Claude Code is accidentally exposing secrets all over GitHub

Brief overview

Apiiro's AI safety researchers found that Claude Code has a negligence in handling user auto Shell commands with user approval settings, causing its settings file (.claude/settings.local.) to potentially contain sensitive information such as database passwords, API tokens, and root login, and accidentally exposed in a GitHub repository.

Same story1 other outlet also reported this

Ars Technica · AI·01:24·First·Reading now
Claude Code accidentally leaked GitHub secrets due to a mistake in handling the settings file
ITHome · AI·16:45·+15 h 21 min
Claude Code credentials leaked, 2539 real credentials found on GitHub

In order of publication · later reports are added as they appear

Article

Claude Code is leaking sensitive information on public GitHub instances thanks to a partial oversight in the way its settings files are handled. That's the finding of AI security researchers at Apiiro, who discovered thousands of secrets, including database passwords, API tokens, and root logins, amid Claude Code settings files embedded in GitHub repositories.

The leak stems from the way Claude Code handles user approval for automated shell commands. When a user chooses the "Yes, and don't ask again" option to approve running a command, that choice gets stored as part of a rule in the local ".claude/settings.local.json" file on the user's computer. That rule is sometimes coded as a pattern, but the command itself is often written to that settings file as is, including any sensitive information that may be embedded within it.

This isn't really a significant security issue if the settings file stays on the user's local machine (assuming that machine doesn't become compromised itself, of course). And Anthropic notes in its Claude Code documentation that this particular settings file gets added to the developer's global .gitignore list, which usually prevents it from being shared publicly.

Read full article

Comments