Mercedes-Benz faced a significant security breach as researchers from RedHunt Labs uncovered an unintentional exposure of internal data, including crucial source code, due to the accidental online accessibility of a private key. The security lapse was brought to light during a routine internet scan in January when researchers discovered an exposed authentication token belonging to a Mercedes employee in a public GitHub repository. This token had the potential to provide unrestricted access to Mercedes’s entire source code repositories, exposing sensitive information like connection strings, cloud access keys, and design documents.
The exposed repositories included not only the Mercedes source code but also credentials for Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS), as well as a Postgres database. RedHunt Labs’ co-founder and CTO, Shubham Mittal, highlighted the severity of the situation, emphasizing that the GitHub token granted “unrestricted” and “unmonitored” access to critical internal information. Mercedes, upon becoming aware of the data leak, promptly revoked the exposed token and removed the public repository from GitHub. While the carmaker confirmed the unintentional exposure of internal source code, it remains unclear whether unauthorized access occurred, with Mercedes citing unspecified security reasons for not disclosing such information.
Despite the swift action taken by Mercedes to address the security lapse, TechCrunch revealed that the token had been exposed online since late September 2023. The article noted that it remains unclear if any third parties gained unauthorized access to the exposed data, and Mercedes declined to disclose whether it possesses the technical means, such as access logs, to determine if improper access occurred. The carmaker emphasized its commitment to security, stating that the incident would be analyzed according to normal processes, and remedial measures would be implemented based on the investigation’s outcomes.
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