Github Secret Scanning Feature Disabled

Status: test
Severity: high
Log source: product github, service audit
Author: Muhammad Faisal (@faisalusuf)
Source: github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma

Detects if the secret scanning feature is disabled for an enterprise or repository.

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Tactic	Techniques
Defense Impairment	`T1685` Disable or Modify Tools

Event coverage

Provider	Event
GitHub-business-secret-scanning	business_secret_scanning.disable
GitHub-business-secret-scanning	business_secret_scanning.disabled_for_new_repos
GitHub-repository-secret-scanning	repository_secret_scanning.disable
GitHub-secret-scanning	secret_scanning.disable
GitHub-secret-scanning-new-repos	secret_scanning_new_repos.disable

Rules detecting the same action

Other rules on this platform that filter on the same API call or operation.

GitHub Secret Scanning Disabled (Elastic)
GitHub Secret Scanning Disabled Or Bypassed (YARA-L)
GitHub Security Change, includes GitHub Advanced Security (Panther)

Rule body yaml

title: Github Secret Scanning Feature Disabled
id: 3883d9a0-fd0f-440f-afbb-445a2a799bb8
status: test
description: Detects if the secret scanning feature is disabled for an enterprise or repository.
references:
    - https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/code-security/secret-scanning/about-secret-scanning
author: Muhammad Faisal (@faisalusuf)
date: 2024-03-07
modified: 2024-07-19
tags:
    - attack.defense-impairment
    - attack.t1685
logsource:
    product: github
    service: audit
    definition: 'Requirements: The audit log streaming feature must be enabled to be able to receive such logs. You can enable following the documentation here: https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/admin/monitoring-activity-in-your-enterprise/reviewing-audit-logs-for-your-enterprise/streaming-the-audit-log-for-your-enterprise#setting-up-audit-log-streaming'
detection:
    selection:
        action:
            - 'business_secret_scanning.disable'
            - 'business_secret_scanning.disabled_for_new_repos'
            - 'repository_secret_scanning.disable'
            - 'secret_scanning_new_repos.disable'
            - 'secret_scanning.disable'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Allowed administrative activities.
level: high

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

selection

Stage 1: `selection`

selection:
    action:
        - 'business_secret_scanning.disable'
        - 'business_secret_scanning.disabled_for_new_repos'
        - 'repository_secret_scanning.disable'
        - 'secret_scanning_new_repos.disable'
        - 'secret_scanning.disable'

Indicators

Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.

Field	Kind	Values
`action`	eq	`business_secret_scanning.disable` `business_secret_scanning.disabled_for_new_repos` `repository_secret_scanning.disable` `secret_scanning.disable` `secret_scanning_new_repos.disable`

`j` / `k`	Scroll down / up
`d` / `u`	Half-page down / up
`gg` / `G`	Top / bottom
`h` / `l`	History back / forward
`f`	Follow link (`Shift` = new tab)
`/`	Focus search
`?`	Toggle this help
`↑` / `↓`	Navigate search results
`Enter`	Open highlighted result
`Esc`	Close results / dialog

`type:`	`events` / `rules` / `providers`
`vendor:`	`sigma` / `elastic` / `splunk` / `kusto` / `chronicle` (vendor name alone also works: `sigma:`, `kql:`, `secops:`…)
`tactic:`	TA-id, slug, or name: `credential_access`, `TA0006`
`technique:`	technique or sub-technique ID: `T1003`, `T1003.001` (alias `tech:`)
`severity:`	`critical` / `high` / `medium` / `low` / `informational` (alias `sev:`)
`risk_score`	Numeric comparison on the Elastic risk score (0 to 100): `risk_score>50`, `risk_score<=20`, `risk_score=99` (alias `risk`; Elastic rules only)
`stages:`	Rules with exactly N pipeline stages
`correlation:`	`single_event` / `sequence` / `alternatives` / `alternatives_cross_log` / `all_required` / `correlated`
`with:`	Co-occurrence event-id; stacks (`with:4624 with:4769`) to require all, while a comma list in one occurrence (`with:4624,4769`) is an either-or group. Implies multi-event
`like:`	Structural neighbors of a rule slug (equivalents + subsumption stricter / broader): `like:comsvcs_lsass_memory_dump-splunk-sysmon`
`groupby:`	Entity-grouping substring match against `group_by_keys`: `groupby:user`, `groupby:host`
`uses:`	Rules whose predicate tree touches the field (any kind, any value): `uses:CommandLine`
`excludes:`	Rules with top-level `not()` clauses on the field (FP whitelists): `excludes:ParentImage`
`field:` / `value:`	Predicate search; narrows rule cards to those with a matching leaf and drives the indicator tier. Unquoted = substring, wildcards allowed (`value:mimikatz`)
`indicator:`	Shorthand for `field:F value:V`: `indicator:Image=*\powershell.exe`
`kind:`	Filter by predicate kind. Narrows rule cards to those carrying a matching predicate leaf (`vendor:elastic kind:cidr_match`) and drives the indicator tier: `contains` / `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `regex` / `cidr` / `eq` / `in` … (operator aliases `op:`/`match:`)
`has:` / `no:`	`sample`, `field`, `notes`, `refs`, `trace`, `thirdparty`, `rule`, `pattern`, `timewindow`, `threshold`, `newterms`, `sigma`/`elastic`/`splunk`/`kusto`/`chronicle`
`-op:val`	Exclude matches; works on most operators but not `type:`/`like:`/`has:`/`no:` (use `no:<flag>` to exclude a rule flag): `tactic:execution -vendor:splunk`. Standalone `-kind:`/`-field:`/`-value:` drop every rule carrying a matching predicate leaf (`type:rules -kind:is_null`)
`field:"…"` / `value:"…"`	Quoted value = anchored exact match (also allows spaces): `value:"net user"`
`a,b`	Comma = OR inside one operator (`vendor:sigma,elastic`, `severity:high,critical`); repeating a facet merges the same way. `field:`/`value:` never split (literal commas)
`vendors:` / `stage:`	Singular and plural spellings fold to the canonical operator and value: `tactics:` = `tactic:`, `type:event` = `type:events`, `correlation:sequences` = `correlation:sequence`, `has:thresholds` = `has:threshold`
`"quoted phrase"`	Exact-match a multi-word phrase (free text)

Github Secret Scanning Feature Disabled

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`

Indicators

Keyboard shortcuts

Search operators

Github Secret Scanning Feature Disabled

MITRE ATT&CK coverage

Event coverage

Rules detecting the same action

Rule body yaml

Stages and Predicates

Stage 0: condition

Stage 1: selection

Indicators

Stage 0: `condition`

Stage 1: `selection`