gitleaks-action

by gitleaks

422stars

152forks

7watchers

Updated 8 months ago

About

Gitleaks-Action is a GitHub Action that automatically detects and prevents hardcoded secrets like passwords and API keys in git repositories to protect sensitive data.

Protect your secrets using Gitleaks-Action

Primary Use Case

This tool is used by developers and security teams to automate secret scanning within GitHub workflows, ensuring that any accidental exposure of sensitive information in code commits or pull requests is quickly identified and remediated. It is especially useful for organizations aiming to enforce compliance and secure their codebases against secret leaks.

Key Features

Detects hardcoded secrets such as passwords, API keys, and tokens in git repositories
Integrates seamlessly as a GitHub Action in CI/CD workflows
Supports scanning on pull requests, pushes, manual triggers, and scheduled runs
Comments directly on pull requests when secrets are detected
Configurable via environment variables and custom configuration files
Supports license-based usage for organizations
Uploads SARIF artifacts for security reporting
Allows notification of specific GitHub users on secret leaks

Installation

Add the gitleaks-action to your GitHub workflow YAML file under jobs
Use actions/checkout@v4 with fetch-depth: 0 to ensure full git history is available
Reference gitleaks/gitleaks-action@v2 in the workflow steps
Set required environment variables such as GITHUB_TOKEN and optionally GITLEAKS_LICENSE for organizations
Optionally configure additional environment variables for notifications, comments, config path, and artifact uploads

Usage

>_ name: gitleaks
on:
  pull_request:
  push:
  workflow_dispatch:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 4 * * *"
jobs:
  scan:
    name: gitleaks
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - uses: gitleaks/gitleaks-action@v2
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          GITLEAKS_LICENSE: ${{ secrets.GITLEAKS_LICENSE }}

Example GitHub Actions workflow configuration to run gitleaks on pull requests, pushes, manual triggers, and scheduled daily scans, with full git history checkout and license support.

Security Frameworks

TA0006

Credential Access

TA0007

Discovery

TA0005

Defense Evasion

TA0040

Impact

TA0002

Execution

Usage Insights

Integrate Gitleaks-Action into CI/CD pipelines for early detection of secret leaks before deployment.
Configure automated pull request comments to accelerate developer remediation and reduce secret exposure time.
Leverage SARIF artifact uploads to feed centralized security dashboards for compliance auditing and trend analysis.
Use notification features to alert security champions or DevSecOps teams immediately upon secret detection.
Combine with secret vault solutions to automate secret rotation upon detection of leaked credentials.

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Security Profile

Red Team20%

Blue Team90%

Purple Team70%

Details

LicenseOther

LanguageJavaScript

Open Issues83

Topics

action