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GitLab Token

GitLab tokens are credentials used to authenticate and authorize access to GitLab's services, including repositories, pipelines, and APIs. These tokens can be personal access tokens, deploy tokens, or CI/CD job tokens, each providing different levels of access. Exposure of a GitLab token is a significant security concern as it can lead to unauthorized access to code repositories, sensitive data, and potentially the entire GitLab environment, depending on the token's permissions.

How Does It Look​

GitLab tokens can appear in various contexts, such as:

  • Environment variables:

    export GITLAB_TOKEN="glpat-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

  • Configuration files (YAML):

    gitlab:
      token: "glpat-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

  • Code snippets:

    import requests

    headers = {"PRIVATE-TOKEN": "glpat-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"}
    response = requests.get("https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects", headers=headers)

  • Connection strings:

    git clone https://oauth2:glpat-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@gitlab.example.com/username/repo.git

Severity​

  • 🔴 Critical

The severity of a GitLab token exposure is critical because it can provide access to sensitive repositories, CI/CD pipelines, and potentially the entire GitLab environment. The blast radius depends on the token's permissions, but it can include unauthorized code changes, data exfiltration, and infrastructure manipulation.

What Can an Attacker Do?​

With immediate access to a GitLab token, an attacker can perform several malicious actions:

An attacker can immediately access repositories and pipelines, potentially leading to data theft or code manipulation.

Key actions an attacker can perform:

  • Modify or delete code (if the token has write permissions)
  • Access sensitive data (if the token has read access to private repositories)
  • Trigger CI/CD pipelines (if the token is used in CI/CD contexts)
  • Create or delete projects (if the token has project management permissions)

An attacker could escalate their access by exploiting other vulnerabilities within the GitLab environment or using the token to pivot to other connected systems.

Real-World Impact​

Exposure of a GitLab token poses significant business risks, including:

The primary impact is unauthorized access to code and data, which can lead to severe consequences.

Potential consequences include:

  • Data Exposure: Access to proprietary code and sensitive data (if the token has read access to private repositories)
  • Financial Loss: Costs associated with data breaches and unauthorized resource usage (if billing/resource creation is permitted)
  • Operational Disruption: Interruption of development and deployment processes (if the attacker has modify permissions)
  • Reputational Damage: Loss of trust from clients and partners due to data breaches

In the worst-case scenario, an attacker could gain control over the entire GitLab environment, leading to widespread data loss and operational chaos.

Prerequisites for Exploitation​

To exploit a GitLab token, an attacker needs:

  • Network access to the GitLab instance
  • Knowledge of the GitLab API endpoints or repository URLs
  • No IP restrictions or MFA enforcement on the token

How to Verify If It's Active​

To verify if a GitLab token is active, use the following command:

curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: [TOKEN]" "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/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 token expiration.

Detection Patterns​

Common Variable Names:

  • GITLAB_TOKEN
  • PRIVATE_TOKEN
  • ACCESS_TOKEN
  • DEPLOY_TOKEN
  • CI_JOB_TOKEN
  • PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN

File Locations:

  • .gitlab-ci.yml
  • config.yml
  • .env
  • settings.py

Regex Pattern:

glpat-[0-9a-zA-Z\-]{20}

Remediation Steps​

  1. Revoke immediately - Go to GitLab > User Settings > Access Tokens and delete the compromised token.
  2. Audit access logs - Review GitLab audit logs for unauthorized access or actions during the exposure window.
  3. Assess blast radius - Identify all systems, applications, and environments that used the exposed token.
  4. Rotate credential - Create a new personal access token in GitLab with least-privilege permissions.
  5. Update dependent systems - Deploy the new token to all applications and update CI/CD pipelines securely.
  6. Harden access controls - Enable IP allowlisting in GitLab and require two-factor authentication for all users.
  7. Implement secrets management - Migrate tokens 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 token 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​