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?
Below are some real-world scenarios that illustrate some impacts of an attacker exploiting the secret.
Chaining of vulnerabilities
Triggering arbitrary workflows can lead to problems ranging from a denial of service to worse, depending on how the webhook’s data is handled. If
the webhook performs a specific action that is affected by a vulnerability, the webhook acts as a remote attack vector on the enterprise.
Components affected by this webhook could, for example, experience unexpected failures or excessive resource consumption. If it is a single point
of failure (SPOF), this leak is critical.
Compromise of sensitive data
If the affected service is used to store or process personally identifiable information or other sensitive data, attackers knowing an
authentication secret could be able to access it. Depending on the type of data that is compromised, it could lead to privacy violations, identity
theft, financial loss, or other negative outcomes.
In most cases, a company suffering a sensitive data compromise will face a reputational loss when the security issue is publicly disclosed.
Account termination
Unauthorized access to mailing service API keys can also result in resource abuse. Attackers can exploit the API keys to send a large volume of
spam emails or perform other resource-intensive operations, causing a significant strain on the mailing service provider’s infrastructure.
The service provider, being vigilant about such activities, may flag your account and take action against it. This could lead to the suspension or
termination of the compromised account, thus causing significant inconvenience and potential loss of communication with your customers or
partners.
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.
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("airtable_key", "key6yLyCekATg67Ts")
Compliant solution
props.set("airtable_key", System.getenv("AIRTABLE_KEY"))
Resources
Standards
