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# GitHub Organization secret not scoped

## Rule Details

|                       |                    |
| --------------------- | ------------------ |
| Cortex AppSec Rule ID | APPSEC\_CICD\_178  |
| Category              | Credential Hygiene |
| Severity              | MEDIUM             |

## Impact

In GitHub organizations where secrets are not scoped to specific repositories and GitHub Actions is enabled, a malicious actor who has access to the organization could access these secrets by creating a workflow or modifying an existing workflow. This creates a security risk, as sensitive information could be exposed to unauthorized parties.

## Recommended Solution - Buildtime

It’s important to scope organization secrets to specific repositories and grant permission on a need-to-access basis only, following the principle of least privilege.

To change the scope of a GitHub organization secret:

1. Browse to the **Settings** tab of your GitHub organization’s repository where the secret is located.
2. Click on the **Secrets** menu located in the left-hand side of the page.
3. Select the required secret and click on its name to open the details page.
4. Click on the **Edit** button on the top right-hand corner of the page.
5. Under **Repository access**, select the repositories that should have access to the secret.
6. Click on the **Update secret** button to save the changes.

For more information refer to <https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/actions/security-guides/encrypted-secrets#creating-encrypted-secrets-for-an-organization>.


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