docs: correct git-sync secret-exposure model (gitignore is the boundary, not folder scope)
The prior model claimed git-sync's add-set is scoped to the configured `folders` (pages/config/themes), so accounts/ and user/env/ were "safe by construction." That was wrong: prod auto-commit 9337003 pushed the whole user/env/<host>/config tree (JWT secret, CSRF salt, git-sync token + webhook secret), accounts/mischa.yaml, and system.yaml to Gitea — all outside the configured folders. git-sync stages everything under user/ not gitignored; .gitignore is the only reliable exclusion. - Rewrite the architecture-patterns doc around the corrected predicate and document the incident + remediation (gitignore /env/, rotate token+webhook). - Correct git-sync-notes.md: env/ is NOT safe on folder scope; drop the "never reaches Gitea" claim; fix the secret-files table intro + add /env/. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Np4cMQLF77i664CAQXySzU
This commit is contained in:
Claude Opus 4.8
+243
@@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "Secret exposure under bidirectional Grav git-sync: gitignore is the only boundary (and the tracked-file boomerang trap)"
|
||||
date: 2026-07-05
|
||||
module: git-sync
|
||||
problem_type: architecture_pattern
|
||||
component: tooling
|
||||
severity: high
|
||||
category: architecture-patterns
|
||||
applies_when:
|
||||
- "Enabling bidirectional Grav git-sync (direction: both, on_save: true) so prod can push content back to Gitea"
|
||||
- "Auditing whether the server can leak secrets (tokens, password hashes, signing salts) off the production host"
|
||||
- "A per-install runtime-generated value is being persisted into a tracked config file that also carries functional config"
|
||||
- "Deciding where a per-install secret must live so it never round-trips"
|
||||
- "A config value keeps ping-ponging or re-committing itself across environments after each sync"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- git-sync
|
||||
- secret-exposure
|
||||
- gitignore
|
||||
- grav
|
||||
- popularity-salt
|
||||
- config-boundary
|
||||
- bidirectional-sync
|
||||
- per-install-secret
|
||||
- env-tree-leak
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
# Secret exposure under bidirectional Grav git-sync: gitignore is the only boundary (and the tracked-file boomerang trap)
|
||||
|
||||
> **Correction (2026-07-05):** An earlier version of this doc claimed the sync
|
||||
> add-set was *scoped to the configured `folders`*, and concluded that
|
||||
> `accounts/` and `user/env/` were "safe by construction" because they sit
|
||||
> outside `pages/config/themes`. **That model is wrong and caused a live secret
|
||||
> leak.** git-sync's auto-commit stages files **outside** the configured folders;
|
||||
> the only reliable exclusion is `.gitignore`. The corrected model is below.
|
||||
|
||||
## Context
|
||||
|
||||
The intotheeast.com Grav site runs the `git-sync` plugin on production in
|
||||
**bidirectional** mode: `direction: both`, `on_save: true`, a webhook at
|
||||
`/_git-sync`, and configured `folders: pages, config, themes`. Bidirectional
|
||||
means the server both *pulls* content authored elsewhere **and** *pushes*
|
||||
content authored on the server (Admin edits, `/post` submissions, uploads) back
|
||||
to the shared Gitea repo.
|
||||
|
||||
The operator's question was: **"Can I safely enable bidirectional prod → Gitea
|
||||
sync without leaking secrets?"** Production holds things that must never reach a
|
||||
shared repo — API tokens, JWT signing secrets, CSRF salts, the git-sync token
|
||||
itself.
|
||||
|
||||
The dangerous, tempting answer is "the plugin only syncs `pages/config/themes`,
|
||||
so anything outside those folders is safe." **This is false, and acting on it
|
||||
leaked secrets.** See the incident below.
|
||||
|
||||
## The incident (what actually happened)
|
||||
|
||||
Production's git-sync auto-commit `9337003` ("(Grav GitSync) Automatic Commit
|
||||
...") pushed the **entire `user/env/intotheeast.com/config/` tree** to Gitea —
|
||||
including `api-private.php` (JWT secret), `security-private.php` (CSRF salt), and
|
||||
`git-sync.yaml` (the sync **token + webhook secret**) — plus `accounts/mischa.yaml`
|
||||
(password hash), `system.yaml`, and `post-form.md`.
|
||||
|
||||
**None of those paths is under the configured `folders: pages, config, themes`.**
|
||||
`user/env/` is a sibling of `user/config/`, not a subfolder of it. Yet git-sync
|
||||
staged and pushed them anyway. That single fact refutes the "folders scope the
|
||||
add-set" model empirically: **the `folders` setting does not scope what the
|
||||
auto-commit stages.** Whatever git-sync's exact `git add` invocation, the
|
||||
operational truth is that its commit sweeps the whole `user/` working tree.
|
||||
|
||||
Remediation: disable sync → `.gitignore` `/env/` and `git rm --cached` it →
|
||||
`reset --hard` prod to the gitignored state → regenerate the leaked JWT/CSRF
|
||||
salts (delete the `*-private.php` files; Grav regenerates them) → **rotate the
|
||||
Gitea token and webhook secret** (they were exposed in `git-sync.yaml`). Rotation
|
||||
is what actually neutralizes the leak; the history rewrite is optional for a
|
||||
private repo.
|
||||
|
||||
## Guidance
|
||||
|
||||
The safety question reduces to one predicate — but **not** the one the original
|
||||
doc used:
|
||||
|
||||
> **A file round-trips to the shared repo if and only if it is NOT gitignored.**
|
||||
> The configured `folders` setting does **not** narrow this. Treat the
|
||||
> round-trippable set as *everything under `user/` that git will track* — i.e.
|
||||
> everything not matched by `user/.gitignore`.
|
||||
|
||||
Consequences, corrected:
|
||||
|
||||
1. **`.gitignore` is the only reliable boundary.** Do not rely on a file being
|
||||
"outside the synced folders." If it is under `user/` and not gitignored, a
|
||||
bidirectional sync can push it. Design exclusions with `.gitignore`, and
|
||||
verify with `git -C user status` / `git -C user check-ignore <path>`.
|
||||
|
||||
2. **`accounts/` is NOT structurally excluded.** `user/accounts/*.yaml` (bcrypt
|
||||
password hashes) is a *tracked* content folder and is not gitignored, so it
|
||||
**does** round-trip — `accounts/mischa.yaml` was in the leak commit. If you
|
||||
need an account file to stay server-local, it must be gitignored explicitly
|
||||
(as `accounts/testrunner.yaml` already is). The earlier "password hashes never
|
||||
leave the server" claim was wrong.
|
||||
|
||||
3. **The per-environment tree `user/env/<host>/` MUST be gitignored** — it is
|
||||
**not** inherently safe. It holds the live git-sync token, JWT secret, and
|
||||
CSRF salt (Grav writes all server-side Admin config there once the env dir
|
||||
exists). Because it is not under `user/config/` people assumed it was outside
|
||||
the sync scope; the incident proved it is not. It is now gitignored
|
||||
(`/env/` in `user/.gitignore`, commit `6e8eadb`). Keep it that way.
|
||||
|
||||
> Side effect worth remembering: once `user/env/<host>/` exists, Grav's Admin
|
||||
> writes **all** config changes there (system and plugin), not into
|
||||
> `user/config/`. So server-side Admin edits are server-only — but "server-only"
|
||||
> now depends entirely on `/env/` being gitignored, not on folder scope. When
|
||||
> auditing, check **both** `user/config/...` and `user/env/<host>/config/...`
|
||||
> (env wins at runtime). See `docs/working/git-sync-notes.md`.
|
||||
|
||||
4. **Per-install secrets go in gitignored companion files.** Grav's convention
|
||||
splits a per-install secret out of the functional YAML into a sibling that is
|
||||
gitignored: the JWT secret in `api-private.php`, the CSRF/nonce + rate-limit
|
||||
salt in `security-private.php`, plus `security.yaml` and `versions.yaml`.
|
||||
These are safe **because they are gitignored**, not because of where they sit.
|
||||
|
||||
Run every secret through predicate #1 (is it gitignored?) and the answer falls
|
||||
out — but you must actually enumerate what is *not* gitignored, not what is
|
||||
"outside the folders."
|
||||
|
||||
### The tracked-file boomerang (a separate trap)
|
||||
|
||||
Independently of the folder-scope error above, there is a second trap that the
|
||||
original doc got right and that still holds: **a per-install value that a plugin
|
||||
regenerates at runtime and persists into a tracked, functional config file.**
|
||||
|
||||
The concrete case: the `api` plugin's *popularity* feature generates
|
||||
`popularity.salt` and writes it **into `user/config/plugins/api.yaml`** — a file
|
||||
that also carries must-be-shared functional config. That file is tracked, so on
|
||||
prod the popularity feature regenerates the salt, git-sync stages the change,
|
||||
commits, and **pushes prod's salt back to the shared repo**. Another environment
|
||||
pulls it, regenerates *its own* salt, pushes again. The value **ping-pongs across
|
||||
installs**, producing endless noise commits.
|
||||
|
||||
The critical realization: **you cannot gitignore a single key inside a file that
|
||||
also carries functional config.** `.gitignore` operates on whole files. `api.yaml`
|
||||
must be tracked because the rest of it must be shared; therefore the salt inside
|
||||
it is tracked too; therefore it boomerangs.
|
||||
|
||||
### The rules
|
||||
|
||||
For any per-install runtime-generated value, pick one of exactly three
|
||||
resolutions — and do **not** reach for the fourth (stripping the line), which
|
||||
cannot work under sync:
|
||||
|
||||
- **Isolate the value into a gitignored companion `<name>-private.php`** — the
|
||||
pattern Grav uses for the JWT secret via `api-private.php`.
|
||||
- **Disable the feature that generates it** (e.g. `popularity.enabled: false`).
|
||||
- **Consciously accept the churn** when the value is genuinely low-stakes
|
||||
(`popularity.salt` is an IP-hashing salt, not a credential).
|
||||
|
||||
Do **not** keep stripping the value from the tracked file — bidirectional sync
|
||||
brings it right back on the next save.
|
||||
|
||||
### Before / after: what sticks and what doesn't
|
||||
|
||||
**A standalone file gitignored + untracked sticks.** For `security-private.php`
|
||||
(a file that contains *only* the secret) or the whole `user/env/` tree:
|
||||
|
||||
```bash
|
||||
git -C user rm --cached -r config/security-private.php # or: rm --cached -r env
|
||||
printf '/config/security-private.php\n/env/\n' >> user/.gitignore
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This works permanently. The path is no longer tracked, so the sync's add-set
|
||||
skips it forever. The fix sticks because the secret owns its own gitignored path.
|
||||
|
||||
**A key inside a tracked functional file — stripping the line does NOT stick.**
|
||||
For `popularity.salt` inside `api.yaml`, deleting just the `salt:` line and
|
||||
committing looks clean locally, but Grav re-appends it at runtime and the next
|
||||
sync re-commits and re-pushes it. The only durable fixes are the
|
||||
companion-private-file pattern or disabling the feature.
|
||||
|
||||
## Why This Matters
|
||||
|
||||
Two quiet, cross-environmental failure modes:
|
||||
|
||||
1. **The folder-scope illusion.** Assuming "only `pages/config/themes` sync" is a
|
||||
security control leads you to leave secrets in `env/` or `accounts/` unignored
|
||||
— and a single Admin save on prod pushes them to a shared repo. This actually
|
||||
happened here. The only defensible mental model is *gitignore is the boundary*;
|
||||
enumerate the un-ignored set, not the "un-foldered" set.
|
||||
|
||||
2. **The boomerang.** A "cleanup" commit that strips a secret from a *tracked*
|
||||
file looks done locally but silently reappears upstream on the next content
|
||||
save, because the plugin regenerates it and the sync re-commits it.
|
||||
|
||||
Getting both right is what lets you answer "is bidirectional sync safe?" honestly.
|
||||
The answer is **yes, once `user/.gitignore` actually excludes every sensitive
|
||||
path** — `env/`, the per-install `*-private.php` files, `security.yaml`,
|
||||
`versions.yaml`, and any account file that must stay server-local — and once every
|
||||
runtime-regenerated value either lives in its own gitignored file or is a
|
||||
consciously-accepted low-stakes churn. It is emphatically **not** safe on the
|
||||
strength of folder scoping alone.
|
||||
|
||||
## When to Apply
|
||||
|
||||
- **Enabling or auditing bidirectional git-sync** on a server that authors
|
||||
content. Enumerate the round-trippable set as *everything under `user/` not
|
||||
matched by `.gitignore`* — then confirm no secret is in it.
|
||||
- **Deciding where a new secret or per-install generated value should live.**
|
||||
Standalone gitignored file for anything sensitive; never a key inside a shared
|
||||
functional YAML; never "outside the folders" as the sole justification.
|
||||
- **Reviewing a "stop tracking this secret" cleanup** for whether it will stick:
|
||||
is the secret in its own gitignored path (holds) or a line inside a tracked
|
||||
functional file that something regenerates (boomerangs)?
|
||||
|
||||
## Examples
|
||||
|
||||
**The leak (what "folder scope is safe" cost).** With `folders: pages, config,
|
||||
themes` and `/env/` **not** gitignored, prod's auto-commit `9337003` pushed
|
||||
`user/env/intotheeast.com/config/**` (JWT, CSRF salt, git-sync token + webhook
|
||||
secret), `accounts/mischa.yaml`, `system.yaml`, and `post-form.md` to Gitea —
|
||||
all outside the configured folders. Fix: gitignore + untrack `/env/`, regenerate
|
||||
the JWT/CSRF salts, **rotate the token and webhook secret**.
|
||||
|
||||
**Safe after remediation.** Same bidirectional config, but now `user/.gitignore`
|
||||
excludes `/env/`, `config/plugins/git-sync.yaml`, `config/plugins/api-private.php`,
|
||||
`config/security.yaml`, `config/security-private.php`, `config/versions.yaml`.
|
||||
Running each secret through *is-it-gitignored*: all sensitive paths are excluded →
|
||||
none is in the round-trippable set. Verified: prod's `git status` shows only the
|
||||
intended tracked content, and no boomerang/secret commit lands on the remote.
|
||||
|
||||
**Boomerang example.** `popularity.salt` in the tracked `api.yaml` regenerates
|
||||
per-install and re-commits under sync. The fix that *sticks* is the
|
||||
companion-private-file pattern or `popularity.enabled: false` — **not** stripping
|
||||
the `salt:` line.
|
||||
|
||||
## Related
|
||||
|
||||
- `docs/solutions/conventions/grav-plugin-config-must-be-tracked-override.md` — the
|
||||
origin of the "functional plugin config in tracked `user/config/plugins/`,
|
||||
secrets/per-install values in gitignored `*-private.php`" rule. That doc covers
|
||||
*where config must live to deploy*; this doc covers *why gitignore — not folder
|
||||
scope — is the sync boundary, and why a runtime-written tracked value boomerangs*.
|
||||
- `docs/working/git-sync-notes.md` — operational notes on git-sync's synced
|
||||
folders and the per-environment tree. Corrected in the same 2026-07-05 pass to
|
||||
drop the "env/ is outside the sync scope so it's safe" claim.
|
||||
- `docs/solutions/integration-issues/stale-grav-version-blocks-api-plugin-install.md`
|
||||
— adjacent context from the same Grav production cutover, different failure mode.
|
||||
@@ -82,4 +82,5 @@ The failure is silent and per-environment: it works on the developer's machine (
|
||||
|
||||
- `docs/solutions/integration-issues/stale-grav-version-blocks-api-plugin-install.md` — the config gap documented here was the *other* latent problem surfaced in that same investigation: the `api` plugin also had to be *installed* first before any config could take effect. The install gap (GPM version floor) and this config-tracking gap compounded each other on the fresh prod environment.
|
||||
- `docs/working/git-sync-notes.md` — the related third config location: on prod, Grav Admin saves config into the per-environment tree `user/env/<host>/config/`, which is *also* untracked. Same "config that doesn't reach the repo" family.
|
||||
- `docs/solutions/architecture-patterns/git-sync-secret-exposure-and-tracked-file-boomerang.md` — the sync-boomerang consequence of this rule: a per-install value that a plugin regenerates into a *tracked* functional config file (e.g. `popularity.salt` in `api.yaml`) re-commits itself and ping-pongs across environments under bidirectional git-sync. The `*-private.php` companion pattern this doc establishes is exactly the durable fix.
|
||||
- **CLAUDE.md §0 (plugin-management model):** only `pages/`, `config/`, `accounts/`, `themes/` are tracked in the `user/` repo; `plugins/` and `data/` are gitignored and GPM-managed. That tracking boundary is exactly why functional config must live under `config/plugins/`, not in the plugin's own folder.
|
||||
|
||||
@@ -16,12 +16,17 @@ user/config/plugins/git-sync.yaml ← NOT here
|
||||
|
||||
Why this matters:
|
||||
|
||||
- **Server-only, not synced, not committed.** `user/env/` is outside the
|
||||
content repo's tracked folders (`pages`/`config`/`accounts`/`themes`) and is
|
||||
not one of git-sync's synced folders (`pages`/`config`/`themes`). So config
|
||||
saved via Admin *on the server* never reaches Gitea or local. This is ideal
|
||||
for the git-sync token (it stays server-only) but means **prod Admin config
|
||||
edits silently diverge** — author durable config in the repo, not prod Admin.
|
||||
- **⚠️ `user/env/` is NOT safe unless gitignored — it is NOT scoped out by the
|
||||
`folders` setting.** An earlier version of this note claimed `user/env/`
|
||||
"never reaches Gitea" because it is outside git-sync's synced folders. **That
|
||||
is wrong and caused a live secret leak (2026-07-05).** git-sync's auto-commit
|
||||
stages files *outside* the configured `folders`; on prod it pushed the whole
|
||||
`user/env/intotheeast.com/config/` tree — JWT secret, CSRF salt, **and the
|
||||
git-sync token + webhook secret** — to Gitea. The fix was to **gitignore
|
||||
`/env/`** (commit `6e8eadb`). So: prod Admin config edits stay server-only
|
||||
*only because `/env/` is now gitignored*, not because of folder scope. Author
|
||||
durable config in the repo, not prod Admin. Full analysis:
|
||||
`docs/solutions/architecture-patterns/git-sync-secret-exposure-and-tracked-file-boomerang.md`.
|
||||
- **Look in both places.** When inspecting/toggling server config, check
|
||||
`user/config/plugins/<name>.yaml` **and**
|
||||
`user/env/<host>/config/plugins/<name>.yaml` (env wins).
|
||||
@@ -48,19 +53,25 @@ If you see the comma-string form on an older version, fix it by editing
|
||||
`git-sync.yaml` directly (at whichever path it lives — see above); do not
|
||||
re-save folders via the Admin UI on the buggy version.
|
||||
|
||||
## Per-install / secret files — must be gitignored (never synced)
|
||||
## Per-install / secret files — must be gitignored (gitignore is the boundary)
|
||||
|
||||
git-sync syncs the `config/` folder, so any per-install or secret file tracked
|
||||
there would get pushed to Gitea and pollute every environment. Keep these out
|
||||
of the content repo (all in `user/.gitignore`):
|
||||
git-sync's auto-commit stages **everything under `user/` that is not
|
||||
gitignored** — the `folders` setting does *not* scope the commit add-set (a
|
||||
2026-07-05 leak proved this by pushing `user/env/**`, outside the configured
|
||||
folders). So `.gitignore` — not folder scope — is the only thing keeping a
|
||||
per-install or secret file off Gitea. Keep all of these gitignored in
|
||||
`user/.gitignore`:
|
||||
|
||||
| File | Why |
|
||||
| Path | Why |
|
||||
|---|---|
|
||||
| `env/` | **whole per-host env tree** — holds the live git-sync token, JWT secret, CSRF salt + all server-side Admin config. Gitignored + untracked 2026-07-05 (commit `6e8eadb`) after it leaked to Gitea. NOT safe on folder scope alone. |
|
||||
| `config/plugins/git-sync.yaml` | encrypted token; server-specific (also lives at env path on prod) |
|
||||
| `config/plugins/api-private.php` | API JWT secret |
|
||||
| `config/security.yaml` | Grav nonces/salts (legacy location) |
|
||||
| `config/versions.yaml` | per-install Grav schema-migration state — differs per env (dev 2.0.4, prod 2.0.7); Grav regenerates it. Untracked 2026-07-04. |
|
||||
| `config/security-private.php` | **TODO:** committed salt secret; should be gitignored like `api-private.php` (deferred — untracking resets server sessions) |
|
||||
| `config/security-private.php` | CSRF/nonce + admin rate-limit signing salt; gitignored + untracked 2026-07-05 (commit 2840018). Each env keeps its own; untracking regenerates prod's salt (one-time admin re-login). |
|
||||
|
||||
> **Why a key inside a *tracked* config file (e.g. `popularity.salt` in `api.yaml`) can't just be stripped** — it regenerates at runtime and boomerangs back via git-sync's `git add -A`. See `docs/solutions/architecture-patterns/git-sync-secret-exposure-and-tracked-file-boomerang.md` for the full round-trippable-set model.
|
||||
|
||||
## git-sync config summary (prod, 2026-07-04)
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user