diff --git a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/sensitive_data_masker.py b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/sensitive_data_masker.py
index 663c3fac80..8b88ef9482 100644
--- a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/sensitive_data_masker.py
+++ b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/sensitive_data_masker.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ class SensitiveDataMasker:
             "auth",
             "authorization",
             "credential",
+            "credentials",
             "access",
             "private",
             "certificate",
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/common_utils/openai_endpoint_utils.py b/litellm/proxy/common_utils/openai_endpoint_utils.py
index 7e5c83500a..c4bfe11aec 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/common_utils/openai_endpoint_utils.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/common_utils/openai_endpoint_utils.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ def remove_sensitive_info_from_deployment(
     deployment_dict["litellm_params"].pop("api_key", None)
     deployment_dict["litellm_params"].pop("client_secret", None)
     deployment_dict["litellm_params"].pop("vertex_credentials", None)
+    deployment_dict["litellm_params"].pop("vertex_ai_credentials", None)
     deployment_dict["litellm_params"].pop("aws_access_key_id", None)
     deployment_dict["litellm_params"].pop("aws_secret_access_key", None)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/litellm_core_utils/test_sensitive_data_masker.py b/tests/test_litellm/litellm_core_utils/test_sensitive_data_masker.py
index bb5c71ceb6..6808c4821c 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/litellm_core_utils/test_sensitive_data_masker.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/litellm_core_utils/test_sensitive_data_masker.py
@@ -65,12 +65,13 @@ def test_excluded_keys_exact_match():
     # Non-sensitive keys should remain unchanged
     assert masked["port"] == 6379
 
-    # Test case sensitivity - excluded_keys should be exact match
+    # Test case sensitivity - excluded_keys should be exact match. Supplying an
+    # uppercase variant must NOT exclude the lowercase key, so the field falls
+    # back to pattern matching ("credentials" is in the sensitive pattern set)
+    # and is masked.
     masked = masker.mask_dict(data, excluded_keys={"LITELLM_CREDENTIALS_NAME"})
-    # Should still be masked because case doesn't match (exact match required)
-    assert (
-        masked["litellm_credentials_name"] == "my-credential-name"
-    )  # Not masked because it doesn't match patterns anyway
+    assert masked["litellm_credentials_name"] != "my-credential-name"
+    assert "*" in masked["litellm_credentials_name"]
 
     # Test with api_key in excluded_keys to verify it works for keys that would be masked
     masked = masker.mask_dict(data, excluded_keys={"api_key"})
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/common_utils/test_openai_endpoint_utils.py b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/common_utils/test_openai_endpoint_utils.py
index f2ca41a2c9..44288b027a 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/common_utils/test_openai_endpoint_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/common_utils/test_openai_endpoint_utils.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import copy
+
 import pytest
 
 from litellm.proxy.common_utils.openai_endpoint_utils import (
@@ -86,7 +88,7 @@ def test_remove_sensitive_info_from_deployment_with_excluded_keys():
     """
     Test that excluded_keys prevents masking of specific keys (exact match).
     """
-    model_config = {
+    base_config = {
         "model_name": "test-model",
         "litellm_params": {
             "model": "openai/gpt-4",
@@ -98,13 +100,13 @@ def test_remove_sensitive_info_from_deployment_with_excluded_keys():
     }
 
     # Without excluded_keys, access_token should be masked (contains "token")
-    sanitized_config = remove_sensitive_info_from_deployment(model_config)
+    sanitized_config = remove_sensitive_info_from_deployment(copy.deepcopy(base_config))
     assert sanitized_config["litellm_params"]["access_token"] != "token-12345"
     assert "*" in sanitized_config["litellm_params"]["access_token"]
 
     # With excluded_keys, litellm_credentials_name should NOT be masked (even if it would match patterns)
     sanitized_config = remove_sensitive_info_from_deployment(
-        model_config, excluded_keys={"litellm_credentials_name"}
+        copy.deepcopy(base_config), excluded_keys={"litellm_credentials_name"}
     )
     assert (
         sanitized_config["litellm_params"]["litellm_credentials_name"]