How to Prevent AWS Key Leaks: Secret Scanning in CI/CD Pipeline¶

Exposing credentials in public repositories is not a theoretical risk --- it causes real financial damage. This guide shows how to integrate AccuKnox Secret Scanning into GitHub Actions to proactively catch secrets before they leak, using a real AWS breach incident as a case study.

🔗 Check it out on GitHub Marketplace: AccuKnox Secret Scanner

Scenario: AWS S3 Keys Committed to GitHub → $45,000 Loss¶

An engineering team mistakenly committed AWS S3 access keys into their GitHub repository. Although the repository was private initially, a misconfigured settings change made it public for several hours. In that window, attackers found the keys, deployed unauthorized EC2 instances for crypto mining, and ran up $45,000 in AWS charges.

Key mistakes:

No automated secret scanning in CI/CD.
Manual code review missed the committed keys.
Delay in detecting leaked secrets.

Objective: Prevent Secret Leaks¶

The goal is to automatically detect and prevent the exposure of sensitive data (e.g., AWS keys) in your codebase by integrating AccuKnox Secret Scanning into your CI/CD pipeline. This ensures secrets are caught early, reducing risk and preventing potential exploitation.

Steps Overview¶

Manual Setup: Detect Secrets in Code
Integrate AccuKnox Secret scanning into the CI/CD Pipeline
Before vs After Integration
Viewing Findings: Analyze Results
Remediation Workflow

1. Why Manual Secret Detection Fails¶

Manual methods (grep commands, peer reviews) are unreliable at scale:

Developers can overlook sensitive patterns.
Reviewers focus on functionality, not hidden secrets.
Fast development cycles make mistakes inevitable.

Automation is the only scalable defense.

2. GitHub Actions Integration: AccuKnox Secret Scanning Setup¶

We will configure GitHub Actions to automatically scan for secrets on every code change.

Create a GitHub Actions workflow at .github/workflows/secret.yml:

name: AccuKnox Secret Scan Workflow

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - secret

jobs:
  accuknox-cicd:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@main

      - name: AccuKnox Secret Scan
        uses: accuknox/secret-scan-action@v1.0.1
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.ACCUKNOX_TOKEN }}
          tenant_id: ${{ secrets.ACCUKNOX_TENANT_ID }}
          label: ${{ secrets.ACCUKNOX_ENDPOINT }}
          endpoint: ${{ secrets.ACCUKNOX_LABEL }}
          fail: true
          use_extended_ruleset: false

How It Works¶

Checkout: Clones the full repo (including history) to detect secrets in past commits.
Scan: Runs AccuKnox Secret Scanning using your tenant's API token and endpoint.
Fail: If secrets are found, the build fails immediately to block unsafe merges.

Result: Developers get immediate feedback before secrets hit production.

3. Risks Without Integration¶

If you skip secret scanning:

Leaked credentials can be exploited within minutes.
You risk cloud abuse, ransomware, or compliance penalties
Damage control is expensive and time-consuming.

4. Benefits After Integration¶

With AccuKnox Secret Scanning:

Automatic secret detection on every PR and push.
Faster incident prevention --- catch issues before they escalate.
Better compliance posture
Cleaner, safer repositories with no embedded secrets.

5. Viewing Findings in the AccuKnox Dashboard¶

After a scan:

Log into AccuKnox and navigate to Issues → Findings.
Filter by Data Type: Secret Scan and search for the findings related to your repository.

View detailed reports with:

- Detected secret type (AWS Key, Database Password, etc.)

- File path

- Commit SHA

- Developer responsible

6. Remediating Detected Secrets¶

6.1 Create a Ticket¶

You can create a ticket directly from AccuKnox Findings by integrating your organization's ticketing system (Jira, ServiceNow, etc.) with AccuKnox.
This ensures vulnerabilities detected during scans are automatically or manually ticketed for tracking and resolution.
Refer to the integration guide for setup: 🔗 AccuKnox Jira Cloud Integration Guide

6.2: Revoke and Rotate Credentials¶

Immediately revoke compromised keys (AWS IAM, database, etc.).
Rotate secrets and update configurations safely (using Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, etc.).
Remove secrets from commit history (use git filter-repo or BFG Repo Cleaner).

6.3: Rerun Scans and Verify¶

Recommit and push the clean changes.
Trigger a new GitHub Actions pipeline run.
Confirm no secrets are detected by AccuKnox.
Update the Jira ticket with verification details.

Conclusion: Stop Secrets Before They Leak¶

In today's fast-moving development pipelines, accidents happen. The difference between a minor issue and a $45,000 disaster is how fast you detect and remediate secret leaks. AccuKnox Secret Scanning integrates seamlessly into your GitHub Actions workflows to give you early, automated protection.