Secret Scanner Skill

Detect accidentally committed secrets, credentials, and sensitive information in code.

Instructions

You are a secret detection expert. When invoked:

Scan for Secrets:
- API keys and tokens
- Passwords and credentials
- Private keys and certificates
- Database connection strings
- OAuth tokens and secrets
- Cloud provider credentials (AWS, GCP, Azure)
- Encryption keys
Pattern Detection:
- Regex-based secret detection
- Entropy analysis for high-randomness strings
- Known secret patterns (AWS keys, GitHub tokens, etc.)
- Custom secret patterns
- File type analysis (.env, config files)
- Comment analysis (TODO: remove this key)
Contextual Analysis:
- Distinguish real secrets from examples/test data
- Check if secrets are in version control history
- Identify false positives
- Determine secret exposure scope
- Check if secrets are still active
Risk Assessment:
- Classify severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low)
- Determine potential impact
- Check if secret has been exposed publicly
- Assess exploitability
- Identify affected systems
Generate Report: Create comprehensive secret exposure report with remediation steps

Secret Types and Patterns

Cloud Provider Credentials

AWS

# AWS Access Key ID
AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}

# AWS Secret Access Key
[0-9a-zA-Z/+=]{40}

# AWS Session Token
[A-Za-z0-9/+=]{200,}

Google Cloud

# GCP API Key
AIza[0-9A-Za-z-_]{35}

# GCP Service Account
"type": "service_account"

Azure

# Azure Storage Key
[a-zA-Z0-9+/]{88}==

# Azure Client Secret
[0-9a-zA-Z-_~]{34,}

Version Control Tokens

GitHub

# GitHub Personal Access Token
ghp_[0-9a-zA-Z]{36}

# GitHub OAuth Token
gho_[0-9a-zA-Z]{36}

# GitHub App Token
(ghu|ghs)_[0-9a-zA-Z]{36}

GitLab

glpat-[0-9a-zA-Z-_]{20}

Database Credentials

# MongoDB Connection String
mongodb(\+srv)?://[^\s]+

# PostgreSQL Connection String
postgres(ql)?://[^\s]+

# MySQL Connection String
mysql://[^\s]+

# Generic DB Password
(password|pwd|pass)\s*[:=]\s*['"][^'"]+['"]

API Keys and Tokens

# Generic API Key
api[_-]?key\s*[:=]\s*['"][^'"]+['"]

# Stripe
sk_live_[0-9a-zA-Z]{24,}

# Slack
xox[baprs]-[0-9a-zA-Z-]{10,}

# Twilio
SK[0-9a-fA-F]{32}

# SendGrid
SG\.[0-9A-Za-z\-_]{22}\.[0-9A-Za-z\-_]{43}

Private Keys

-----BEGIN (RSA|DSA|EC|OPENSSH|PGP) PRIVATE KEY-----

JWT Tokens

eyJ[A-Za-z0-9-_=]+\.eyJ[A-Za-z0-9-_=]+\.?[A-Za-z0-9-_.+/=]*

Usage Examples

@secret-scanner
@secret-scanner --severity high
@secret-scanner --git-history
@secret-scanner src/
@secret-scanner --include-env-files
@secret-scanner --entropy-check
@secret-scanner --report

Scanning Commands

Using git-secrets

# Install git-secrets
brew install git-secrets  # macOS
# or
git clone https://github.com/awslabs/git-secrets.git

# Initialize
git secrets --install
git secrets --register-aws

# Scan repository
git secrets --scan
git secrets --scan-history

# Add custom patterns
git secrets --add 'api[_-]?key\s*[:=]\s*['"'"'][^'"'"']+['"'"']'
git secrets --add 'password\s*[:=]\s*['"'"'][^'"'"']+['"'"']'

Using truffleHog

# Install
pip install truffleHog

# Scan repository
trufflehog git file://. --json

# Scan remote repository
trufflehog git https://github.com/user/repo.git

# Scan with high entropy only
trufflehog git file://. --entropy-only

# Scan specific branch
trufflehog git file://. --branch main

Using gitleaks

# Install
brew install gitleaks  # macOS

# Scan repository
gitleaks detect --source . --verbose

# Scan with report
gitleaks detect --source . --report-format json --report-path report.json

# Scan uncommitted files
gitleaks protect --staged

# Scan git history
gitleaks detect --source . --log-opts "--all"

Using detect-secrets

# Install
pip install detect-secrets

# Create baseline
detect-secrets scan > .secrets.baseline

# Audit baseline
detect-secrets audit .secrets.baseline

# Scan for new secrets
detect-secrets scan --baseline .secrets.baseline

Using custom grep patterns

# Scan for AWS keys
grep -r "AKIA[0-9A-Z]\{16\}" .

# Scan for private keys
grep -r "BEGIN.*PRIVATE KEY" .

# Scan for passwords
grep -ri "password\s*=\s*['\"]" . --include="*.js" --include="*.py"

# High entropy strings
grep -r "[a-zA-Z0-9]\{32,\}" .

Secret Scanner Report Format

# Secret Scanner Report

**Repository**: my-application
**Scan Date**: 2024-01-15 14:30:00 UTC
**Branch**: main
**Commits Scanned**: 1,234
**Files Scanned**: 456

---

## Executive Summary

🔴 **CRITICAL SECURITY ISSUE DETECTED**

**Total Secrets Found**: 12
- Critical: 4
- High: 3
- Medium: 3
- Low: 2

**Immediate Actions Required**: 4 secrets need rotation NOW

---

## Critical Secrets (4)

### 🔴 AWS Access Key Exposed
**Severity**: Critical
**File**: src/config/aws.js
**Line**: 12
**Commit**: a3f5c2b (2024-01-10)
**Age**: 5 days

**Secret Found**:
```javascript
const AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = 'AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE';
const AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = 'wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY';

Pattern Match: AWS Access Key ID pattern Entropy Score: 4.2 (High)

Risk Assessment:

Impact: CRITICAL - Full AWS account access
Scope: All AWS resources in the account
Exploitability: HIGH - Key is in public repository
Data at Risk: Production databases, S3 buckets, EC2 instances

Exposure:

✅ Committed to repository: Yes
✅ Pushed to remote: Yes
✅ In public repository: Yes
⚠️ Visible in GitHub: Since 2024-01-10
⚠️ Present in 5 commits

Immediate Actions:

✅ ROTATE CREDENTIALS IMMEDIATELY
✅ Revoke exposed keys in AWS Console
✅ Check AWS CloudTrail for unauthorized access
✅ Review all AWS resources for tampering
✅ Enable AWS GuardDuty alerts
✅ Implement MFA on root account

Remediation:

# 1. Revoke key immediately via AWS Console or CLI
aws iam delete-access-key --access-key-id AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE

# 2. Create new key
aws iam create-access-key --user-name production-user

# 3. Update environment variables (DO NOT COMMIT)
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="new-key-id"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="new-secret-key"

# 4. Remove from git history
git filter-branch --force --index-filter \
  "git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch src/config/aws.js" \
  --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all

# Or use BFG Repo Cleaner
bfg --replace-text passwords.txt

Prevention:

// NEVER do this:
const AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = 'AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE';

// ALWAYS do this:
const AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = process.env.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID;

// Add to .gitignore:
.env
.env.local
.env.production
credentials.json
aws-config.json

Git History Cleanup Required: YES Priority: P0 - Fix immediately

🔴 Database Password in Connection String

Severity: Critical File: config/database.yml Line: 8 Commit: f9e2a1d (2024-01-05)

Secret Found:

production:
  url: postgresql://admin:SuperSecret123!@prod-db.example.com:5432/appdb

Pattern Match: PostgreSQL connection string with password Entropy Score: 3.8 (High)

Risk Assessment:

Impact: CRITICAL - Production database access
Scope: All production data
Exploitability: HIGH
Data at Risk: User data, financial records, PII

Immediate Actions:

✅ Change database password immediately
✅ Review database access logs for unauthorized queries
✅ Check for data exfiltration
✅ Update application configuration
✅ Implement database firewall rules

Remediation:

# Use environment variables
production:
  url: <%= ENV['DATABASE_URL'] %>

# Or use secrets manager
production:
  url: <%= SecretsManager.get('database_url') %>

Priority: P0 - Fix immediately

🔴 Private SSH Key Committed

Severity: Critical File: deploy/keys/id_rsa Line: 1-27 Commit: b4c7e3a (2023-12-20)

Secret Found:

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
MIIEpAIBAAKCAQEA1234567890...
[REDACTED]
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

Pattern Match: RSA Private Key Age: 26 days

Risk Assessment:

Impact: CRITICAL - Server access
Scope: All servers using this key
Exploitability: HIGH

Immediate Actions:

✅ Revoke key from all servers immediately
✅ Generate new SSH key pair
✅ Update authorized_keys on all servers
✅ Check server logs for unauthorized access
✅ Rotate any secrets on accessed servers

Remediation:

# 1. Remove key from servers
ssh user@server "sed -i '/ssh-rsa AAAA.../d' ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

# 2. Generate new key (DO NOT COMMIT)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "deployment@example.com"

# 3. Add to .gitignore
*.pem
*.key
id_rsa
id_rsa.pub
*.ppk

Priority: P0 - Fix immediately

🔴 Stripe Secret Key

Severity: Critical File: src/payments/stripe.js Line: 5 Commit: d8f1a2c (2024-01-12)

Secret Found:

const stripe = require('stripe')('sk_live_51Abc123XYZ...');

Pattern Match: Stripe Live Secret Key Entropy Score: 4.1 (High)

Risk Assessment:

Impact: CRITICAL - Payment processing access
Scope: All customer payments, refunds, financial data
Exploitability: HIGH
Financial Risk: Unlimited charges, refunds, data theft

Immediate Actions:

✅ Revoke API key in Stripe Dashboard immediately
✅ Generate new secret key
✅ Review recent charges and transactions
✅ Check for unauthorized refunds or transfers
✅ Enable Stripe fraud detection
✅ Notify security team

Remediation:

// NEVER do this:
const stripe = require('stripe')('sk_live_51Abc123XYZ...');

// ALWAYS do this:
const stripe = require('stripe')(process.env.STRIPE_SECRET_KEY);

Priority: P0 - Fix immediately

High Severity Secrets (3)

🟠 GitHub Personal Access Token

Severity: High File: .github/workflows/deploy.yml Line: 23 Commit: e3b9c4f (2024-01-14)

Secret Found:

env:
  GITHUB_TOKEN: ghp_1234567890abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx

Pattern Match: GitHub Personal Access Token Scope: Repository access, potentially org-wide

Immediate Actions:

Revoke token in GitHub settings
Generate new token with minimal scopes
Use GitHub Actions secrets instead

Remediation:

# Use built-in GITHUB_TOKEN (automatically available)
env:
  GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

# Or store in repository secrets
env:
  CUSTOM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CUSTOM_GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Priority: P1 - Fix within 24 hours

🟠 SendGrid API Key

Severity: High File: src/email/sender.js Line: 8

Secret Found:

const apiKey = 'SG.1234567890abcdefgh.ijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890abcdefgh';

Risk: Unauthorized email sending, quota exhaustion Action: Rotate key, use environment variable

Priority: P1 - Fix within 24 hours

🟠 JWT Secret Key

Severity: High File: src/auth/config.js Line: 15

Secret Found:

const JWT_SECRET = 'my-super-secret-jwt-key-123';

Risk: Token forgery, authentication bypass Action: Generate strong secret, store securely

Remediation:

// Generate strong secret
const crypto = require('crypto');
const secret = crypto.randomBytes(64).toString('hex');

// Use environment variable
const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET;

// Validation
if (!JWT_SECRET || JWT_SECRET.length < 32) {
  throw new Error('JWT_SECRET must be at least 32 characters');
}

Priority: P1 - Fix within 24 hours

Medium Severity Secrets (3)

🟡 Hardcoded API Endpoint with Key

Severity: Medium File: src/api/client.js Line: 12

Secret Found:

const API_URL = 'https://api.example.com?key=abc123def456';

Risk: API quota abuse, service disruption Action: Move to environment variable

Priority: P2 - Fix within 7 days

Low Severity Secrets (2)

🟢 Development Database Password

Severity: Low File: docker-compose.yml Line: 18

Secret Found:

POSTGRES_PASSWORD: devpassword123

Risk: Low (development only) Note: Still use environment variables for consistency

Priority: P3 - Fix in next sprint

False Positives (5)

Example API Key in Documentation

File: README.md Line: 45

Example: api_key="your-api-key-here"

Reason: Example/placeholder text Action: None (consider adding comment to prevent future flags)

Git History Analysis

Total Commits Analyzed: 1,234 Commits with Secrets: 8 Branches Affected: main, develop, feature/payment

Historical Secret Exposure:

Commit: a3f5c2b - AWS keys (2024-01-10)
Commit: f9e2a1d - DB password (2024-01-05)
Commit: b4c7e3a - SSH key (2023-12-20)
Commit: d8f1a2c - Stripe key (2024-01-12)

Recommendation: Rewrite git history to remove secrets

Files Requiring Cleanup

Immediate Removal Required

src/config/aws.js (AWS credentials)
config/database.yml (DB password)
deploy/keys/id_rsa (Private key)
src/payments/stripe.js (Stripe key)

Should Be Gitignored

.env*
*.pem
*.key
credentials.json
secrets.yml
config/production/*

Remediation Checklist

Immediate (Critical - 0-24 hours)

Rotate all exposed AWS credentials
Change database passwords
Revoke and regenerate SSH keys
Rotate Stripe API keys
Review CloudTrail/access logs for unauthorized activity
Check for data breaches

Short-term (High - 24-48 hours)

Medium-term (7 days)

Long-term (Ongoing)

Regular secret scanning (automated)
Quarterly security audits
Secret rotation policy (90 days)
Monitor for exposed secrets

Git History Cleanup

Using BFG Repo Cleaner (Recommended)

# 1. Clone fresh copy
git clone --mirror https://github.com/user/repo.git

# 2. Create file with secrets to remove
cat > secrets.txt << EOF
AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
SuperSecret123!
sk_live_51Abc123XYZ
ghp_1234567890abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx
EOF

# 3. Run BFG
bfg --replace-text secrets.txt repo.git

# 4. Clean up
cd repo.git
git reflog expire --expire=now --all
git gc --prune=now --aggressive

# 5. Force push
git push --force

Using git-filter-repo

# Install
pip install git-filter-repo

# Remove specific files
git filter-repo --path src/config/aws.js --invert-paths

# Remove secrets by pattern
git filter-repo --replace-text secrets.txt

Warning Team

⚠️  IMPORTANT: After history rewrite
1. All team members must delete local clones
2. Clone repository fresh
3. DO NOT merge old branches
4. Update all CI/CD pipelines

Prevention Strategy

1. Pre-commit Hooks

# .husky/pre-commit
#!/bin/sh
gitleaks protect --staged --verbose --redact

2. Update .gitignore

# Secrets
.env
.env.*
!.env.example
*.pem
*.key
*.ppk
*_rsa
*_dsa
credentials.json
secrets.yml
secrets.yaml
config/credentials/*
aws-config.json

# OS Files
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

3. Environment Template

# .env.example (commit this)
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/dbname
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_access_key_here
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_secret_key_here
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_your_key_here

# .env (DO NOT COMMIT - add to .gitignore)
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://admin:RealPassword@prod.db.com:5432/prod
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE

4. Code Review Checklist

No hardcoded credentials
All secrets in environment variables
.env files not committed
Secret scanner run and passed
No TODO comments about removing secrets

5. Secrets Management Solutions

HashiCorp Vault

const vault = require('node-vault');
const client = vault({ endpoint: process.env.VAULT_ADDR });

async function getSecret(path) {
  const result = await client.read(path);
  return result.data;
}

const dbPassword = await getSecret('secret/database/password');

AWS Secrets Manager

const AWS = require('aws-sdk');
const secretsManager = new AWS.SecretsManager();

async function getSecret(secretName) {
  const data = await secretsManager.getSecretValue({
    SecretId: secretName
  }).promise();
  return JSON.parse(data.SecretString);
}

Doppler

# Install Doppler CLI
doppler setup

# Run app with secrets
doppler run -- node app.js

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

name: Secret Scanning
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  scan:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Gitleaks
        uses: gitleaks/gitleaks-action@v2
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: TruffleHog
        uses: trufflesecurity/trufflehog@main
        with:
          path: ./
          base: main

Best Practices

Secret Handling

✅ Never commit secrets to version control
✅ Use environment variables
✅ Use secrets management systems
✅ Rotate secrets regularly (90 days)
✅ Use different secrets for dev/staging/prod
✅ Implement principle of least privilege
✅ Audit secret access
✅ Encrypt secrets at rest

Development Workflow

✅ Use .env.example templates
✅ Document required environment variables
✅ Validate environment on startup
✅ Never log secrets
✅ Redact secrets in error messages
✅ Use short-lived tokens when possible

Code Review

✅ Run secret scanner before committing
✅ Review all config files carefully
✅ Check for TODO comments about secrets
✅ Verify .gitignore is comprehensive
✅ Double-check before public repository

Incident Response Plan

If secrets are exposed:

1. Immediate Actions (0-1 hour)

Stop the breach (revoke credentials)
Assess scope (what was exposed, for how long)
Check for unauthorized access
Notify security team

2. Short-term Actions (1-24 hours)

Rotate all affected credentials
Review logs for abuse
Remove secrets from git history
Force push cleaned repository
Notify affected parties if data breach

3. Long-term Actions (1-7 days)

Post-mortem analysis
Update security procedures
Implement additional controls
Train team on lessons learned
Monitor for long-term impact

Summary

Secrets Found: 12 Critical: 4 (require immediate rotation) High: 3 (rotate within 24h) Medium: 3 (fix within 7 days) Low: 2 (fix next sprint)

Estimated Remediation Time: 4-6 hours Git History Cleanup: Required Team Training: Recommended

Overall Risk: 🔴 CRITICAL - Immediate action required


## Notes

- Scan repository before every public release
- Implement automated scanning in CI/CD
- Regular secret rotation is critical
- Train developers on secure secret handling
- Use secrets management tools for production
- Never commit .env files
- Review git history for secrets before open-sourcing
- Establish incident response plan for exposed secrets
- Monitor for secrets in issues, pull requests, and discussions
- Remember: Once committed, assume secret is compromised

secret-scanner

Secret Scanner Skill

Instructions

Secret Types and Patterns

Cloud Provider Credentials

AWS

Google Cloud

Azure

Version Control Tokens

GitHub

GitLab

Database Credentials

API Keys and Tokens

Private Keys

JWT Tokens

Usage Examples

Scanning Commands

Using git-secrets

Using truffleHog

Using gitleaks

Using detect-secrets

Using custom grep patterns

Secret Scanner Report Format

🔴 Database Password in Connection String

🔴 Private SSH Key Committed

🔴 Stripe Secret Key

High Severity Secrets (3)

🟠 GitHub Personal Access Token

🟠 SendGrid API Key

🟠 JWT Secret Key

Medium Severity Secrets (3)

🟡 Hardcoded API Endpoint with Key

Low Severity Secrets (2)

🟢 Development Database Password

False Positives (5)

Example API Key in Documentation

Git History Analysis

Files Requiring Cleanup

Immediate Removal Required

Should Be Gitignored

Remediation Checklist

Immediate (Critical - 0-24 hours)

Short-term (High - 24-48 hours)

Medium-term (7 days)

Long-term (Ongoing)

Git History Cleanup

Using BFG Repo Cleaner (Recommended)

Using git-filter-repo

Warning Team

Prevention Strategy

1. Pre-commit Hooks

2. Update .gitignore

3. Environment Template

4. Code Review Checklist

5. Secrets Management Solutions

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

Best Practices

Secret Handling

Development Workflow

Code Review

Incident Response Plan

1. Immediate Actions (0-1 hour)

2. Short-term Actions (1-24 hours)

3. Long-term Actions (1-7 days)

Summary

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