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DigitalOcean API Key

A DigitalOcean API Key is a credential used to authenticate and authorize access to DigitalOcean's cloud services, including Droplets, databases, and networking resources. This key allows users to programmatically manage their cloud infrastructure, making it a powerful tool for automation. However, if exposed, it poses a significant security risk as it can grant unauthorized access to critical resources, potentially leading to data breaches, financial loss, and service disruptions.

How Does It Look​

DigitalOcean API Keys can appear in various contexts, such as:

  • Environment variables:

    export DIGITALOCEAN_API_KEY="do_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"

  • Configuration files (JSON):

    {
      "apiKey": "do_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
    }

  • Code snippets:

    import digitalocean

    manager = digitalocean.Manager(token="do_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX")

  • Connection strings:

    digitalocean://do_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX@api.digitalocean.com

Severity​

  • 🔴 Critical

The severity is marked as critical because a DigitalOcean API Key can provide full access to the account's resources, including the ability to create, modify, or delete infrastructure. The blast radius is extensive, potentially affecting all services and data within the account.

What Can an Attacker Do?​

With immediate access to a DigitalOcean API Key, an attacker can control the entire cloud environment.

Key actions an attacker can perform:

  • Delete or modify resources (if the credential has write permissions)
  • Access sensitive data (if the account includes databases or storage)
  • Spin up resources for cryptomining (if compute permissions are granted)
  • Access billing information (if the account has billing scope enabled)

An attacker can escalate their access by creating additional API keys or users, potentially moving laterally to other connected systems or services.

Real-World Impact​

The exposure of a DigitalOcean API Key poses significant business risks.

Potential consequences include:

  • Data Exposure: Sensitive customer or business data (if the credential has read access to databases)
  • Financial Loss: Unauthorized resource creation leading to increased billing (if billing/resource creation is permitted)
  • Operational Disruption: Service outages or degraded performance (if the attacker has delete/modify permissions)
  • Reputational Damage: Loss of customer trust and brand integrity

In a worst-case scenario, the attacker could cause widespread service disruption, leading to long-term damage to the organization's reputation and financial standing.

Prerequisites for Exploitation​

  • Network access requirements: Internet access to DigitalOcean's API endpoints
  • Additional context needed: Knowledge of the account's structure and resources
  • Rate limits or restrictions: API rate limits may slow down exploitation but won't prevent it

How to Verify If It's Active​

To verify if a DigitalOcean API Key is active, use the following command:

curl -X GET "https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/account" -H "Authorization: Bearer [API_KEY]"

Valid credential response: A successful response will include account details, such as email and droplet limits.

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

Detection Patterns​

Common Variable Names:

  • DIGITALOCEAN_API_KEY
  • DO_API_KEY
  • DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN
  • DO_TOKEN
  • API_KEY
  • TOKEN

File Locations:

  • .env
  • config.json
  • settings.yaml
  • credentials.txt

Regex Pattern:

do_[a-zA-Z0-9]{32}

Remediation Steps​

  1. Revoke immediately - Go to DigitalOcean Control Panel > API > Tokens/Keys and delete the compromised API key.
  2. Audit access logs - Review DigitalOcean account activity logs for unauthorized actions 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 API key in the DigitalOcean Control Panel 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 DigitalOcean and require two-factor authentication for account 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​