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Sauce Labs Token

A Sauce Labs token is a credential used to authenticate and authorize access to the Sauce Labs platform, which provides cloud-based testing solutions for web and mobile applications. This token allows users to interact with Sauce Labs' services, such as running automated tests and accessing test results. Exposure of this token is a significant security concern because it can lead to unauthorized access to testing environments, potentially compromising the integrity and confidentiality of the software development lifecycle.

How Does It Look​

Sauce Labs tokens can appear in various contexts, such as:

  • Environment variables:

    export SAUCE_LABS_TOKEN="12345-abcde-67890-fghij"

  • Configuration files (JSON):

    {
      "sauceLabs": {
        "token": "12345-abcde-67890-fghij"
      }
    }

  • Code snippets:

    const sauceLabsToken = "12345-abcde-67890-fghij";

  • Connection strings:

    sauceLabs://username:12345-abcde-67890-fghij@ondemand.saucelabs.com

Severity​

  • 🟠 High

This severity level is due to the token's ability to provide access to Sauce Labs' testing environments. An attacker with this token can potentially run tests, access test results, and manipulate testing configurations. The blast radius includes unauthorized access to sensitive test data and potential disruption of the testing process.

What Can an Attacker Do?​

With immediate access to a Sauce Labs token, an attacker can:

  • Run unauthorized tests (if the token has execution permissions), potentially leading to unexpected charges or resource exhaustion.
  • Access test results (if the token has read permissions), which may contain sensitive information about the application under test.
  • Modify test configurations (if the token has write permissions), potentially altering test outcomes or sabotaging the testing process.
  • Access billing information (if the account has billing scope enabled), leading to financial exposure.

An attacker could also use the token to escalate privileges within the Sauce Labs environment or move laterally to other connected systems, increasing the potential damage.

Real-World Impact​

Exposure of a Sauce Labs token poses significant business risks, including:

  • Data Exposure: Access to sensitive test data and results (if the token has read access to test environments).
  • Financial Loss: Unauthorized test executions could incur additional costs (if billing/resource creation is permitted).
  • Operational Disruption: Altered test configurations could lead to inaccurate test results, affecting software quality (if the attacker has modify permissions).
  • Reputational Damage: Compromised test environments could undermine trust in the software development process.

In worst-case scenarios, the exposure could lead to cascading effects, such as compromised application security and delayed product releases.

Prerequisites for Exploitation​

To exploit a Sauce Labs token, an attacker needs:

  • Network access to the Sauce Labs API endpoints.
  • Knowledge of the associated account details (e.g., username).
  • No IP restrictions or multi-factor authentication (MFA) enforced on the account.

How to Verify If It's Active​

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

curl -u "username:[TOKEN]" https://api.us-west-1.saucelabs.com/rest/v1/users/username

Valid credential response: A successful response will include user details and account information.

Invalid/expired credential response: An error message indicating authentication failure or token expiration.

Detection Patterns​

Common Variable Names:

  • SAUCE_LABS_TOKEN
  • SAUCE_TOKEN
  • SAUCE_API_KEY
  • SAUCE_SECRET
  • SAUCE_AUTH_TOKEN
  • SAUCE_ACCESS_TOKEN

File Locations:

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

Regex Pattern:

sauce[_-]labs[_-]token['"]?\s*[:=]\s*['"]?[a-zA-Z0-9-]{20,40}['"]?

Remediation Steps​

  1. Revoke immediately - Go to Sauce Labs > User Settings > Access Tokens and delete the compromised token.
  2. Audit access logs - Review Sauce Labs activity logs for unauthorized test executions or data access during the exposure window.
  3. Assess blast radius - Identify all systems, applications, and environments that used the exposed token.
  4. Rotate credential - Generate a new token in Sauce Labs 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 Sauce Labs and require multi-factor authentication (MFA) 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​