Base64 AWS IAM Secret Key detected in code

Rule Details

Cortex AppSec Rule ID	APPSEC_SECRET_229
Category	Cloud Service Provider Keys
Severity	HIGH
Framework	Git

Impact

A Base64 encoded AWS IAM Secret Key is the confidential credential component used for programmatic access to AWS resources.

Exposure allows an attacker to impersonate the IAM user, leading to unauthorized infrastructure modification, data theft, or financial abuse across the AWS account. (The Base64 encoding offers no security benefit and is treated as plaintext exposure). This is a Critical Risk.

How to Fix

To remediate exposed Cloud & Infrastructure credentials:

1. Log in to your cloud provider's console.
2. Locate the identity or service account associated with the compromised credentials.
3. Revoke or deactivate the compromised keys immediately.
4. Generate a new set of credentials.
5. Update your environment variables, secrets manager, or pipelines with the new values.

Next, remove the secret from your codebase:

1. Locate the exposed secret in your codebase.
2. Replace the hardcoded value with a secure variable or reference.

Finally, clean your version control history:

1. Permanently remove the sensitive data from your version control history to ensure it cannot be retrieved.

Warning: Revoking infrastructure keys may cause immediate downtime. Ensure you have identified all dependent services before revoking.