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Airbrake User Key

The Airbrake User Key is a credential used to authenticate and interact with the Airbrake error monitoring service. This key allows applications to send error reports and access certain user-specific data within the Airbrake platform. Exposure of this key can lead to unauthorized access to error logs and potentially sensitive information about application errors, which could be leveraged by attackers to gain insights into application vulnerabilities.

How Does It Look​

Airbrake User Keys can appear in various contexts, such as:

  • Environment variables:

    export AIRBRAKE_USER_KEY="abcd1234efgh5678ijkl9012mnop3456"

  • Configuration files (JSON, YAML, .env):

    {
      "airbrake": {
        "user_key": "abcd1234efgh5678ijkl9012mnop3456"
      }
    }

  • Code snippets:

    const airbrake = new AirbrakeClient({
      projectId: 12345,
      projectKey: 'abcd1234efgh5678ijkl9012mnop3456'
    });

  • Connection strings:

    airbrake://abcd1234efgh5678ijkl9012mnop3456@api.airbrake.io

Severity​

  • 🟠 High

The Airbrake User Key provides access to error reporting and potentially sensitive application data. If exposed, an attacker could access error logs, which might contain sensitive information or insights into application vulnerabilities. The blast radius includes unauthorized access to error data and potential exploitation of application weaknesses.

What Can an Attacker Do?​

With immediate access to the Airbrake User Key, an attacker can:

  • Access error logs: View detailed error reports (if the key has read permissions).
  • Modify error reporting settings: Change configurations to suppress error notifications (if the key has write permissions).
  • Extract sensitive information: Gather data from error logs that may contain sensitive information (if logs are not sanitized).
  • Identify application vulnerabilities: Use error details to pinpoint weaknesses in the application (if error messages are verbose).

An attacker could potentially escalate their access by using insights gained from error logs to exploit vulnerabilities in the application, leading to further unauthorized access or data breaches.

Real-World Impact​

Exposure of the Airbrake User Key poses significant business risks:

The primary impact includes unauthorized access to error logs, which can lead to:

  • Data Exposure: Sensitive error details and user data (if error logs contain sensitive information).
  • Operational Disruption: Altered error reporting could hinder issue detection and resolution (if error notifications are suppressed).
  • Reputational Damage: Loss of trust if vulnerabilities are exploited due to exposed error details.

In a worst-case scenario, attackers could leverage error log insights to execute broader attacks on the application, leading to data breaches or service disruptions.

Prerequisites for Exploitation​

To exploit an exposed Airbrake User Key, an attacker needs:

  • Network access: Ability to send requests to the Airbrake API.
  • Airbrake account details: Knowledge of the associated project ID or other identifiers.
  • No IP restrictions: The key must not be protected by IP allowlisting.

How to Verify If It's Active​

To verify if an Airbrake User Key is active, use the following command:

curl -X GET "https://api.airbrake.io/api/v3/projects/[PROJECT_ID]/errors" -H "Authorization: Bearer [USER_KEY]"

Valid credential response: A successful response will return a list of error reports associated with the project.

Invalid/expired credential response: An error message indicating unauthorized access or invalid credentials.

Detection Patterns​

Common Variable Names:

  • AIRBRAKE_USER_KEY
  • AIRBRAKE_API_KEY
  • AIRBRAKE_PROJECT_KEY
  • USER_KEY
  • API_KEY
  • PROJECT_KEY

File Locations:

  • .env
  • config.json
  • settings.yaml
  • airbrake.js
  • application.properties

Regex Pattern:

[A-Za-z0-9]{32}

Remediation Steps​

  1. Revoke immediately - Go to Airbrake > Project Settings > API Keys and delete the compromised user key.
  2. Audit access logs - Review Airbrake access logs for unauthorized access or error reports during the exposure window.
  3. Assess blast radius - Identify all systems, applications, and environments that used the exposed credential.
  4. Rotate credential - Generate a new user key in Airbrake and update it in all relevant configurations.
  5. Update dependent systems - Deploy the new credential to all applications and update CI/CD pipelines securely.
  6. Harden access controls - Enable IP allowlisting in Airbrake and ensure error logs are sanitized.
  7. Implement secrets management - Migrate credentials to a secrets manager (HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager) to prevent hardcoding.
  8. Add detection controls - Set up pre-commit hooks and repository scanning to catch credential leaks before they reach production.

Credential exposures often go undetected for extended periods, increasing the window for exploitation. As a long-term strategy, plan to establish an internal process or engage an external vendor for continuous external exposure monitoring. This helps identify leaked secrets across public repositories, paste sites, dark web forums, and other external sources before attackers can leverage them. Proactive detection and rapid response are essential to minimizing the impact of credential leaks.

References​