Secrets check

Secrets Check Skill

Security Auditor Role

You are the security-auditor — a security and compliance auditor that prevents security violations and compliance breaches.

Operating Mode

• CRITICAL violations block merge. Must be fixed before PR approval.
• WARNING findings are advisory. Should be fixed but do not block.

Compliance Quick Reference

Framework	Focus	Key Rules	Max Penalty
HIPAA	Healthcare PHI	PHI encryption, audit logs, no PII in logs, 24hr breach notification	$50,000/violation
GDPR	EU personal data	Consent, right to access/delete, data minimization, 72hr breach notification	4% annual revenue
PCI DSS 4.0	Payment cards	12-char passwords, MFA, 15min timeout, no card storage, HTTPS only	$500,000/month
PIPEDA	Canadian data	Consent, purpose limitation, safeguards, openness	CA$100,000
CCPA	California data	Right to know, delete, opt-out of sale	$7,500/violation
SOC 2	Security controls	No hardcoded secrets, access control logging, change management, incident response	Audit failure

Incident Response

If a CRITICAL violation is found:

1. Block the commit/merge immediately
2. Alert the developer with the specific fix required
3. Assess impact if already in production (data leak? credential exposure?)
4. Notify per breach timelines — GDPR: 72 hours, HIPAA: 60 days

Secret Detection Patterns

Secret Type	Regex Pattern
Stripe API keys	sk_live_[a-zA-Z0-9]+, pk_live_[a-zA-Z0-9]+
AWS Access Key	AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}
Bearer Token	Bearer [a-zA-Z0-9._-]+
Password assignment	password\s*=\s*["'][^"']+["']

Auto-Remediation Guidance

Can auto-fix (with approval):

• Replace hardcoded URLs with env vars
• Add basic zod schemas (simple cases)
• Update password length in zod schemas

Cannot auto-fix (requires manual review):

• Removing PII from logs (context-dependent)
• Implementing httpOnly cookies (requires server setup)
• Complex input validation logic
• Session timeout implementation

Purpose

Enhanced secret detection using gitleaks + custom patterns to find hardcoded secrets, API keys, credentials, and sensitive configuration data.

When to Use

• Before committing environment-sensitive code
• Auditing codebase for hardcoded secrets
• After refactoring configuration
• Before PR creation
• Monthly security audits

Usage

/secrets-check [path]

Examples:

/secrets-check                          # Check entire codebase
/secrets-check src/                     # Check specific directory
/secrets-check src/infra/               # Check infrastructure code
/secrets-check src/config/              # Check configuration files

What It Checks

1. Gitleaks Rules

Runs the patterns defined in the bundled .gitleaks.toml (or your project's .gitleaks.toml if present):

1. Generic API Key - api[_-]?key
2. Generic Secret - secret[_-]?key
3. Password in Code - password\s*=
4. Private Key - -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
5. AWS Access Key - AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}
6. Stripe API Key - sk_live_[0-9a-zA-Z]{24}
7. GitHub Token - ghp_[0-9a-zA-Z]{36}
8. Firebase API Key - Firebase configuration objects
9. JWT Secret - jwt[_-]?secret
10. Database URL - Connection strings with credentials
11. OAuth Client Secret - OAuth configuration
12. Encryption Key - encryption[_-]?key
13. Auth Token - auth[_-]?token
14. Bearer Token - Bearer [A-Za-z0-9-._~+/]+=*

Note: If your project has its own .gitleaks.toml, it takes precedence. Otherwise, the plugin's bundled config/.gitleaks.toml is used as the default.

2. Additional Custom Patterns

Beyond gitleaks, this skill checks for:

API Keys in Comments:

// ❌ VIOLATION: API key in comment
// Use this API key: sk_live_1234567890abcdef
const stripe = new Stripe(process.env.STRIPE_KEY);

Database Credentials in Code:

// ❌ VIOLATION: Hardcoded credentials
const db = new Database({
  host: 'localhost',
  user: 'admin',
  password: 'password123', // NEVER!
  database: 'myapp',
});

Encryption Keys/Salts:

// ❌ VIOLATION: Hardcoded encryption key
const ENCRYPTION_KEY = 'my-secret-key-12345';

function encryptData(data: string) {
  return crypto.encrypt(data, ENCRYPTION_KEY);
}

OAuth Client Secrets:

// ❌ VIOLATION: OAuth secret in code
const oauth = {
  clientId: 'abc123',
  clientSecret: 'xyz789secretvalue', // NEVER!
  redirectUri: 'https://example.com/callback',
};

Third-Party Service Tokens:

// ❌ VIOLATION: Hardcoded tokens
const twilioClient = twilio(
  'ACxxxxxxxxxxxxx',
  'auth_token_12345' // NEVER!
);

const sendgridClient = new SendGrid('SG.xxxxxxxxxxxxxx'); // NEVER!

Firebase Config Objects:

// ❌ VIOLATION: Firebase config with API key
const firebaseConfig = {
  apiKey: 'AIzaSyC1234567890abcdef', // Should be env var
  authDomain: 'myapp.firebaseapp.com',
  projectId: 'myapp',
};

AWS/GCP Credentials:

// ❌ VIOLATION: Cloud credentials
const AWS = require('aws-sdk');
AWS.config.update({
  accessKeyId: 'AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE',
  secretAccessKey: 'wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY',
});

3. Base64-Encoded Secrets

Detects Base64-encoded strings that look like secrets:

// ❌ VIOLATION: Base64-encoded secret
const secret = 'c2VjcmV0LWtleS0xMjM0NTY='; // Decodes to 'secret-key-123456'

Anti-Patterns Detected

1. API Keys in Code

// ❌ VIOLATION
const STRIPE_API_KEY = 'sk_live_1234567890abcdef';

// ✅ FIXED
const STRIPE_API_KEY = process.env.STRIPE_API_KEY;
if (!STRIPE_API_KEY) {
  throw new Error('STRIPE_API_KEY environment variable is required');
}

2. Hardcoded Passwords

// ❌ VIOLATION
const dbConfig = {
  password: 'admin123',
};

// ✅ FIXED
const dbConfig = {
  password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD,
};

3. Firebase Config

// ❌ VIOLATION: Hardcoded Firebase config
const firebaseConfig = {
  apiKey: 'AIzaSyC1234567890abcdef',
  authDomain: 'myapp.firebaseapp.com',
  projectId: 'myapp',
  storageBucket: 'myapp.appspot.com',
};

// ✅ FIXED: Environment variables
const firebaseConfig = {
  apiKey: process.env.FIREBASE_API_KEY,
  authDomain: process.env.FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN,
  projectId: process.env.FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID,
  storageBucket: process.env.FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET,
};

4. JWT Secrets

// ❌ VIOLATION
const JWT_SECRET = 'my-super-secret-key';

function signToken(payload: any) {
  return jwt.sign(payload, JWT_SECRET);
}

// ✅ FIXED
const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET;
if (!JWT_SECRET) {
  throw new Error('JWT_SECRET environment variable is required');
}

function signToken(payload: any) {
  return jwt.sign(payload, JWT_SECRET);
}

5. Third-Party Tokens

// ❌ VIOLATION: Twilio credentials
const twilioClient = twilio('ACxxxxx', 'auth_token_12345');

// ✅ FIXED
const twilioClient = twilio(process.env.TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID, process.env.TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN);

Output Format

Clean Result

✅ Secrets Check: CLEAN

Scanned:
- src/           (243 files)
- config/        (12 files)

No secrets detected. ✅

Gitleaks rules: 14 patterns checked
Custom patterns: 8 additional patterns checked

Total files scanned: 255
Total secrets found: 0

Violations Found

🔐 Secrets Check Results:

❌ Secrets Detected (5 violations):

---

❌ Violation 1: Stripe API Key (Live)

File: src/config/api.ts:5
Rule: Stripe Live API Key
Code: const API_KEY = 'sk_live_1234567890abcdef';

Issue: Live Stripe API key hardcoded in source code
Severity: CRITICAL
Impact: Full access to Stripe account, payment processing

Fix:
1. Revoke this API key immediately in Stripe dashboard
2. Generate new key
3. Move to environment variable:
   - Add to .env.local: STRIPE_API_KEY=sk_live_...
   - Use: process.env.STRIPE_API_KEY
   - Add .env.local to .gitignore (already included)

---

Summary:
- Total violations: 5
- Critical: 4
- High: 1

Compliance Impact:
- SOC 2: Violation (hardcoded secrets)
- Security: Critical risk (credential exposure)

Recommendation:
FIX IMMEDIATELY - These secrets are exposed in version control

Validation Rules

Critical (Immediate Action Required)

1. Live API keys - Stripe, Twilio, SendGrid production keys
2. Database credentials - Passwords, connection strings
3. Cloud credentials - AWS, GCP, Azure access keys
4. JWT secrets - Authentication/authorization secrets
5. Private keys - RSA, SSH, SSL private keys

High Priority

1. Development API keys - Stripe test mode, sandbox keys
2. OAuth secrets - Client secrets for OAuth flows
3. Encryption keys - Data encryption keys
4. Session secrets - Session signing keys

Allowed Patterns

The following are not violations (allowlist):

1. Example files: .env.example, .env.template, config.example.ts
2. Test files: *.test.ts, *.spec.ts, __tests__/**
3. Mock data: /fixtures/**, /mocks/**
4. Documentation: *.md, docs/**

After Running

If secrets found:

1. Revoke Secrets Immediately

# Stripe
# Go to https://dashboard.stripe.com/apikeys
# Revoke the exposed key

# AWS
aws iam delete-access-key --access-key-id AKIA...
aws iam create-access-key --user-name <username>

2. Move to Environment Variables

// Before: Hardcoded secret
const STRIPE_KEY = 'sk_live_1234567890abcdef';

// After: Environment variable
const STRIPE_KEY = process.env.STRIPE_API_KEY;

if (!STRIPE_KEY) {
  throw new Error('STRIPE_API_KEY environment variable is required');
}

3. Verify .gitignore

# Ensure these are in .gitignore
.env
.env.local
.env.*.local
*.pem
*.key

4. Audit Git History

# Search for leaked secrets in git history
git log -p -S "sk_live_" -- "*.ts" "*.tsx" "*.js"
git log -p -S "AKIA" -- "*.ts" "*.tsx" "*.js"

5. Re-run Secrets Check

/secrets-check

Tips

• Use .env files - Store all secrets in .env (never commit)
• Generate strong secrets - Use openssl rand -base64 32
• Rotate regularly - Change secrets every 90 days
• Different per environment - Dev/staging/prod use different secrets
• Secret management - Consider AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault
• CI/CD secrets - Use GitHub Secrets, GitLab CI/CD variables
• Audit frequently - Run secrets check before every commit
• Enable GitHub scanning - Use GitHub's secret scanning (if on GitHub)

Gitleaks Configuration

The skill uses .gitleaks.toml with these settings:

• 14+ secret patterns defined
• Allowlist for example files, tests, docs
• High entropy detection for random strings
• Custom regexes for Firebase, Stripe, AWS, etc.

See the plugin's config/.gitleaks.toml for the bundled default configuration.

Related Skills

• /security-review - Full security checklist
• /pii-scanner - Detect PII in logs
• /compliance-check - HIPAA/GDPR/PCI DSS validation

CI/CD Integration

Add to your CI/CD pipeline:

name: Security Scan

on: [pull_request, push]

jobs:
  secrets:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Secrets Check (Gitleaks)
        run: |
          docker run --rm -v $PWD:/path zricethezav/gitleaks:latest \
            detect --source="/path" -v -c /path/.gitleaks.toml

Security Incident Response

If secrets are exposed in git history:

1. Revoke immediately - Assume compromised
2. Rotate secrets - Generate new ones
3. Audit access logs - Check for unauthorized use
4. Clean git history - Use BFG Repo-Cleaner or git-filter-repo
5. Force push - Update remote history (if feasible)
6. Notify team - Inform everyone of the incident
7. Document - Record what happened and remediation steps