VNX-SEC-050: Google Gemini / Vertex AI / PaLM API key

Field	Value
Rule ID	VNX-SEC-050
Severity	Critical
SARIF level	error
Kind	secrets
Languages	Any file
CWE	CWE-798
CAPEC	CAPEC-191
ATT&CK	T1552.001
CWSS vector	CWSS:1.0/TI:C/AP:A/AL:A/IC:N/FC:LT/RP:N/RL:A/AV:I/AS:N/IN:A/SC:A/BI:C/DI:H/EX:H/EC:N/P:W
Tags	secrets google gemini ai credentials
Source	internal/sast/rules/vnx-sec-050.rego

Overview

This rule reports a Google API key (AIza followed by 35 characters) used for the generative AI APIs. The key must be on a line, or within eight lines of one, that names Gemini, PaLM, Vertex AI, the generativelanguage.googleapis.com endpoint, or a Google GenAI SDK (google.generativeai, google-genai, @google/generative-ai, generative-ai-go). AIza keys without that context (Maps, Firebase web config, generic GCP keys) are covered by VNX-SEC-005 and VNX-SEC-170. Keys read from the environment, placeholder bodies and test paths are not reported.

What Gets Flagged

import google.generativeai as genai
genai.configure(api_key="AIza<35 characters>")

GEMINI_API_KEY=AIza<35 characters>

Why This Matters

Hardcoded google gemini / vertex ai / palm api key values are routinely scraped by automated bots within minutes of a public push, and then used to access the account, exfiltrate data, or pivot into downstream services. Once the credential is in git history it is permanently in third-party hands.

Remediation

1. Revoke the leaked credential in the provider’s console immediately.
2. Replace with a short-lived alternative, OAuth 2.0 access tokens, IAM role assumption, OIDC federation, wherever the platform supports it.
3. Store the new credential in a secrets manager (AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, GitHub Actions secrets, Doppler).
4. Audit the provider’s access logs for activity you did not initiate between the leak and the revocation.
5. Purge from git history with git filter-repo or BFG, then re-scan with gitleaks/truffleHog to confirm no other secrets remain.
6. Enable push protection so future commits are blocked at the developer machine.

References

• CWE-798: Use of Hard-coded Credentials
• gitleaks gcp-api-key
• truffleHog
• OWASP Credentials Management Cheat Sheet
• MITRE ATT&CK T1552.001 – Credentials In Files
• git-filter-repo

Suppressing this rule

Put a nosec comment on the line, or on line 1 to cover the whole file. Use the comment marker of the file’s language (#, //, -- or ;):

# nosec vnx-sec-050
// nosec vnx-sec-050

Or record an ignore rule: vulnetix ignore add --rule vnx-sec-050 --reason "...". See Suppressing findings.