Skip to main content

React App Env Credentials

React App Env Credentials are environment variables used to configure and authenticate various services within a React application. These credentials can include API keys, database connection strings, and other sensitive information necessary for the app's functionality. Exposure of these credentials is a significant security concern as it can lead to unauthorized access to services, data breaches, and potential misuse of resources.

How Does It Look​

Environment variables in a React app can appear in various contexts:

  • Environment Variables:

    REACT_APP_API_KEY=abcd1234efgh5678
    REACT_APP_SECRET_KEY=ijkl9012mnop3456

  • Configuration Files (.env):

    REACT_APP_API_URL=https://api.example.com
    REACT_APP_DB_CONNECTION=postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb

  • Code Snippets:

    const apiKey = process.env.REACT_APP_API_KEY;
    const apiUrl = process.env.REACT_APP_API_URL;

  • Connection Strings:

    REACT_APP_DB_CONNECTION=postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb

Severity​

  • 🟠 High

The severity is considered high because these credentials can provide access to critical services and data. If exposed, an attacker could potentially manipulate application behavior, access sensitive data, or misuse resources, depending on the permissions associated with the credentials.

What Can an Attacker Do?​

With immediate access to React App Env Credentials, an attacker can exploit the application and its connected services.

Key actions an attacker can perform:

  • Access sensitive data (if the credential has read permissions to databases or APIs)
  • Modify application behavior (if the credential allows configuration changes)
  • Consume resources (if the credential permits access to compute or storage services)
  • Perform unauthorized transactions (if the credential is linked to payment services)

An attacker could also escalate their access by leveraging these credentials to move laterally within the network, potentially compromising additional systems and services.

Real-World Impact​

The exposure of React App Env Credentials poses significant business risks.

Potential consequences include:

  • Data Exposure: User data, API responses, and database contents (if the credential has read access to sensitive data)
  • Financial Loss: Increased costs from unauthorized resource usage (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 worst-case scenarios, the cascading effects of such exposure could lead to widespread data breaches and significant financial and reputational harm.

Prerequisites for Exploitation​

To exploit these credentials, an attacker needs:

  • Network access to the environment where the credentials are used
  • Knowledge of endpoints or service URLs to interact with
  • Bypassing any rate limits or restrictions that might be in place

How to Verify If It's Active​

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

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer [TOKEN]" https://api.example.com/endpoint

Valid credential response: A successful response with expected data or status code (e.g., 200 OK).

Invalid/expired credential response: An error message or status code indicating unauthorized access (e.g., 401 Unauthorized).

Detection Patterns​

Common Variable Names:

  • REACT_APP_API_KEY
  • REACT_APP_SECRET_KEY
  • REACT_APP_DB_CONNECTION
  • REACT_APP_API_URL
  • REACT_APP_ACCESS_TOKEN
  • REACT_APP_CLIENT_ID

File Locations:

  • .env
  • src/config.js
  • src/settings.js
  • config/env.js

Regex Pattern:

REACT_APP_[A-Z0-9_]+=[^\s]+

Remediation Steps​

  1. Revoke immediately - Remove the compromised credentials from the environment and any associated services.
  2. Audit access logs - Review application and service logs for unauthorized access or anomalies during the exposure window.
  3. Assess blast radius - Identify all systems, applications, and environments that used the exposed credential.
  4. Rotate credential - Generate new credentials and update the environment variables with the new values.
  5. Update dependent systems - Deploy the new credential to all applications and update CI/CD pipelines securely.
  6. Harden access controls - Implement IP allowlisting and enforce TLS connections for all services.
  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​