Wrongsecrets
Vulnerable app with examples showing how to not use secrets
Install / Use
/learn @OWASP/WrongsecretsREADME
OWASP WrongSecrets
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Welcome to the OWASP WrongSecrets game! The game is packed with real life examples of how to not store secrets in your software. Each of these examples is captured in a challenge, which you need to solve using various tools and techniques. Solving these challenges will help you recognize common mistakes & can help you to reflect on your own secrets management strategy.
Can you solve all the 62 challenges?
Try some of them on our Heroku demo environment.
Want to play the other challenges? Read the instructions on how to set them up below.
🚀 Quick Start
New to WrongSecrets? Start here:
- Try Online First: Visit our Heroku demo to get familiar with the challenges
- Run Locally: Use Docker for the full experience with all challenges:
Then open http://localhost:8080docker run -p 8080:8080 -p 8090:8090 jeroenwillemsen/wrongsecrets:latest-no-vault - Want to see what's ahead? Try our bleeding-edge master container with the latest features:
⚠️ Note: This is a development version and may be unstabledocker run -p 8080:8080 -p 8090:8090 ghcr.io/owasp/wrongsecrets/wrongsecrets-master:latest-master - Advanced Setup: For cloud challenges and Kubernetes exercises, see the detailed instructions below
What you'll learn:
- Common secrets management mistakes
- How to identify exposed credentials
- Best practices for securing secrets
- Tools and techniques for secret detection
How it works: This repository contains intentionally vulnerable code and configuration files with real and fake secrets hidden throughout the codebase. You'll examine source code, configuration files, Docker containers, and cloud deployments to discover these secrets. Each challenge teaches you different ways secrets can be accidentally exposed in real-world applications.

📋 Prerequisites
For basic usage:
- A web browser
- Docker (for local setup) - Install here
For advanced setups:
- Kubernetes/Minikube - Install here
- Cloud account (AWS/GCP/Azure) for cloud challenges
- Command line familiarity
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Table of contents
🎯 Getting Started
🐳 Deployment Options
☁️ Cloud Challenges
🎮 Advanced Usage
👨💻 Development & Contribution
- Notes on development
- Spring Boot 4 adoption checklist - Dependency management - Get the project started in IntelliJ IDEA - Automatic reload during development - How to add a Challenge - Local testing - Local Automated testing
- Want to disable challenges in your own release?
📚 Resources & Community
Support
Need support? Contact us via [OWA
