Common Misconfiguration
Organizations using multiple cloud providers often expose credentials for all platforms in a single configuration file or codebase.Vulnerable Example
Secure Example
Detection Patterns
- AWS Access Key ID:
`(AKIA|ASIA)[0-9A-Z]{16}` - AWS Secret Access Key:
`[A-Za-z0-9/+=]{40}` - Azure Client Secret:
`[A-Za-z0-9~._-]{30,}` - GCP API Key:
`AIza[0-9A-Za-z\\-_]{35}` - GCP Service Account:
`"private_key":\s*"-----BEGIN (RSA|EC) PRIVATE KEY-----"` - DigitalOcean Token:
`dop_v1_[a-f0-9]{64}` - Alibaba Access Key ID:
`LTAI[a-zA-Z0-9]{15,}` - OCI API Key Fingerprint:
`([0-9a-f]{2}:){15}[0-9a-f]{2}`
Prevention Best Practices
- Use Native Identity: Use cloud-native identity services (AWS IAM, Azure Managed Identity, GCP ADC/Workload Identity) whenever possible.
- Centralize Secrets: Implement a centralized secret management system (like HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, or GCP Secret Manager).
- Federate Identity: Use identity federation (like OIDC) to grant external systems access without static keys.
- Least Privilege: Enforce least-privilege principles across all cloud environments.
- Per-Environment Credentials: Use completely separate credentials and roles for development, staging, and production.
- Enable MFA: Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all human cloud accounts.
- Use CSPM: Implement a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tool to continuously monitor for misconfigurations.
- Regular Audits: Conduct regular multi-cloud security audits to find and remediate exposed credentials.

