NODE_ENV");
+        expect(whitelist).toContain("LOG_LEVEL");
+      });
+
+      it("should return custom whitelist when configured", () => {
+        const customWhitelist = ["CUSTOM_VAR_1", "CUSTOM_VAR_2"];
+        const customConfigService = {
+          get: vi.fn((key: string, defaultValue?: unknown) => {
+            const config: Record<string, unknown> = {
+              "orchestrator.docker.socketPath": "/var/run/docker.sock",
+              "orchestrator.sandbox.enabled": true,
+              "orchestrator.sandbox.defaultImage": "node:20-alpine",
+              "orchestrator.sandbox.defaultMemoryMB": 512,
+              "orchestrator.sandbox.defaultCpuLimit": 1.0,
+              "orchestrator.sandbox.networkMode": "bridge",
+              "orchestrator.sandbox.envWhitelist": customWhitelist,
+            };
+            return config[key] !== undefined ? config[key] : defaultValue;
+          }),
+        } as unknown as ConfigService;
+
+        const customService = new DockerSandboxService(customConfigService, mockDocker);
+        const whitelist = customService.getEnvWhitelist();
+
+        expect(whitelist).toEqual(customWhitelist);
+      });
+    });
+
+    describe("filterEnvVars", () => {
+      it("should allow whitelisted environment variables", () => {
+        const envVars = {
+          NODE_ENV: "production",
+          LOG_LEVEL: "debug",
+          TZ: "UTC",
+        };
+
+        const result = service.filterEnvVars(envVars);
+
+        expect(result.allowed).toEqual({
+          NODE_ENV: "production",
+          LOG_LEVEL: "debug",
+          TZ: "UTC",
+        });
+        expect(result.filtered).toEqual([]);
+      });
+
+      it("should filter non-whitelisted environment variables", () => {
+        const envVars = {
+          NODE_ENV: "production",
+          DATABASE_URL: "postgres://secret@host/db",
+          API_KEY: "sk-secret-key",
+          AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: "super-secret",
+        };
+
+        const result = service.filterEnvVars(envVars);
+
+        expect(result.allowed).toEqual({
+          NODE_ENV: "production",
+        });
+        expect(result.filtered).toContain("DATABASE_URL");
+        expect(result.filtered).toContain("API_KEY");
+        expect(result.filtered).toContain("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY");
+        expect(result.filtered).toHaveLength(3);
+      });
+
+      it("should handle empty env vars object", () => {
+        const result = service.filterEnvVars({});
+
+        expect(result.allowed).toEqual({});
+        expect(result.filtered).toEqual([]);
+      });
+
+      it("should handle all vars being filtered", () => {
+        const envVars = {
+          SECRET_KEY: "secret",
+          PASSWORD: "password123",
+          PRIVATE_TOKEN: "token",
+        };
+
+        const result = service.filterEnvVars(envVars);
+
+        expect(result.allowed).toEqual({});
+        expect(result.filtered).toEqual(["SECRET_KEY", "PASSWORD", "PRIVATE_TOKEN"]);
+      });
+    });
+
+    describe("createContainer with filtering", () => {
+      let warnSpy: ReturnType<typeof vi.spyOn>;
+
+      beforeEach(() => {
+        warnSpy = vi.spyOn(Logger.prototype, "warn").mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+      });
+
+      afterEach(() => {
+        warnSpy.mockRestore();
+      });
+
+      it("should filter non-whitelisted vars and only pass allowed vars to container", async () => {
+        const agentId = "agent-123";
+        const taskId = "task-456";
+        const workspacePath = "/workspace/agent-123";
+        const options = {
+          env: {
+            NODE_ENV: "production",
+            DATABASE_URL: "postgres://secret@host/db",
+            LOG_LEVEL: "info",
+          },
+        };
+
+        await service.createContainer(agentId, taskId, workspacePath, options);
+
+        // Should include whitelisted vars
+        expect(mockDocker.createContainer).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+          expect.objectContaining({
+            Env: expect.arrayContaining([
+              `AGENT_ID=${agentId}`,
+              `TASK_ID=${taskId}`,
+              "NODE_ENV=production",
+              "LOG_LEVEL=info",
+            ]),
+          })
+        );
+
+        // Should NOT include filtered vars
+        const callArgs = (mockDocker.createContainer as ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>).mock.calls[0][0];
+        expect(callArgs.Env).not.toContain("DATABASE_URL=postgres://secret@host/db");
+      });
+
+      it("should log warning when env vars are filtered", async () => {
+        const agentId = "agent-123";
+        const taskId = "task-456";
+        const workspacePath = "/workspace/agent-123";
+        const options = {
+          env: {
+            DATABASE_URL: "postgres://secret@host/db",
+            API_KEY: "sk-secret",
+          },
+        };
+
+        await service.createContainer(agentId, taskId, workspacePath, options);
+
+        expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+          expect.stringContaining("SECURITY: Filtered 2 non-whitelisted env var(s)")
+        );
+        expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.stringContaining("DATABASE_URL"));
+        expect(warnSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.stringContaining("API_KEY"));
+      });
+
+      it("should not log warning when all vars are whitelisted", async () => {
+        const agentId = "agent-123";
+        const taskId = "task-456";
+        const workspacePath = "/workspace/agent-123";
+        const options = {
+          env: {
+            NODE_ENV: "production",
+            LOG_LEVEL: "debug",
+          },
+        };
+
+        await service.createContainer(agentId, taskId, workspacePath, options);
+
+        expect(warnSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.stringContaining("SECURITY: Filtered"));
+      });
+
+      it("should not log warning when no env vars are provided", async () => {
+        const agentId = "agent-123";
+        const taskId = "task-456";
+        const workspacePath = "/workspace/agent-123";
+
+        await service.createContainer(agentId, taskId, workspacePath);
+
+        expect(warnSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.stringContaining("SECURITY: Filtered"));
+      });
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe("DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST", () => {
+    it("should contain essential agent identification vars", () => {
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("AGENT_ID");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("TASK_ID");
+    });
+
+    it("should contain Node.js runtime vars", () => {
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("NODE_ENV");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("NODE_OPTIONS");
+    });
+
+    it("should contain logging vars", () => {
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("LOG_LEVEL");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("DEBUG");
+    });
+
+    it("should contain locale vars", () => {
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("LANG");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("LC_ALL");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("TZ");
+    });
+
+    it("should contain Mosaic-specific safe vars", () => {
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("MOSAIC_WORKSPACE_ID");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("MOSAIC_PROJECT_ID");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).toContain("MOSAIC_AGENT_TYPE");
+    });
+
+    it("should NOT contain sensitive var patterns", () => {
+      // Verify common sensitive vars are not in the whitelist
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).not.toContain("DATABASE_URL");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).not.toContain("API_KEY");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).not.toContain("SECRET");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).not.toContain("PASSWORD");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).not.toContain("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY");
+      expect(DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST).not.toContain("ANTHROPIC_API_KEY");
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/apps/orchestrator/src/spawner/docker-sandbox.service.ts b/apps/orchestrator/src/spawner/docker-sandbox.service.ts
index 331a92e..305054d 100644
--- a/apps/orchestrator/src/spawner/docker-sandbox.service.ts
+++ b/apps/orchestrator/src/spawner/docker-sandbox.service.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,31 @@ import { ConfigService } from "@nestjs/config";
 import Docker from "dockerode";
 import { DockerSandboxOptions, ContainerCreateResult } from "./types/docker-sandbox.types";
 
+/**
+ * Default whitelist of allowed environment variable names/patterns for Docker containers.
+ * Only these variables will be passed to spawned agent containers.
+ * This prevents accidental leakage of secrets like API keys, database credentials, etc.
+ */
+export const DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST: readonly string[] = [
+  // Agent identification
+  "AGENT_ID",
+  "TASK_ID",
+  // Node.js runtime
+  "NODE_ENV",
+  "NODE_OPTIONS",
+  // Logging
+  "LOG_LEVEL",
+  "DEBUG",
+  // Locale
+  "LANG",
+  "LC_ALL",
+  "TZ",
+  // Application-specific safe vars
+  "MOSAIC_WORKSPACE_ID",
+  "MOSAIC_PROJECT_ID",
+  "MOSAIC_AGENT_TYPE",
+] as const;
+
 /**
  * Service for managing Docker container isolation for agents
  * Provides secure sandboxing with resource limits and cleanup
@@ -16,6 +41,7 @@ export class DockerSandboxService {
   private readonly defaultMemoryMB: number;
   private readonly defaultCpuLimit: number;
   private readonly defaultNetworkMode: string;
+  private readonly envWhitelist: readonly string[];
 
   constructor(
     private readonly configService: ConfigService,
@@ -50,6 +76,10 @@ export class DockerSandboxService {
       "bridge"
     );
 
+    // Load custom whitelist from config, or use defaults
+    const customWhitelist = this.configService.get<string[]>("orchestrator.sandbox.envWhitelist");
+    this.envWhitelist = customWhitelist ?? DEFAULT_ENV_WHITELIST;
+
     this.logger.log(
       `DockerSandboxService initialized (enabled: ${this.sandboxEnabled.toString()}, socket: ${socketPath})`
     );
@@ -87,13 +117,23 @@ export class DockerSandboxService {
       // Convert CPU limit to NanoCPUs (1.0 = 1,000,000,000 nanocpus)
       const nanoCpus = Math.floor(cpuLimit * 1000000000);
 
-      // Build environment variables
+      // Build environment variables with whitelist filtering
       const env = [`AGENT_ID=${agentId}`, `TASK_ID=${taskId}`];
 
       if (options?.env) {
-        Object.entries(options.env).forEach(([key, value]) => {
+        const { allowed, filtered } = this.filterEnvVars(options.env);
+
+        // Add allowed vars
+        Object.entries(allowed).forEach(([key, value]) => {
           env.push(`${key}=${value}`);
         });
+
+        // Log warning for filtered vars
+        if (filtered.length > 0) {
+          this.logger.warn(
+            `SECURITY: Filtered ${filtered.length.toString()} non-whitelisted env var(s) for agent ${agentId}: ${filtered.join(", ")}`
+          );
+        }
       }
 
       // Container name with timestamp to ensure uniqueness
@@ -246,4 +286,44 @@ export class DockerSandboxService {
   isEnabled(): boolean {
     return this.sandboxEnabled;
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Get the current environment variable whitelist
+   * @returns The configured whitelist of allowed env var names
+   */
+  getEnvWhitelist(): readonly string[] {
+    return this.envWhitelist;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Filter environment variables against the whitelist
+   * @param envVars Object of environment variables to filter
+   * @returns Object with allowed vars and array of filtered var names
+   */
+  filterEnvVars(envVars: Record<string, string>): {
+    allowed: Record<string, string>;
+    filtered: string[];
+  } {
+    const allowed: Record<string, string> = {};
+    const filtered: string[] = [];
+
+    for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(envVars)) {
+      if (this.isEnvVarAllowed(key)) {
+        allowed[key] = value;
+      } else {
+        filtered.push(key);
+      }
+    }
+
+    return { allowed, filtered };
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Check if an environment variable name is allowed by the whitelist
+   * @param varName Environment variable name to check
+   * @returns True if allowed
+   */
+  private isEnvVarAllowed(varName: string): boolean {
+    return this.envWhitelist.includes(varName);
+  }
 }