Never Store Secrets in Source Code or DNS Records

By /

Listen to this Post

Featured Image
When we said “don’t store your secrets in your source code,” we didn’t mean to shift them to DNS TXT records either! A recent example shows someone storing an OpenAI API key in a DNS TXT record—this is just hardcoding secrets over the wire.

You Should Know:

Secure Ways to Handle Secrets

1. Environment Variables (Basic but better than hardcoding)

export API_KEY="your_api_key_here" 
echo $API_KEY

2. Secret Management Tools

  • AWS Secrets Manager 
    aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id "my-api-key" --query "SecretString" --output text
  • HashiCorp Vault 
    vault kv get -field=api_key secret/myapp

3. Git Secrets & Pre-commit Hooks

git secrets --install 
git secrets --register-aws 
git secrets --scan

4. CI/CD Secret Protection

  • GitHub Actions: 
    env: 
API_KEY: ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}
  • GitLab CI: 
    variables: 
API_KEY: $API_KEY

5. Encrypted Config Files (e.g., Ansible Vault)

ansible-vault encrypt secrets.yml 
ansible-playbook --ask-vault-pass playbook.yml

6. Avoiding DNS TXT Record Misuse

dig +short TXT example.com  Never store secrets here!

Detecting Exposed Secrets

  • TruffleHog (Scan Git history for secrets) 
    trufflehog git https://github.com/your-repo.git
  • Gitleaks 
    gitleaks detect --source . -v

Revoking Leaked Secrets

  • AWS CLI (Rotate keys immediately) 
    aws iam update-access-key --access-key-id AKIA... --status Inactive 
aws iam delete-access-key --access-key-id AKIA...
  • GitHub (Revoke compromised tokens) 
    gh api -X DELETE /repos/{owner}/{repo}/actions/secrets/{secret_name}

What Undercode Say:

Hardcoding secrets—whether in source code, config files, or DNS records—is a critical security flaw. Always use dedicated secret managers, enforce least privilege, and automate secret rotation.

Expected Output:

A secure pipeline where secrets are dynamically injected, never stored in version control, and continuously monitored for exposure.

Prediction:

As cloud adoption grows, secret sprawl will increase, leading to more automated secret scanning tools integrated directly into CI/CD pipelines. Zero-trust secret management will become the standard.

Relevant URLs:

References:

Reported By: Ssennettau When – Hackers Feeds
Extra Hub: Undercode MoN
Basic Verification: Pass ✅

Join Our Cyber World:

💬 Whatsapp | 💬 Telegram

Related Posts: