Finding Secrets in Source Code

Secrets exposed in source code could be risky to you, your development team, and everyone in the organization you work for. To avoid this, it is essential to know what secrets are, how they get exposed, and how to remedy the situation.

Secrets are sensitive data that belongs to an individual or organization and are not meant to be exposed to the public. A secret can be an API token, log-in credentials, access code, credit card details, or other sensitive information. Managing these secrets during software development is crucial due to how much damage they can cause in the wrong hands.

These days, software applications are developed from a combination of many components. These could include third-party service providers, online databases, and cloud storage. For all the components to safely interact, there might be different methods of authentication used between them. For instance, an API key might be needed for one component to connect with a third-party service provider.

It is easy to see how thousands of secrets can be embedded in the source code of downloadable applications. However, these secrets (passwords, authentication keys, tokens) are supposed to remain secrets, which is almost impossible since they are now in the public domain.

Exposed Secrets Result in Vulnerability

Your personal information falling into the wrong hands is akin to what can happen if malicious people find secrets in source code. They might use it to access the backend of applications, encrypt databases, and more. If the perpetrator feels adventurous, they can explore the network to access more sensitive information and take control of more resources.

How Secrets End Up in Code Repositories

Even though software developers know it is wrong to push secrets into code repositories, some still do it. Generally, this is because not doing so will make it difficult to debug the app in the future. Sometimes, developers expedite software releases and pay little attention to the associated secrets at the moment. This results in secrets ending up in code repositories. Unfortunately, when secrets get into Git repositories, they stay there permanently. 

Secret Detection

Some software programs can scan and find secrets in Git repositories and histories, and they might be able to detect hard-coded secrets prior to them being ushered into the SDLC. These platforms could be equipped to comb through Git histories that are in older commits. Fortunately, these scans are automated and can be left to run in a computer’s background.

Endnote

If you find secrets in source code, a Git repository, or Git history, assume that means someone else must have also seen it. It would be best if you quickly made the secret invalid. For example, if the secret is a password, change it immediately so it would be useless to anyone that has seen it. Take note of the possible channels the exposed secret can give someone access to, and observe if someone has infiltrated them. Above all, you should quickly take mitigation strategies to curb the effect of any intrusion or cybersecurity concerns once you find an exposed secret in source code.