Secret leaks often occur when a sensitive piece of authentication data is stored with the source code of an application. Considering the source
code is intended to be deployed across multiple assets, including source code repositories or application hosting servers, the secrets might get
exposed to an unintended audience.
Why is this an issue?
In most cases, trust boundaries are violated when a secret is exposed in a source code repository or an uncontrolled deployment environment.
Unintended people who don’t need to know the secret might get access to it. They might then be able to use it to gain unwanted access to associated
services or resources.
The trust issue can be more or less severe depending on the people’s role and entitlement.
What is the potential impact?
A SonarQube token is a unique key that serves as an authentication mechanism for accessing the SonarQube platform’s APIs. It is used to securely
authenticate and authorize external tools or services to interact with SonarQube.
Tokens are typically generated for specific users or applications and can be configured with different levels of access permissions. By using a
token, external tools or services can perform actions such as analyzing code, retrieving analysis results, creating projects, or managing quality
profiles within SonarQube.
If a SonarQube token leaks to an unintended audience, it can pose a security risk to the SonarQube instance and the associated projects. Attackers
may use the leaked token to gain unauthorized access to the SonarQube instance. They can potentially view sensitive information, modify project
settings, or perform other dangerous actions.
Additionally, attackers with access to a token can modify code analysis results. This can lead to false positives or negatives in the analysis,
compromising the accuracy and reliability of the platform.
How to fix it
Revoke the secret
Revoke any leaked secrets and remove them from the application source code.
Before revoking the secret, ensure that no other applications or processes are using it. Other usages of the secret will also be impacted when the
secret is revoked.
Analyze recent secret use
When available, analyze authentication logs to identify any unintended or malicious use of the secret since its disclosure date. Doing this will
allow determining if an attacker took advantage of the leaked secret and to what extent.
This operation should be part of a global incident response process.
The SonarQube audit log can be downloaded from the product web interface and can be used to audit the malicious use of the compromised key. This
feature is available starting with SonarQube Enterprise Edition.
Use a secret vault
A secret vault should be used to generate and store the new secret. This will ensure the secret’s security and prevent any further unexpected
disclosure.
Depending on the development platform and the leaked secret type, multiple solutions are currently available.
Code examples
Noncompliant code example
props.set("sonar_secret", "squ_b4556a16fa2d28519d2451a911d2e073024010bc")
Compliant solution
props.set("sonar_secret", System.getenv("SONAR_SECRET"))
Resources
Standards
Documentation
