VSCode 1.101 is injecting numerical environment variables into my remote linux Terminal environments, with the characters for "JSON.stringify(process.env)"

[egrosspietsch-fds]

Type: Bug

1. Connect to a remote linux host
2. Open a folder
3. Open a new Terminal
4. Run env
5. A bunch of environment variables for numbers (e.g. "20=o", "21=c") have been injected into my environment. If I connect to the host in any other way they don't appear.

If I downgrade to VSCode 1.100.3, they don't appear.

Here is a snip from env | sort. You can see that if you look in numerical order, the characters represent the string + JSON.stringify(process.env) + :

VS Code version: Code 1.101.0 (dfaf441, 2025-06-11T15:00:50.123Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.22631
Modes:
Remote OS version: Linux x64 4.18.0-553.50.1.el8_10.x86_64
Remote OS version: Linux x64 4.18.0-553.50.1.el8_10.x86_64

Extensions (3)

Extension	Author (truncated)	Version
remote-ssh	ms-	0.120.0
remote-ssh-edit	ms-	0.87.0
remote-explorer	ms-	0.5.0

[connor4312]

What shell are you using on the remote?

[egrosspietsch-fds]

What shell are you using on the remote?

bash. I have this section in my settings.json, but removing it has no effect - the env vars still get added.

[egrosspietsch-fds]

I found that the host has tcsh so I made a VSCode terminal profile to use that shell instead, and the same thing happened

[egrosspietsch-fds]

The only extensions I have enabled are the Remote ones:

Remote - SSH
Remote - SSH: Editing Configuration Files
Remote Explorer

The Extension Host output has the error I've copied. The link points to this breaking change in v1.101: https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_101#_web-environment-detection. Not sure if that is related to the issue. I've tried downgrading the Remote SSH extension while keeping v1.101, but that doesn't fix anything either.

Extension Host Stacktrace

2025-06-17 11:51:16.541 [error] PendingMigrationError: navigator is now a global in nodejs, please see https://aka.ms/vscode-extensions/navigator for additional info on this error.
at get (file:///c:/Users/egrosspietsc/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:361:1437)
at Object. (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:486184)
at 19534 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:504894)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 92839 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:466959)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 49424 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:465816)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 17130 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:596135)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 87631 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:576866)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 65861 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:600705)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 91577 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:856974)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 94111 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:819912)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 35187 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:690327)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 64417 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:846572)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 24847 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:828930)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 54788 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:788284)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 30729 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:682648)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 24430 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:837945)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 52584 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:811300)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 69480 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:800490)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at 71535 (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:680397)
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1108387)
at c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1109251
at c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1117584
at Object. (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:1117690)
at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1738:14)
at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1904:10)
at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1472:32)
at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1289:12)
at c._load (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:17950)
at e._load (file:///c:/Users/egrosspietsc/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:361:810)
at t._load (file:///c:/Users/egrosspietsc/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:181:22628)
at r._load (file:///c:/Users/egrosspietsc/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:173:23297)
at TracingChannel.traceSync (node:diagnostics_channel:322:14)
at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:242:24)
at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1494:12)
at require (node:internal/modules/helpers:135:16)
at yY.Cb (file:///c:/Users/egrosspietsc/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:212:1253)
2025-06-17 11:51:16.643 [error] PendingMigrationError: navigator is now a global in nodejs, please see https://aka.ms/vscode-extensions/navigator for additional info on this error.
at get (file:///c:/Users/egrosspietsc/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/resources/app/out/vs/workbench/api/node/extensionHostProcess.js:361:1437)
at g (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:283829)
at c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:283674
at r (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:285048)
at c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:285217
at Object.get (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:284567)
at _ (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:284134)
at O (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:229826)
at c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:163430
at Object.p [as use] (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:205291)
at c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:206959
at s. [as watch] (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:206970)
at B (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:207589)
at e. [as initialize] (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:162741)
at e.n [as initialize] (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:275397)
at c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:170519
at g (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:239634)
at e. [as initialize] (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:169778)
at t.n [as initialize] (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:275397)
at Array. (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:244943)
at o (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:280977)
at u (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:244904)
at ge (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:213632)
at e. (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:216146)
at Object.initialize (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:276131)
at c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:140366
at g (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:239634)
at e. [as initialize] (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:140291)
at t.n [as initialize] (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:275397)
at c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:339701
at async t.oneDataSystemClientFactory (c:\Users\egrosspietsc.vscode\extensions\ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-0.120.0\out\extension.js:2:339100)

[connor4312]

What are the contents of any ~/.bashrc file you might have?

[egrosspietsch-fds]

@connor4312 Through trial and error I believe I've narrowed this down. My ~/.bashrc is completely commented out. The final line of my ~/.profile runs this command: ps uxfw.

If I comment out ps uxfw, everything works correctly - the environment variables are not present and my PATH is correct.

If I leave ps uxfw in, those weird variables are injected into my environment and the PATH changes earlier in my ~/.profile are not present in the terminals launched by VSCode (or by subprocesses launched by VSCode extensions).

I just tried downgrading to 1.100.3 again, and confirmed it is able to handle the ps uxfw in my ~/.profile without any problems. Something about the output of that command seems to be messing things up for VSCode subprocesses/terminals.

Now that I know this cause, I can work around it.

[egrosspietsch-fds]

After setting the Log Level to Trace, I can see this output in the Remote - SSH output:

[15:19:52.083] [server] [15:19:52] resolveShellEnv(): running
[15:19:52.152] [server] [15:19:52] Terminal profile not validated sudosh [ '/usr/bin/sudosh' ]
[15:19:52.154] [server] [15:19:52] Terminal profile not validated zsh [ 'zsh' ]
[15:19:52.155] [server] [15:19:52] Terminal profile not validated fish [ 'fish' ]
[15:19:52.157] [server] [15:19:52] Terminal profile not validated pwsh [ 'pwsh' ]
[15:19:52.212] [server] [15:19:52] resolveShellEnv(): running
[15:19:52.254] [server] [15:19:52] baseEnv {
[15:19:52.256] [server]   '0': ' ',
[15:19:52.260] [server]   '1': '+',
[15:19:52.263] [server]   '2': ' ',
[15:19:52.267] [server]   '3': 'J',
[15:19:52.270] [server]   '4': 'S',
[15:19:52.273] [server]   '5': 'O',
[15:19:52.276] [server]   '6': 'N',
[15:19:52.278] [server]   '7': '.',
[15:19:52.280] [server]   '8': 's',
[15:19:52.281] [server]   '9': 't',
[15:19:52.283] [server]   '10': 'r',
[15:19:52.285] [server]   '11': 'i',
[15:19:52.287] [server]   '12': 'n',
[15:19:52.290] [server]   '13': 'g',
[15:19:52.292] [server]   '14': 'i',
[15:19:52.294] [server]   '15': 'f',
[15:19:52.296] [server]   '16': 'y',
[15:19:52.297] [server]   '17': '(',
[15:19:52.299] [server]   '18': 'p',
[15:19:52.301] [server]   '19': 'r',
[15:19:52.303] [server]   '20': 'o',
[15:19:52.305] [server]   '21': 'c',
[15:19:52.308] [server]   '22': 'e',
[15:19:52.310] [server]   '23': 's',
[15:19:52.311] [server]   '24': 's',
[15:19:52.313] [server]   '25': '.',
[15:19:52.314] [server]   '26': 'e',
[15:19:52.316] [server]   '27': 'n',
[15:19:52.317] [server]   '28': 'v',
[15:19:52.319] [server]   '29': ')',
[15:19:52.321] [server]   '30': ' ',
[15:19:52.322] [server]   '31': '+',
[15:19:52.324] [server]   '32': ' ',
<...>
[15:19:52.373] [server] }
[15:19:52.375] [server] [15:19:52] Terminal process launching on remote agent {
[15:19:52.377] [server]   shellLaunchConfig: {
[15:19:52.379] [server]     name: undefined,
[15:19:52.380] [server]     executable: '/usr/bin/bash',
[15:19:52.382] [server]     args: [ '-l' ],
[15:19:52.383] [server]     cwd: '/home/user/egrosspietsc/src/extension_testing/workaround3',
[15:19:52.385] [server]     env: undefined,
[15:19:52.386] [server]     useShellEnvironment: true,
[15:19:52.388] [server]     reconnectionProperties: undefined,
[15:19:52.390] [server]     type: undefined,
[15:19:52.392] [server]     isFeatureTerminal: undefined,
[15:19:52.394] [server]     tabActions: undefined,
[15:19:52.396] [server]     shellIntegrationEnvironmentReporting: false
[15:19:52.397] [server]   },
[15:19:52.399] [server]   initialCwd: '/home/user/egrosspietsc/src/extension_testing/workaround3',
[15:19:52.400] [server]   cols: 187,
[15:19:52.402] [server]   rows: 31,
[15:19:52.403] [server]   env: {
[15:19:52.405] [server]     '0': ' ',
[15:19:52.406] [server]     '1': '+',
[15:19:52.407] [server]     '2': ' ',
[15:19:52.409] [server]     '3': 'J',
[15:19:52.411] [server]     '4': 'S',
[15:19:52.412] [server]     '5': 'O',
[15:19:52.413] [server]     '6': 'N',
[15:19:52.415] [server]     '7': '.',
<...>

I also see the output of ps uxfw in the Trace level output of the Pty Host (Remote) along with some other relevant bits:

2025-06-17 15:19:52.213 [trace] [RPC Request] PtyService#createProcess({"executable":"/usr/bin/bash","args":["-l"],"cwd":"/home/user/egrosspietsc/src/extension_testing/workaround3","useShellEnvironment":true,"shellIntegrationEnvironmentReporting":false}, "/home/user/egrosspietsc/src/extension_testing/workaround3", 187, 31, "11", {"0":" ","1":"+","2":" ","3":"J","4":"S","5":"O","6":"N","7":"."<...>
<...>
2025-06-17 15:19:52.547 [trace] node-pty.IPty#spawn /usr/bin/bash ["--init-file","/home/user/egrosspietsc/.vscode-server/cli/servers/Stable-dfaf44141ea9deb3b4096f7cd6d24e00c147a4b1/server/out/vs/workbench/contrib/terminal/common/scripts/shellIntegration-bash.sh"] {"name":"xterm-256color","cwd":"/home/user/egrosspietsc/src/extension_testing/workaround3","env":{"0":" ","1":"+","2":" ","3":"J","4":"S","5":"O"<...>
<...>
2025-06-17 15:19:53.601 [trace] [RPC Event] PtyService#_onProcessData.fire({"id":9,"event":"fonix Tools: \u001b[38;5;34mLoaded\u001b[0m\r\nPubCI Tools: \u001b[0;31mNot Loaded\u001b[0m\r\n"})
2025-06-17 15:19:54.020 [trace] node-pty.IPty#onData USER         PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND

2025-06-17 15:19:54.021 [trace] node-pty.IPty#onData egrossp+ 3800118  0.0  0.0 162780  6068 ?        S    15:07   0:00 sshd: egrosspietsc@notty

2025-06-17 15:19:54.021 [trace] node-pty.IPty#onData egrossp+ 3800119  0.0  0.0  10008  2924 ?        Ss   15:07   0:00  \_ sh
egrossp+ 3800138  0.1  0.0 165848 20640 ?        Sl   15:07   0:00      \_ /home/user/egrosspietsc/.vscode-server/code-dfaf44141ea9deb3b4096f7cd6d24e00c147a4b1 command-shell --cli-data-di
<...>
2025-06-17 15:19:54.028 [trace] [RPC Event] PtyService#_onProcessData.fire({"id":9,"event":"USER         PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND\r\negrossp+ 
<...>

[wxyz-jason]

same issue here and gets resolved when I no longer do ps uxwf in my .profile.

A guess about the issue:
I see some logs when connecting the ssh remote, something like:

[17705 ms] userEnvProbe is taking longer than 2 seconds. Process tree:
1909913: /bin/bash -lic echo -n 3f9d0564-ef3d-45df-a1c0-818ab8be9fdb; cat /proc/self/environ; echo -n 3f9d0564-ef3d-45df-a1c0-818ab8be9fdb

It seems it's trying to use "3f9d0564-ef3d-45df-a1c0-818ab8be9fdb" to scope everything in between as the env var.

I am guessing once ps uxwf is in the .profile, this whole "echo -n 3f9d0564-ef3d-45df-a1c0-818ab8be9fdb; cat /proc/self/environ; echo -n 3f9d0564-ef3d-45df-a1c0-818ab8be9fdb" would be printed it out as well, as one of the running processes. And the env var parsing logic might not have expected such scenario.

e.g. something like:

/bin/bash -lic "echo -n 3f9d0564-ef3d-45df-a1c0-818ab8be9fdb; cat /proc/self/environ; echo -n 3f9d0564-ef3d-45df-a1c0-818ab8be9fdb"

USER         PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
zwang    1961646  0.0  0.0 162644  5608 ?        S    15:26   0:00 sshd: zwang@pts/112
zwang    1961651  0.0  0.0  28860  8844 pts/112  Ss   15:26   0:00  \_ -bash
zwang    2003387  3.5  0.0  28836  8816 pts/112  S+   15:38   0:00      \_ /bin/bash -lic echo -n 3f9d0564-ef3d-45df-a1c0-818ab8be9fdb; cat /proc/self/environ; echo -n 3f9d0564-ef3d-45df-a1c0-818ab8be9fdb
...
3f9d0564-ef3d-45df-a1c0-818ab8be9fdbNVM_DIR=/home/user/zwang/.nvmLS_COLORS=rs.....

"3f9d0564-ef3d-45df-a1c0-818ab8be9fdb" first appears in the ps outputs and then from the real echo -n command.

[wxyz-jason]

if I do ps uxwf | grep -v "JSON.stringify" instead of ps uxwf in my .profile, to filter out that one line, the issue is gone.