diff --git a/litellm/_logging.py b/litellm/_logging.py
index d072cc549d0..73a08469838 100644
--- a/litellm/_logging.py
+++ b/litellm/_logging.py
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 import ast
 import logging
 import os
-import re
 import sys
 from datetime import datetime
 from logging import Formatter
-from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional
+from typing import Any, Dict, Optional
 
 from litellm.litellm_core_utils.safe_json_dumps import safe_dumps
 from litellm.litellm_core_utils.safe_json_loads import safe_json_loads
+from litellm.litellm_core_utils.secret_redaction import redact_string
 
 set_verbose = False
 
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ _ENABLE_SECRET_REDACTION = (
     os.getenv("LITELLM_DISABLE_REDACT_SECRETS", "").lower() != "true"
 )
 
-_REDACTED = "REDACTED"
 
 
 def _build_secret_patterns() -> re.Pattern:
diff --git a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/exception_mapping_utils.py b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/exception_mapping_utils.py
index 5a7d4e33b6d..cc665231d15 100644
--- a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/exception_mapping_utils.py
+++ b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/exception_mapping_utils.py
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ from typing import Any, Optional
 import httpx
 
 import litellm
-from litellm._logging import _redact_string, verbose_logger
+from litellm._logging import _ENABLE_SECRET_REDACTION, _redact_string, verbose_logger
+from litellm.litellm_core_utils.secret_redaction import redact_string
 from litellm.types.utils import LlmProviders
 
 from ..exceptions import (
@@ -261,10 +262,18 @@ def exception_type(  # type: ignore  # noqa: PLR0915
         original_exception=original_exception
     )
     try:
-        error_str = str(original_exception)
+        error_str = (
+            redact_string(str(original_exception))
+            if _ENABLE_SECRET_REDACTION
+            else str(original_exception)
+        )
         if model:
             if hasattr(original_exception, "message"):
-                error_str = str(original_exception.message)
+                error_str = (
+                    redact_string(str(original_exception.message))
+                    if _ENABLE_SECRET_REDACTION
+                    else str(original_exception.message)
+                )
             if isinstance(original_exception, BaseException):
                 exception_type = type(original_exception).__name__
             else:
diff --git a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/secret_redaction.py b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/secret_redaction.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4473c6539c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/secret_redaction.py
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+"""
+Credential/secret redaction utilities.
+
+This module owns the compiled regex and the public `redact_string` helper so
+that any part of the codebase (logging, exception mapping, etc.) can scrub
+secrets from strings without depending on the logging-configuration module.
+"""
+
+import re
+from typing import List
+
+_REDACTED = "REDACTED"
+
+
+def _build_secret_patterns() -> "re.Pattern[str]":
+    patterns: List[str] = [
+        # AWS access key IDs
+        r"(?:AKIA|ASIA)[0-9A-Z]{16}",
+        # AWS secrets / session tokens / access key IDs (key=value)
+        r"(?:aws_secret_access_key|aws_session_token|aws_access_key_id)"
+        r"\s*[:=]\s*[A-Za-z0-9/+=]{20,}",
+        # Bearer tokens (OAuth, JWT, etc.)
+        r"Bearer\s+[A-Za-z0-9\-._~+/]{10,}=*",
+        # Basic auth headers
+        r"Basic\s+[A-Za-z0-9+/]{10,}={0,2}",
+        # OpenAI / Anthropic sk- prefixed keys
+        r"sk-[A-Za-z0-9\-_]{20,}",
+        # Generic api_key / api-key / apikey (handles 'key': 'value' dict repr)
+        r"(?:api[_-]?key)['\"]?\s*[:=]\s*['\"]?[^\s,'\"})\]{}>]{8,}",
+        # x-api-key / api-key header values (handles 'key': 'value' dict repr)
+        r"(?:x-api-key|api-key)['\"]?\s*[:=]\s*['\"]?[^\s,'\"})\]{}>]+",
+        # Anthropic internal header keys
+        r"x-ak-[A-Za-z0-9\-_]{20,}",
+        # Google API keys (bare key value)
+        r"AIza[0-9A-Za-z\-_]{35}",
+        # URL query-param key=VALUE (e.g. ?key=AIza... or &key=...) — catches the
+        # full "key=<secret>" fragment so the value is redacted regardless of format.
+        r"(?<=[?&])key=[^\s&'\"]{8,}",
+        # Password / secret params (handles key=value and 'key': 'value')
+        r"\w*(?:password|passwd|client_secret|secret_key|_secret)"
+        r"['\"]?\s*[:=]\s*['\"]?[^\s,'\"})\]{}>]+",
+        # Database connection string credentials (scheme://user:pass@host)
+        r"(?<=://)[^\s'\"]*:[^\s'\"@]+(?=@)",
+        # Databricks personal access tokens
+        r"dapi[0-9a-f]{32}",
+        # ── Key-name-based redaction ──
+        # Catches secrets inside dicts/config dumps by matching on the KEY name
+        # regardless of what the value looks like.
+        # e.g. 'master_key': 'any-value-here', "database_url": "postgres://..."
+        r"(?:master_key|database_url|db_url|connection_string|"
+        r"private_key|signing_key|encryption_key|"
+        r"auth_token|access_token|refresh_token|"
+        r"slack_webhook_url|webhook_url|"
+        r"database_connection_string|"
+        r"huggingface_token|jwt_secret)"
+        r"""['\"]?\s*[:=]\s*['\"]?[^\s,'\"})\]{}>]+""",
+    ]
+    return re.compile("|".join(patterns), re.IGNORECASE)
+
+
+_SECRET_RE = _build_secret_patterns()
+
+
+def redact_string(value: str) -> str:
+    """Scrub known secret/credential patterns from *value* and return the result."""
+    return _SECRET_RE.sub(_REDACTED, value)
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/test_secret_redaction.py b/tests/test_litellm/test_secret_redaction.py
index 6cbb2fd7b8f..5c9b3b37dfc 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/test_secret_redaction.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/test_secret_redaction.py
@@ -7,13 +7,12 @@ import pytest
 
 from litellm._logging import (
     JsonFormatter,
-    _redact_string,
     _secret_filter,
-    _setup_json_exception_handlers,
     verbose_logger,
     verbose_proxy_logger,
     verbose_router_logger,
 )
+from litellm.litellm_core_utils.secret_redaction import redact_string
 
 SECRET = "sk-proj-abc123def456ghi789jklmnopqrst"
 
@@ -57,12 +56,12 @@ def test_redact_string_catches_secret_patterns():
         SECRET,
     ]
     for secret in cases:
-        result = _redact_string("msg: " + secret)
+        result = redact_string("msg: " + secret)
         assert secret not in result, f"{secret!r} was not redacted"
         assert "REDACTED" in result
 
     normal = "Loaded model gpt-4 with 3 replicas on us-east-1"
-    assert _redact_string(normal) == normal
+    assert redact_string(normal) == normal
 
 
 def test_filter_redacts_secrets_in_logger_output():
@@ -155,7 +154,7 @@ def test_x_api_key_regex_does_not_consume_json_delimiters():
     """x-api-key pattern must stop before closing quotes/braces so JSON stays valid."""
     # Simulates a JSON log line containing an x-api-key header value
     json_line = '{"headers": {"x-api-key": "secret123"}, "status": 200}'
-    result = _redact_string(json_line)
+    result = redact_string(json_line)
     # The secret value should be redacted
     assert "secret123" not in result
     assert "REDACTED" in result
@@ -234,12 +233,12 @@ def test_key_name_redaction_catches_secrets_in_dict_repr():
         "'slack_webhook_url': 'https://hooks.slack.com/services/T00/B00/xxx'",
     ]
     for secret_line in cases:
-        result = _redact_string(secret_line)
+        result = redact_string(secret_line)
         assert "REDACTED" in result, f"Key-name redaction missed: {secret_line!r}"
 
     # Non-sensitive keys should NOT be redacted
     safe = "'enable_jwt_auth': True, 'store_model_in_db': True"
-    assert _redact_string(safe) == safe
+    assert redact_string(safe) == safe
 
 
 def test_key_name_redaction_in_general_settings_dict():