diff --git a/.superpowers/sdd/task-3-report.md b/.superpowers/sdd/task-3-report.md
index 571dbbd8..154f23ad 100644
--- a/.superpowers/sdd/task-3-report.md
+++ b/.superpowers/sdd/task-3-report.md
@@ -47,3 +47,11 @@ that neither secret values nor bundle/file metadata are inherited by the Pi chil
 
 The rotation helper retains its old/new scratch-file CLI contract; smoke tests keep those files
 outside Compose and mount only the bundle.
+
+## Whole-branch review fixes
+
+- `core-entrypoint.sh` validates `THT_SECRETS_FILE` fail-closed before optional lookups; malformed,
+  duplicate, unknown, oversized, or overlong bundles stop startup with sanitized diagnostics.
+- Runtime password files are cleaned after child exit via signal forwarding and `wait`, rather
+  than being orphaned by `exec`.
+- The shell loader accepts CRLF bundles (Windows/Notepad) consistently with the TypeScript loader.
diff --git a/deploy/vector/secret-policy.sh b/deploy/vector/secret-policy.sh
index 09f34823..50c22c34 100755
--- a/deploy/vector/secret-policy.sh
+++ b/deploy/vector/secret-policy.sh
@@ -23,12 +23,11 @@ read_secret_file() {
   cat "$1"
 }
 
-# Read one value from the deployment bundle without putting the bundle itself in
-# a service environment.  The parser is deliberately strict: one KEY=VALUE per
-# line, no duplicate keys, no unknown syntax, and no whitespace in credentials.
-read_bundle_secret() {
+# Validate the bundle without printing any value. Keep this parser aligned with
+# the backend loader: comments/blank lines are allowed, while syntax, allowlist,
+# duplicates, empty values, file size, and line size are fail-closed.
+validate_bundle() {
   bundle_path=$1
-  bundle_key=$2
   if [ -L "$bundle_path" ] || [ ! -f "$bundle_path" ] || [ ! -r "$bundle_path" ] || [ ! -s "$bundle_path" ]; then
     echo "secret bundle must be a readable, non-empty regular file" >&2
     return 2
@@ -38,20 +37,46 @@ read_bundle_secret() {
     /run/secrets/*:444|/run/secrets/*:400|/run/secrets/*:600|*:600|*:400) ;;
     *) echo "secret bundle must have mode 0600 or stricter (Docker secrets may be 0444)" >&2; return 2 ;;
   esac
-  case "$bundle_key" in
-    THT_[A-Z0-9_]*|PI_PROVIDER_API_KEY) ;;
-    *) echo "invalid secret bundle key" >&2; return 2 ;;
-  esac
-  value=$(awk -v wanted="$bundle_key" '
+  size=$(stat -c '%s' "$bundle_path" 2>/dev/null || stat -f '%z' "$bundle_path" 2>/dev/null) || return 2
+  if [ "$size" -gt 65536 ]; then
+    echo "secret bundle exceeds the 64KiB limit" >&2
+    return 2
+  fi
+  awk '
+    { sub(/\r$/, "", $0) }
+    length($0) > 16384 { exit 9 }
     /^[[:space:]]*$/ || /^[[:space:]]*#/ { next }
     /^[A-Z][A-Z0-9_]*=/ {
       key=$0; sub(/=.*/, "", key)
       val=$0; sub(/^[^=]*=/, "", val)
       if (key !~ /^(THT_MODEL_API_KEY|THT_DWH_API_KEY|THT_VEC_API_KEY|THT_VEC_WRITE_API_KEY|THT_CA|THT_SSL_CA|THT_VECTOR_BOOTSTRAP_PASSWORD|THT_VECTOR_MIGRATOR_PASSWORD|THT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD|THT_VECTOR_WRITER_PASSWORD|PI_PROVIDER_API_KEY)$/) exit 6
-      if (val == "") exit 7
-      if (++seen[key] > 1) exit 8
+      if (val == "" || ++seen[key] > 1) exit 7
+      next
+    }
+    { exit 4 }
+  ' "$bundle_path" || {
+    echo "secret bundle syntax is invalid" >&2
+    return 2
+  }
+}
+
+# Read one value from the deployment bundle without putting the bundle itself in
+# a service environment. Values selected for credentials must contain no spaces.
+read_bundle_secret() {
+  bundle_path=$1
+  bundle_key=$2
+  validate_bundle "$bundle_path" || return
+  case "$bundle_key" in
+    THT_[A-Z0-9_]*|PI_PROVIDER_API_KEY) ;;
+    *) echo "invalid secret bundle key" >&2; return 2 ;;
+  esac
+  value=$(awk -v wanted="$bundle_key" '
+    { sub(/\r$/, "", $0) }
+    /^[[:space:]]*$/ || /^[[:space:]]*#/ { next }
+    /^[A-Z][A-Z0-9_]*=/ {
+      key=$0; sub(/=.*/, "", key)
+      val=$0; sub(/^[^=]*=/, "", val)
       if (key == wanted) {
-        if (found) exit 3
         found=1; print val
       }
       next
diff --git a/docker/core-entrypoint.sh b/docker/core-entrypoint.sh
index 900b4f40..1039e542 100755
--- a/docker/core-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker/core-entrypoint.sh
@@ -36,8 +36,23 @@ cleanup_secret_tmp() {
 }
 trap cleanup_secret_tmp EXIT HUP INT TERM
 
+run_child() {
+  "$@" &
+  child_pid=$!
+  forward_signal() { kill -TERM "$child_pid" 2>/dev/null || true; }
+  trap forward_signal HUP INT TERM
+  wait "$child_pid"
+  status=$?
+  trap - HUP INT TERM
+  return "$status"
+}
+
 bundle=${THT_SECRETS_FILE:-}
-if [ -n "$bundle" ] && [ -r "$bundle" ]; then
+if [ -n "$bundle" ]; then
+  if ! validate_bundle "$bundle" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "THT_SECRETS_FILE points to an invalid secret bundle" >&2
+    exit 2
+  fi
   # REST adapters consume these values while the harness is running.  They are
   # loaded here (before `tht` starts), not only in the backend/Pi process.
   load_bundle_env() {
@@ -76,21 +91,21 @@ fi
 case "${1:-server}" in
   server)
     shift || true
-    exec node /app/backend/dist/server.js "$@"
+    run_child node /app/backend/dist/server.js "$@"
     ;;
   doctor)
     shift
-    exec tht doctor "$@"
+    run_child tht doctor "$@"
     ;;
   preprocess)
     shift
-    exec tht preprocess "$@"
+    run_child tht preprocess "$@"
     ;;
   tht)
     shift
-    exec tht "$@"
+    run_child tht "$@"
     ;;
   *)
-    exec tht "$@"
+    run_child tht "$@"
     ;;
 esac
diff --git a/scripts/test-container-deployment.sh b/scripts/test-container-deployment.sh
index 819b933b..9aa907cc 100755
--- a/scripts/test-container-deployment.sh
+++ b/scripts/test-container-deployment.sh
@@ -74,6 +74,22 @@ if grep -q 'must-not-leak' "$tmp/legacy-model.err"; then
   echo "legacy model credential leaked through entrypoint diagnostics" >&2
   exit 1
 fi
+printf 'THT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD=one\nTHT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD=two\n' >"$tmp/invalid-bundle"
+chmod 0600 "$tmp/invalid-bundle"
+if THT_SECRETS_FILE="$tmp/invalid-bundle" ./docker/core-entrypoint.sh doctor \
+    >"$tmp/invalid-bundle.out" 2>"$tmp/invalid-bundle.err"; then
+  echo "entrypoint accepted an invalid secret bundle" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+grep -q 'THT_SECRETS_FILE points to an invalid secret bundle' "$tmp/invalid-bundle.err"
+if grep -q 'THT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD' "$tmp/invalid-bundle.err"; then
+  echo "invalid bundle diagnostics leaked key material" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+before_tmp=$(find "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}" -maxdepth 1 -type d -name 'thothii-secrets.*' -print | sort)
+THT_SECRETS_FILE="$bundle" ./docker/core-entrypoint.sh doctor >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+after_tmp=$(find "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}" -maxdepth 1 -type d -name 'thothii-secrets.*' -print | sort)
+test "$before_tmp" = "$after_tmp"
 if grep -Eq 'THT_VECTOR_(BOOTSTRAP|MIGRATOR|READER|WRITER)_PASSWORD_FILE|target: vector_(bootstrap|migrator|reader|writer)_password|dwh_api_key|model_api_key|THT_[A-Z0-9_]+_SECRET_FILE' "$tmp/production.yaml"; then
   echo "production external config contains local direct vector secrets" >&2
   exit 1
diff --git a/scripts/test-vector-secret-policy.sh b/scripts/test-vector-secret-policy.sh
index 8369ed68..fc43fc49 100755
--- a/scripts/test-vector-secret-policy.sh
+++ b/scripts/test-vector-secret-policy.sh
@@ -16,11 +16,14 @@ printf 'owner-readonly' >"$tmp/readonly"
 printf 'too-open' >"$tmp/open"
 printf '# comment\n\nTHT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD=reader\nTHT_VECTOR_WRITER_PASSWORD=writer\n' >"$tmp/bundle"
 printf 'THT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD=reader\nTHT_VECTOR_WRITER_PASSWORD=writer\nTHT_DWH_API_KEY=one\nTHT_DWH_API_KEY=two\n' >"$tmp/duplicate-bundle"
+printf 'THT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD=reader\r\nTHT_VECTOR_WRITER_PASSWORD=writer\r\n' >"$tmp/crlf-bundle"
+awk 'BEGIN { printf "THT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD="; for (i = 1; i <= 16385; i++) printf "x"; print "" }' >"$tmp/long-line-bundle"
+awk 'BEGIN { for (i = 1; i <= 70000; i++) print "# filler" }' >"$tmp/large-bundle"
 chmod 0600 "$tmp/valid"
 chmod 0444 "$tmp/docker"
 chmod 0400 "$tmp/readonly"
 chmod 0640 "$tmp/open"
-chmod 0600 "$tmp/bundle" "$tmp/duplicate-bundle"
+chmod 0600 "$tmp/bundle" "$tmp/duplicate-bundle" "$tmp/crlf-bundle" "$tmp/long-line-bundle" "$tmp/large-bundle"
 
 for invalid in empty newline space; do
   if validate_secret_file "$tmp/$invalid" "$invalid" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
@@ -40,9 +43,16 @@ if validate_secret_file "$tmp/open" open >/dev/null 2>&1; then
 fi
 test "$(read_secret_file "$tmp/valid" valid)" = "safe-quoted-'-dollar-$"
 test "$(read_bundle_secret "$tmp/bundle" THT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD)" = reader
+test "$(read_bundle_secret "$tmp/crlf-bundle" THT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD)" = reader
 if read_bundle_secret "$tmp/duplicate-bundle" THT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   echo "secret policy accepted a duplicate unrelated bundle key" >&2
   exit 1
 fi
+for invalid_bundle in long-line-bundle large-bundle; do
+  if read_bundle_secret "$tmp/$invalid_bundle" THT_VECTOR_READER_PASSWORD >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "secret policy accepted oversized $invalid_bundle" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+done
 
 echo "shared vector secret policy contracts passed."