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.
If an attacker gains access to a Grafana personal access token or Granafa Cloud token, they might be able to compromise the Grafana environment
linked to this token. By doing so, it might be possible for business-critical data to be leaked by the attacker.
What is the potential impact?
Depending on the permissions given to the secret, the impact might range from the compromise of the data of some dashboards to a full takeover of
the Grafana environment.
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.
Application takeover
With control over the Grafana application, the attacker can modify dashboards, alter data sources, or inject malicious code. This can result in the
manipulation of displayed data, misleading visualizations, or even the introduction of backdoors for further exploitation.
The attacker may even attempt to escalate their privileges within the Grafana environment. By gaining administrative access or higher-level
permissions, they can perform more significant actions, such as modifying access controls, adding or deleting users, or changing system
configurations.
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
import requests
token = 'glsa_geygSnIfuK5vBG0KgaflRCQfIb8mzaM7_b0999d91' # Noncompliant
response = requests.get('https://grafana.example.org/api/dashboards/home', headers={
'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}',
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
})
Compliant solution
import requests
token = os.getenv('GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN')
response = requests.get('https://grafana.example.org/api/dashboards/home', headers={
'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}',
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
})
Resources
Documentation
Grafana Documentation - Service Accounts
Standards
