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The .env File Breach Tracker

A curated database of real-world breaches caused by exposed .env files, hardcoded credentials, leaked secrets, and compromised CI/CD pipelines.

21

Breaches tracked

88M+

Records exposed

$148M+

In known financial damage

tj-actions/changed-files

Mar 2025Supply Chain

Attackers compromised the popular GitHub Action, injecting malicious code that dumped CI/CD secrets to build logs of 23,000+ downstream repos.

What was exposed

CI/CD secrets, API keys, tokens

Impact

23,000+ repositories affected

Root cause

Compromised GitHub Action dependency

Internet Archive

Oct 2024Hardcoded Credentials

A GitLab token exposed in source code allowed attackers to access the Internet Archive's infrastructure, compromising 31 million user records.

What was exposed

GitLab API token, user database

Impact

31 million user records stolen

Root cause

Hardcoded GitLab token in source code

Dropbox Sign

Apr 2024Token Theft

Attackers accessed the Dropbox Sign (formerly HelloSign) production environment via a compromised service account, stealing API keys and OAuth tokens.

What was exposed

API keys, OAuth tokens, user data

Impact

All Dropbox Sign users affected

Root cause

Compromised automated service account

Docker Hub

2024Hardcoded Credentials

Researchers found over 10,000 Docker Hub images leaking secrets including AWS keys, GitHub tokens, and private SSH keys embedded in image layers.

What was exposed

AWS keys, GitHub tokens, SSH keys

Impact

10,000+ public images affected

Root cause

Secrets baked into Docker image layers

FBI/CISA Advisory (Androxgh0st)

Jan 2024Exposed .env

FBI and CISA issued a joint advisory on the Androxgh0st malware that specifically targets exposed .env files to steal cloud credentials and abuse SMTP.

What was exposed

.env files, AWS/Azure/O365 credentials

Impact

Federal advisory issued to all organizations

Root cause

Publicly accessible .env files on web servers

Mercedes-Benz

Sep 2023Hardcoded Credentials

A GitHub token left in a public repository gave unrestricted access to Mercedes-Benz's entire internal GitHub Enterprise, exposing source code and credentials.

What was exposed

GitHub Enterprise token, source code, API keys

Impact

Full access to internal codebase

Root cause

GitHub token committed to public repo

Microsoft Azure CLI

Nov 2023CI/CD Secrets Leak

Azure CLI was found to log credentials in plaintext to CI/CD pipeline logs, including secrets passed via environment variables.

What was exposed

Azure credentials, service principal secrets

Impact

All Azure CLI users in CI/CD affected

Root cause

Azure CLI logging sensitive environment variables

CircleCI

Jan 2023CI/CD Secrets Leak

A CircleCI engineer's laptop was compromised, giving attackers access to customer secrets stored in the CI/CD platform. All customers were told to rotate secrets.

What was exposed

All customer environment variables and secrets

Impact

All CircleCI customers told to rotate secrets

Root cause

Compromised employee device with session token

Samsung

Mar 2022Hardcoded Credentials

The Lapsus$ group leaked 190GB of Samsung source code containing over 6,600 hardcoded secrets including private keys, credentials, and API tokens.

What was exposed

6,600+ secrets, private keys, API tokens

Impact

190GB source code leaked publicly

Root cause

Hardcoded secrets throughout codebase

Heroku / Travis CI

Apr 2022Token Theft

Stolen Heroku and Travis CI OAuth tokens were used to access private GitHub repos of dozens of organizations, including npm's internal packages.

What was exposed

GitHub OAuth tokens, private repos

Impact

npm and dozens of orgs compromised

Root cause

Stolen OAuth integration tokens

Nvidia

Feb 2022Leaked Source Code

The Lapsus$ group breached Nvidia and leaked 1TB of data including source code, employee credentials, and code-signing certificates.

What was exposed

Employee credentials, code-signing certs, source

Impact

1TB data leaked, cert used to sign malware

Root cause

Network intrusion, credential theft

Slack

Dec 2022Token Theft

Attackers stole Slack employee tokens from an external GitHub repository and used them to access Slack's private code repositories.

What was exposed

Employee tokens, private source code repos

Impact

Internal code repositories accessed

Root cause

Employee tokens in external GitHub repo

Toyota

Oct 2022Hardcoded Credentials

A GitHub access key was accidentally left in a public repository for nearly 5 years, exposing the personal data of 296,019 T-Connect customers.

What was exposed

GitHub access key, customer emails and IDs

Impact

296,019 customer records exposed over 5 years

Root cause

Access key committed to public GitHub repo

Twitch

Oct 2021Leaked Source Code

An anonymous hacker leaked Twitch's entire 125GB source code including internal tools, SDKs, and creator payout data due to a server misconfiguration.

What was exposed

Full source code, internal tools, payout data

Impact

125GB total leak, creator earnings exposed

Root cause

Server misconfiguration allowing full exfiltration

Codecov

Apr 2021Supply Chain

Attackers modified Codecov's Bash uploader script to exfiltrate environment variables (including CI/CD secrets) from thousands of customers' build pipelines.

What was exposed

CI/CD secrets, API keys, tokens from .env

Impact

Thousands of CI/CD pipelines compromised

Root cause

Tampered build script exfiltrating env vars

HashiCorp (via Codecov)

Apr 2021Supply Chain

As a downstream victim of the Codecov breach, HashiCorp's GPG signing key was exposed, requiring them to rotate their code-signing infrastructure.

What was exposed

GPG signing key

Impact

Code-signing key compromised, forced rotation

Root cause

Codecov supply chain attack (env var exfil)

Travis CI

Sep 2021CI/CD Secrets Leak

A Travis CI vulnerability exposed secrets from public repositories' build logs, potentially leaking API keys and tokens from thousands of open-source projects.

What was exposed

Environment variables, signing keys, tokens

Impact

All public repo secrets potentially exposed

Root cause

Bug exposing env vars to forked repo builds

Nissan

Jan 2021Hardcoded Credentials

Nissan's Git server was left accessible with default credentials (admin/admin), leaking source code for mobile apps and internal tooling.

What was exposed

Source code, internal tools, mobile app code

Impact

20GB source code leaked publicly

Root cause

Default admin/admin credentials on Git server

Starbucks

Oct 2019Hardcoded Credentials

A JumpCloud API key was found hardcoded in a public Starbucks GitHub repository, potentially allowing access to their identity management infrastructure.

What was exposed

JumpCloud API key

Impact

Identity management system at risk

Root cause

API key committed to public GitHub repo

Uber

Oct 2016Hardcoded Credentials

Uber engineers committed AWS credentials to a private GitHub repo. Attackers used them to access an S3 bucket containing 57 million user records, leading to a $148M settlement.

What was exposed

AWS access keys, 57M user records

Impact

$148M settlement, 57M users/drivers affected

Root cause

AWS keys committed to GitHub repository

Laravel (ongoing)

OngoingExposed .env

Thousands of Laravel applications expose their APP_KEY and database credentials via publicly accessible .env files due to misconfigured web servers.

What was exposed

APP_KEY, database credentials, API keys

Impact

Thousands of apps continuously exposed

Root cause

Web servers serving .env files publicly

The bigger picture

These breaches are just the ones that made the news. The reality is far worse.

23.8M

secrets leaked on GitHub in 2024

Source: GitGuardian

70%

of leaked secrets remain active after 2 years

Source: GitGuardian

1 in 10

code authors exposed a secret in 2024

Source: GitGuardian

$4.88M

average cost of a data breach in 2024

Source: IBM

Stop being the next entry on this list

secr scans your codebase for leaked secrets, blocks commits containing credentials, and replaces .env files with encrypted, team-synced secrets.

# Scan for leaked secrets

$ npx @secr/cli scan

Found 0 secrets. You're clean.