Exposed secrets and keys

Check method

Keys shipped to the browser or committed, with the privilege of each key verified before alerting.

Possible evidence type

Live observation when the check is compatible and authorized. This description does not mean your platform has been tested.

Access and limitations

Website address. Actual results and checks not run appear in your report. A check with no finding does not guarantee the absence of risk.

Concrete scenario

A server credential is embedded in client-delivered code or committed source.

What to inspect

Identify credential type and privileges before declaring a leak. Publishable keys are not administrator secrets.

Remediation approach

Revoke confirmed exposed credentials, replace them securely and review history and logs for further exposure.

Understand grants, policies and identity

Database grants determine whether a role can reach a table or function; row-level security determines which rows it can access. Enabling RLS without a usable policy can block legitimate users, while a broad policy can expose every tenant. A privileged server credential may bypass these protections and must never be shipped to the browser.

1. Identify the role making the request and the identity used by the policy.
2. Review both table grants and policies for each read or write operation.
3. Check owner access to private, draft and archived rows separately from public access.

Validate without changing production data

Catalog-only inspection can show policy definitions and privilege configuration, but does not prove every application-level access path. Two-account isolation exercises provide stronger behavioral evidence when separately authorized. Backup availability is also different from a successful restore test.

1. Review definitions and grants in the supported read-only audit.
2. Use isolated test records for any owner-approved behavioral exercise.
3. Retest the expected owner access and denied cross-account access after changes.

References

OWASP A02 · OWASP A07