Gitlab Personal Token detected in code

Rule Details

Cortex AppSec Rule ID	APPSEC_SECRET_334
Category	Secrets
Severity	LOW
Framework	Git

Impact

The GitLab Personal Access Token (PAT) acts as a proxy for a human user.

Exposure is a Critical Risk granting an attacker the full permissions of that employee, potentially including code merging, branch deletion, and settings modification, bypassing standard access controls.

How to Fix

To remediate exposed Source Control or CI/CD tokens:

1. Log in to the relevant system or provider.
2. Navigate to the settings menu to locate the exposed credential.
3. Revoke or delete the compromised token immediately.
4. Generate a new token if continued access is required.
5. Update any dependent systems or services with the new credential.

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.