Secret Scanner

What This Skill Does

Automatically scans code for hardcoded secrets BEFORE they reach git:

• API keys
• Passwords
• Access tokens
• Private keys
• Database credentials
• Any sensitive data

Detection Patterns

High-Risk Patterns (Always Block)

# ❌ Will be blocked
API_KEY = "sk_live_1234567890abcdef"
SECRET_KEY = "supersecretpassword123"
PASSWORD = "admin123"
AWS_SECRET = "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY"
PRIVATE_KEY = "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----"
DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://user:pass@localhost/db"

Safe Patterns (Will Pass)

# ✅ Safe - environment variables
API_KEY = os.getenv("API_KEY")
SECRET_KEY = settings.secret_key
PASSWORD = env.str("DATABASE_PASSWORD")

# ✅ Safe - configuration references
api_key: str = Field(..., env="API_KEY")

Regex Patterns Used

The scanner looks for:

# API keys and secrets
(API_KEY|SECRET|PASSWORD|TOKEN|PRIVATE_KEY)\s*=\s*["'][^"']{8,}["']

# JWT tokens
eyJ[A-Za-z0-9-_=]+\.eyJ[A-Za-z0-9-_=]+\.[A-Za-z0-9-_.+/=]*

# AWS keys
AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}

# Database URLs with credentials
(postgres|mysql|mongodb):\/\/[^:]+:[^@]+@

# Private keys
-----BEGIN (RSA|DSA|EC) PRIVATE KEY-----

How to Handle Detected Secrets

Step 1: Remove from code

# Before (❌ blocked)
OPENAI_KEY = "sk-proj-1234567890abcdef"

# After (✅ passes)
OPENAI_KEY = os.getenv("OPENAI_KEY")

Step 2: Add to .env file

# .env (never committed!)
OPENAI_KEY=sk-proj-1234567890abcdef
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost/db
SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key-here

Step 3: Add to .env.example

# .env.example (can be committed)
OPENAI_KEY=sk-proj-xxx
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost/dbname
SECRET_KEY=generate-with-openssl-rand-hex-32

Step 4: Update .gitignore

# Environment variables
.env
.env.local
.env.production

# Secrets
secrets/
*.key
*.pem
*.cert

Pydantic Settings Integration

Use pydantic-settings for type-safe config:

from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, SettingsConfigDict

class Settings(BaseSettings):
    """Application settings loaded from environment."""
    
    model_config = SettingsConfigDict(
        env_file=".env",
        env_file_encoding="utf-8",
        case_sensitive=False,
    )
    
    # Database
    database_url: str
    
    # API Keys
    openai_api_key: str
    sentry_dsn: str | None = None
    
    # Security
    secret_key: str
    algorithm: str = "HS256"
    access_token_expire_minutes: int = 30

# Usage
settings = Settings()
# Now use settings.database_url instead of os.getenv()

Manual Scan Command

Run scanner manually:

# Scan all Python files
grep -rnE '(API_KEY|SECRET|PASSWORD|TOKEN)\s*=\s*["'\''][^"'\'']{8,}' app/

# Scan staged files only
git diff --cached --name-only | xargs grep -nHE 'API_KEY.*=.*["\047]'

# Check for common patterns
rg 'sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{20,}' app/  # OpenAI keys
rg 'AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}' app/     # AWS keys
rg 'ghp_[a-zA-Z0-9]{36}' app/  # GitHub tokens

Common Secret Types

OpenAI API Keys

# ❌ Bad
OPENAI_KEY = "sk-proj-1234567890"

# ✅ Good
OPENAI_KEY = os.getenv("OPENAI_KEY")

Database Credentials

# ❌ Bad
DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://admin:secretpass@localhost/mydb"

# ✅ Good
DATABASE_URL = settings.database_url

JWT Secrets

# ❌ Bad
SECRET_KEY = "my-super-secret-key-12345"

# ✅ Good
SECRET_KEY = os.getenv("SECRET_KEY")
# Generate with: openssl rand -hex 32

AWS Credentials

# ❌ Bad
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE"
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY"

# ✅ Good
# Use AWS CLI credentials or instance roles
import boto3
s3 = boto3.client('s3')  # Uses ~/.aws/credentials

Secrets Already Committed?

If you accidentally committed secrets:

Step 1: Rotate the secret

# Generate new API key immediately!
# Old key is now compromised and must be revoked

Step 2: Remove from git history

# Remove file from all commits
git filter-branch --force --index-filter \
  'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch path/to/file.py' \
  --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all

# Force push (if remote)
git push origin --force --all

Step 3: Add to .gitignore

echo "config/secrets.py" >> .gitignore
git add .gitignore
git commit -m "security: prevent secrets in git"

Best Practices

1. Use Environment Variables

import os
from functools import lru_cache

@lru_cache
def get_settings():
    return Settings()

settings = get_settings()

2. Separate Config Files

project/
├── config/
│   ├── settings.py          # Settings class
│   ├── production.py        # Prod config (no secrets!)
│   └── development.py       # Dev config (no secrets!)
├── .env                     # Secrets (gitignored!)
└── .env.example             # Template (committed)

3. Use Secret Management

# For production, use secret managers
from google.cloud import secretmanager

def get_secret(secret_id: str) -> str:
    """Fetch secret from Google Secret Manager."""
    client = secretmanager.SecretManagerServiceClient()
    name = f"projects/{PROJECT_ID}/secrets/{secret_id}/versions/latest"
    response = client.access_secret_version(request={"name": name})
    return response.payload.data.decode("UTF-8")

4. Docker Secrets

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  app:
    secrets:
      - db_password
      - api_key

secrets:
  db_password:
    file: ./secrets/db_password.txt
  api_key:
    file: ./secrets/api_key.txt

False Positives

If scanner blocks legitimate code:

Option 1: Use different variable name

# Instead of
API_KEY_EXAMPLE = "sk-test-example"  # Blocked

# Use
EXAMPLE_API_KEY_FORMAT = "sk-test-xxx"  # May pass

Option 2: Comment explanation

# Example key format for documentation (not real)
# Scanner: ignore-secret
API_KEY_FORMAT = "sk-live-xxxxxxxxxxxx"

Option 3: Move to documentation

<!-- README.md -->
API keys should follow format: `sk-live-xxxxxxxxxxxx`

Integration with Git Hooks

Add to .git/hooks/pre-commit:

#!/bin/bash

echo "🔍 Scanning for secrets..."

# Run secret scanner
if git diff --cached --name-only | xargs grep -nHE '(API_KEY|SECRET|PASSWORD|TOKEN)\s*=\s*["'\''][^"'\'']{8,}'; then
    echo ""
    echo "❌ Potential secrets detected in staged files!"
    echo "Please remove hardcoded secrets and use environment variables."
    echo ""
    echo "Quick fix:"
    echo "  1. Move secret to .env file"
    echo "  2. Use os.getenv('SECRET_NAME') in code"
    echo "  3. Stage changes and retry commit"
    exit 1
fi

echo "✅ No secrets detected"
exit 0

Monitoring and Alerts

Set up monitoring for secret exposure:

# Use Sentry to track potential secret leaks
import sentry_sdk

def check_for_secrets_in_logs(log_message: str) -> bool:
    """Check if log message contains potential secrets."""
    patterns = [
        r'sk-[a-zA-Z0-9]{20,}',  # OpenAI keys
        r'AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}',     # AWS keys
        r'ghp_[a-zA-Z0-9]{36}',  # GitHub tokens
    ]
    for pattern in patterns:
        if re.search(pattern, log_message):
            sentry_sdk.capture_message(
                "Potential secret in logs",
                level="warning",
            )
            return True
    return False

Remember

Once a secret is committed, consider it compromised.

Always:

• ✅ Rotate compromised secrets immediately
• ✅ Use environment variables
• ✅ Keep .env in .gitignore
• ✅ Use secret managers in production
• ✅ Scan before every commit

Never:

• ❌ Commit secrets to git
• ❌ Share secrets in Slack/email
• ❌ Reuse secrets across environments
• ❌ Store secrets in code comments
• ❌ Log secret values