Running detect-secrets in Azure DevOps Pipelines

Overview

In this article, you can find information on how to integrate YELP detect-secrets into your Azure DevOps Pipeline. The proposed code can be part of the classic CI process or (preferred way) build validation for PRs before merging to the main branch.

Azure DevOps Pipeline

Proposed Azure DevOps Pipeline contains multiple steps described below:

1. Set Python 3 as default
2. Install detect-secrets using pip
3. Run detect-secrets tool
4. Publish results in the Pipeline Artifact

   NOTE: It's an optional step, but for future investigation .json file with results may be helpful.

5. Analyzing detect-secrets results

   NOTE: This step does a simple analysis of the .json file. If any secret has been detected, then break the build with exit code 1.

NOTE: The below example has 2 jobs: for Linux and Windows agents. You do not have to use both jobs - just adjust the pipeline to your needs.

NOTE: Windows example does not use the latest version of detect-secrets. It is related to the bug in the detect-secret tool (see more in Issue#452). It is highly recommended to monitor the fix for the issue and use the latest version if possible by removing version tag ==1.0.3 in the pip install command.

trigger:
  - none

jobs:
  - job: ubuntu
    displayName: "detect-secrets on Ubuntu Linux agent"
    pool:
      vmImage: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - task: UsePythonVersion@0
        displayName: "Set Python 3 as default"
        inputs:
          versionSpec: "3"
          addToPath: true
          architecture: "x64"

      - bash: pip install detect-secrets
        displayName: "Install detect-secrets using pip"

      - bash: |
          detect-secrets --version
          detect-secrets scan --all-files --force-use-all-plugins --exclude-files FETCH_HEAD > $(Pipeline.Workspace)/detect-secrets.json
        displayName: "Run detect-secrets tool"

      - task: PublishPipelineArtifact@1
        displayName: "Publish results in the Pipeline Artifact"
        inputs:
          targetPath: "$(Pipeline.Workspace)/detect-secrets.json"
          artifact: "detect-secrets-ubuntu"
          publishLocation: "pipeline"

      - bash: |
          dsjson=$(cat $(Pipeline.Workspace)/detect-secrets.json)
          echo "${dsjson}"

          count=$(echo "${dsjson}" | jq -c -r '.results | length')

          if [ $count -gt 0 ]; then
            msg="Secrets were detected in code. ${count} file(s) affected."
            echo "##vso[task.logissue type=error]${msg}"
            echo "##vso[task.complete result=Failed;]${msg}."
          else
            echo "##vso[task.complete result=Succeeded;]No secrets detected."
          fi
        displayName: "Analyzing detect-secrets results"

  - job: windows
    displayName: "detect-secrets on Windows agent"
    pool:
      vmImage: windows-latest
    steps:
      - task: UsePythonVersion@0
        displayName: "Set Python 3 as default"
        inputs:
          versionSpec: "3"
          addToPath: true
          architecture: "x64"

      - script: pip install detect-secrets==1.0.3
        displayName: "Install detect-secrets using pip"

      - script: |
          detect-secrets --version
          detect-secrets scan --all-files --force-use-all-plugins > $(Pipeline.Workspace)/detect-secrets.json
        displayName: "Run detect-secrets tool"

      - task: PublishPipelineArtifact@1
        displayName: "Publish results in the Pipeline Artifact"
        inputs:
          targetPath: "$(Pipeline.Workspace)/detect-secrets.json"
          artifact: "detect-secrets-windows"
          publishLocation: "pipeline"

      - pwsh: |
          $dsjson = Get-Content $(Pipeline.Workspace)/detect-secrets.json
          Write-Output $dsjson

          $dsObj = $dsjson | ConvertFrom-Json
          $count = ($dsObj.results | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty).Count

          if ($count -gt 0) {
            $msg = "Secrets were detected in code. $count file(s) affected. "
            Write-Host "##vso[task.logissue type=error]$msg"
            Write-Host "##vso[task.complete result=Failed;]$msg"
          }
          else {
            Write-Host "##vso[task.complete result=Succeeded;]No secrets detected."
          }
        displayName: "Analyzing detect-secrets results"

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Last update: March 6, 2023