Secret Detection with Gitleaks

Scan the repository for hardcoded secrets, API keys, tokens, and credentials using gitleaks patterns.

What To Do

1. Check if gitleaks is installed:

   • Run: gitleaks version or install via choco install gitleaks / brew install gitleaks
   • Alternative: Use regex patterns manually if gitleaks CLI not available

2. Run full repository scan:

   gitleaks detect --source=. --report-format=json --report-path=gitleaks-report.json
   

3. Run pre-commit scan (staged files only):

   gitleaks protect --staged --report-format=json
   

4. Common secret patterns to detect:

   • AWS: AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}
   • Azure: AccountKey=[A-Za-z0-9+/=]{86}==
   • GitHub: gh[ps]_[A-Za-z0-9_]{36}
   • JWT: eyJ[A-Za-z0-9_-]*\.eyJ[A-Za-z0-9_-]*\.[A-Za-z0-9_-]*
   • Connection strings: (Server|Data Source|mongodb|redis).*?(Password|pwd)=
   • Private keys: -----BEGIN (RSA |EC )?PRIVATE KEY-----

5. If secrets found:

   • Rotate the compromised credential IMMEDIATELY
   • Remove from code and use environment variables or Azure Key Vault
   • Add pattern to .gitignore and .gitleaksignore
   • Use git filter-repo to purge from history if already committed

6. Configure .gitleaks.toml for custom rules:

   [extend]
   useDefault = true
   
   [[rules]]
   id = "cosmos-connection-string"
   description = "CosmosDB Connection String"
   regex = '''AccountEndpoint=https://[^;]+;AccountKey=[A-Za-z0-9+/=]+'''
   tags = ["azure", "cosmosdb"]
   
   [allowlist]
   paths = ["**/*test*", "**/*mock*", "**/appsettings.Development.json"]
   

7. CI/CD Integration:

   # Azure Pipelines
   - script: |
       gitleaks detect --source=. --report-format=sarif --report-path=gitleaks.sarif
     displayName: "Secret Scan"
   

Arguments

• --path=<dir>: Directory to scan (default: current repo)
• --verbose: Show all findings with file paths and line numbers