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Bitbucket Credentials

Bitbucket credentials are used to authenticate users and applications to access Bitbucket repositories and services. These credentials can include API tokens, SSH keys, and OAuth tokens, which allow users to perform actions such as cloning repositories, pushing code, and managing repository settings. Exposure of these credentials poses a significant security risk as it can lead to unauthorized access to source code, sensitive data, and potentially the entire Bitbucket account.

How Does It Look​

Bitbucket credentials can appear in various contexts, such as:

  • Environment variables:

    export BITBUCKET_API_TOKEN="bbp_1234567890abcdef"

  • Configuration files (YAML):

    bitbucket:
      api_token: "bbp_1234567890abcdef"

  • Code snippets:

    import requests

    headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer bbp_1234567890abcdef"}
    response = requests.get("https://api.bitbucket.org/2.0/repositories", headers=headers)

  • Connection strings:

    git clone https://bbp_1234567890abcdef@bitbucket.org/user/repo.git

Severity​

  • 🔴 Critical

The severity of exposed Bitbucket credentials is critical because they can provide full access to repositories, including the ability to read, modify, and delete code. This access can lead to significant data breaches, intellectual property theft, and unauthorized code changes, affecting the integrity and security of software projects.

What Can an Attacker Do?​

With immediate access to Bitbucket credentials, an attacker can perform a wide range of malicious activities:

An attacker can immediately access repositories, allowing them to:

  • Read sensitive code and data (if the credential has read permissions)
  • Modify or delete code (if the credential has write permissions)
  • Access and modify repository settings (if administrative permissions are granted)
  • Clone repositories for further analysis (if not restricted by IP allowlist)

Additionally, attackers can escalate their access by:

  • Injecting malicious code into repositories, potentially affecting all downstream users and systems
  • Gaining insights into development processes and exploiting them for further attacks

Real-World Impact​

The exposure of Bitbucket credentials can have severe business implications:

The primary impact includes unauthorized access to proprietary code and data.

Potential consequences include:

  • Data Exposure: Proprietary source code and sensitive data (if the credential has read access to private repositories)
  • Financial Loss: Costs associated with incident response and potential intellectual property theft (if billing/resource creation is permitted)
  • Operational Disruption: Compromised code integrity leading to software malfunctions (if the attacker has delete/modify permissions)
  • Reputational Damage: Loss of customer trust and brand reputation due to data breaches

In worst-case scenarios, attackers could leverage exposed credentials to infiltrate other systems, leading to cascading security incidents.

Prerequisites for Exploitation​

To exploit exposed Bitbucket credentials, an attacker needs:

  • Network access to Bitbucket services
  • Knowledge of repository URLs or specific endpoints
  • No IP restrictions or other access controls in place

How to Verify If It's Active​

To verify if a Bitbucket credential is active, use the following command:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer [TOKEN]" https://api.bitbucket.org/2.0/user

Valid credential response: A successful response will return user information in JSON format.

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

Detection Patterns​

Common Variable Names:

  • BITBUCKET_API_TOKEN
  • BITBUCKET_OAUTH_TOKEN
  • BITBUCKET_SSH_KEY
  • BITBUCKET_SECRET
  • BB_API_KEY
  • BB_ACCESS_TOKEN

File Locations:

  • .env
  • config.yml
  • settings.json
  • credentials.txt
  • bitbucket-config.yaml

Regex Pattern:

bbp_[a-zA-Z0-9]{16,}

Remediation Steps​

  1. Revoke immediately - Go to Bitbucket > Personal Settings > App passwords and delete the compromised token
  2. Audit access logs - Review Bitbucket access logs for unauthorized repository access or changes during the exposure window
  3. Assess blast radius - Identify all repositories and services that used the exposed credential
  4. Rotate credential - Generate a new API token in Bitbucket with least-privilege permissions
  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 Bitbucket and require SSH keys for repository access
  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​