Sectona at Infosecurity Europe 2025 | June 3–5 | ExCeL London
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Don't Let Your CI/CD Pipeline Be a Security Risk - Here’s the Fix
Modern software development runs on continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. They automate the creation, testing, and deployment of code, helping organisations release updates faster and maintain continuous delivery.
However, these automations can sometimes introduce security risks if not managed carefully.
To understand the risks, it is important to look at the range of systems a CI/CD pipeline interacts with, including source code repositories, cloud infrastructure, container platforms, and production environments. To carry out tasks, pipelines rely on access credentials such as API tokens, service accounts, and deployment keys.
These credentials can quickly become a security vulnerability. If not secured properly, a compromised pipeline can provide cyber attackers with a direct path into the deployment process, potentially leading to the exploitation of sensitive infrastructure or application data.
That is why organisations must secure CI/CD pipelines with the same level of protection they apply to their most critical systems.
This is where Privileged Access Management (PAM) comes in. PAM helps organisations control, secure, and monitor privileged access across infrastructure and applications. When integrated into CI/CD workflows, it ensures that sensitive credentials remain protected and that privileged actions remain visible.
To understand why PAM is important, let’s first examine the security risks in CI/CD environments.
Security Risks in CI/CD Pipelines Without PAM
CI/CD pipelines operate in interconnected environments where multiple systems and tools must work seamlessly. This complexity expands the attack surface and creates security gaps, including credential exposure, persistent credentials, and the fast-paced nature of the development process.
- Credential exposure is a major risk in CI/CD pipelines. It can result from misconfigurations, insecure storage, or repository leaks. If exposed, attackers can gain privileged access to critical systems.
- Another challenge is the use of long-lived credentials. Keys that remain active for long periods increase the risk of misuse. This allows attackers to exploit systems without detection.
- In addition, the fast-paced nature of modern development often means that security practices struggle to keep up with rapid release cycles. As a result, access controls may become inconsistent, overly permissive, or poorly monitored.
Without proper governance, organisations lack visibility into who or what is accessing critical systems. That makes it harder to detect suspicious activity and slows down the response to potential threats. Let’s explore how.
How Does PAM Secure CI/CD Pipelines?
1. Eliminating Standing Privileges
Standing privileges are a consequence of systems keeping elevated access all the time, although unnecessary. For example, in a typical CI/CD environment, deployment accounts might always have admin rights, just in case. But this means if someone gets those credentials, they have more power than they should, making it easier for attackers to do damage.
PAM helps by using just-in-time access. That means people only get the permissions they need, right when they need them, and those permissions are removed as soon as the job is done. In DevOps and CI/CD pipelines, this means credentials are requested dynamically rather than stored permanently. So, even if an attacker gets in, the credentials are likely expired and useless, making it harder for them to do any harm.
2. Securing Secrets and Avoiding Hardcoded Credentials
CI/CD pipelines rely on various secrets. Storing these in scripts or configuration files creates security risks, particularly when files are shared across teams or version control systems. Exposed repositories or misconfigured access permissions can allow attackers to obtain sensitive credentials.
PAM integrates with secure vaults that centrally store credentials. Automatic password rotation ensures that passwords and access keys are regularly refreshed. Combined with role-based access controls and audit logging, this approach enforces least-privilege access and reduces the risk of long-term misuse.
It also eliminates the need for developers to embed credentials in code. Developers can focus on building applications while maintaining security, without worrying about exposing sensitive information.
3. Restricting Access Scope
Traditional environments often rely on shared credentials. A single access key may provide permissions across multiple systems. If compromised, attackers could gain extensive control over infrastructure.
PAM introduces granular access control based on the principle of least privilege, issuing credentials with defined permissions and limited scope.
For example, a pipeline deploying updates for a single web application may only have access to servers and services linked to that application. It cannot view or modify other databases or systems. Even if attackers expose credentials, they cannot move laterally across unrelated systems, limiting potential damage.
4. Improving Visibility of Privileged Activities
Security teams need visibility into how privileged access is used. PAM solutions provide detailed monitoring of privileged activities within CI/CD environments. Teams can log and analyse every sensitive action, such as deployments, configuration changes, or access token usage.
This visibility helps organisations detect suspicious behaviour. Unexpected deployments or unusual access patterns can trigger alerts promptly. Audit logs support compliance by providing a clear record of privileged actions and system access.
In March 2025, attackers compromised the widely used GitHub Action tj-actions/changed-files, illustrating why this visibility is critical. They gained control by compromising a Personal Access Token (PAT) belonging to a bot account with privileged access to the repository. This allowed them to inject malicious code, which was then used in thousands of CI/CD pipelines. As a result, secrets such as API tokens and cloud access keys were exposed in build logs, giving attackers potential access to sensitive downstream systems. This incident highlighted how even a single compromised token could put pipelines at risk.
Proper PAM implementation immediately detects such unusual activity and prevents the exposure of privileged credentials, thereby reducing the overall impact.
How Sectona PAM Secures DevOps Environments
Sectona Modern Infrastructure Access helps DevSecOps teams secure their environment by protecting secrets and controlling privileged access. By storing DevOps credentials in a centralised vault, it removes the risks associated with hard-coded passwords and keys, ensuring sensitive information is never exposed in code or configuration files.
Applications can retrieve secrets securely through REST APIs from the DSM vault whenever needed. The solution also enables Single Sign-On (SSO) access to Kubernetes environments, capturing session metadata and video recordings at the namespace level for better visibility and accountability.
Sectona also supports SSO-based access to key DevOps tools such as Jenkins and Ansible. Detailed video logs provide clear audit trails, helping organisations maintain compliance while keeping pipelines secure.
Conclusion
CI/CD pipelines are the backbone for modern software delivery, enabling rapid development and automated deployment. However, they also introduce new security risks as they interact with critical infrastructure.
Privileged Access Management takes care of these risks by removing standing privileges, protecting sensitive credentials, and limiting access scope. It also gives teams clear visibility into privileged actions across pipelines, so unusual behaviour can be detected and addressed quickly.
By integrating PAM into CI/CD workflows, organisations can secure their development pipelines without slowing down innovation.
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Industry
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Resources
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