GitHub Dorks

Github Search is a quite powerful and useful feature that can be used to search for sensitive data on repositories. Collection of Github dorks can reveal sensitive personal and/or organizational information such as private keys, credentials, authentication tokens, etc. This list is supposed to be useful for assessing security and performing pen-testing of systems.

GitHub Dork Search Tool

github-dorks is a Python command-line tool that searches a repository or an organization/user's repositories using the queries in a dorks file.

Installation

This tool uses github3.py to talk with GitHub Search API.

Clone this repository and run:

pip install .

Docker Installation

You can also run github-dorks using Docker for a consistent environment:

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t github-dorks .

# Run with a GitHub token (recommended)
docker run -e GH_TOKEN=your_github_token github-dorks -u someuser

# Run with username/password
docker run -e GH_USER=your_username -e GH_PWD=your_password github-dorks -u someuser

# Save results to a CSV file
docker run -v $(pwd)/output:/app/output -e GH_TOKEN=your_github_token github-dorks -u someuser -o /app/output/results.csv

Usage

GH_USER  - Environment variable to specify Github user
GH_PWD   - Environment variable to specify a password
GH_TOKEN - Environment variable to specify Github token
GH_URL   - Environment variable to specify GitHub Enterprise base URL

Some example usages are listed below:

github-dorks -r techgaun/github-dorks                          # search a single repo

github-dorks -u techgaun                                       # search all repos of a user

github-dorks -u dev-nepal                                      # search all repos of an organization

GH_USER=techgaun GH_PWD=<mypass> github-dorks -u dev-nepal     # search as authenticated user

GH_TOKEN=<github_token> github-dorks -u dev-nepal              # search using auth token

GH_URL=https://github.example.com github-dorks -u dev-nepal    # search a GitHub Enterprise instance

github-dorks -r techgaun/github-dorks --max-retries 5         # retry recoverable failures up to five times

github-dorks -r techgaun/github-dorks --format json           # stream JSON to stdout

github-dorks -u dev-nepal --format jsonl -o results.jsonl     # write newline-delimited JSON

github-dorks -u dev-nepal --format csv -o results.csv --force # explicitly replace an existing file

github-dorks --list-categories                                # list bundled dictionaries

github-dorks -r techgaun/github-dorks -c cloud -c devops      # scan selected categories

github-dorks --local ./cloned-repo -c ai -c identity          # scan a local working tree

github-dorks --local . --format jsonl -o local-results.jsonl  # save offline results

The legacy python github-dork.py ... invocation remains available for compatibility. The package can also run as python -m github_dorks ....

Each scan ends with a summary of queries, matches, failures, retries, and elapsed time. The command exits with status 0 after a complete scan, 2 when one or more queries failed, and 1 for fatal configuration, file, or authentication errors.

Local scans do not require GitHub credentials or network access. In a Git working tree, the scanner checks tracked files and non-ignored untracked files; elsewhere it recursively checks files while excluding .git. It supports the dictionary syntax used by this project, including quoted text, OR, NOT, and the filename:, path:, extension:, and common language: qualifiers. Binary files and files larger than 1 MB are skipped by default. Override that limit in bytes with --max-file-size.

Supported result formats are text, csv, json, and jsonl. Text is the default for terminal output; using -o/--output without --format preserves the historical CSV default. Existing files are protected unless --force is provided. Use --quiet to suppress progress and summaries, or --verbose to print every query as it runs. Structured stdout remains machine-readable because status messages are sent to stderr.

The bundled dictionary is split into ai, cloud, databases, devops, frameworks, identity, observability, private-keys, saas, and system categories. Repeat -c/--category to combine categories. With no category or custom --dork file, the command uses the backward-compatible github-dorks.txt aggregate. That aggregate is generated from the category files with python scripts/build-dorks.py.

Development

Run the dependency-free unit test suite with:

python -m unittest discover -s tests -v

The CI test matrix covers Python 3.10 through 3.13.

Limitations

• Authenticated requests receive higher rate limits. Searches may pause until GitHub resets the search limit.
• Large category combinations can take time because GitHub applies a separate search rate limit.
• Offline scanning inspects the current working tree only; Git history scanning is not yet supported.

Contribution

Please consider contributing dorks that can reveal potentially sensitive information on GitHub. Documented sources for newer credential families are maintained in docs/dork-sources.md.

List of Dorks

The canonical dictionaries are the categorized files. The generated github-dorks.txt file contains every category for backward compatibility. The table below provides descriptions for many established patterns; newer credential families and their vendor references are tracked in docs/dork-sources.md. Many dorks can be modified to make the search more specific or generic. You can see more options here.

Dork	Description
filename:.npmrc _auth	npm registry authentication data
filename:.dockercfg auth	docker registry authentication data
extension:pem private	private keys
extension:ppk private	puttygen private keys
filename:id_rsa or filename:id_dsa	private ssh keys
extension:sql mysql dump	mysql dump
extension:sql mysql dump password	mysql dump look for password; you can try varieties
filename:credentials aws_access_key_id	might return false negatives with dummy values
filename:.s3cfg	might return false negatives with dummy values
filename:wp-config.php	wordpress config files
filename:.htpasswd	htpasswd files
filename:.env DB_USERNAME NOT homestead	laravel .env (CI, various ruby based frameworks too)
filename:.env MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com	gmail smtp configuration (try different smtp services too)
filename:.git-credentials	git credentials store, add NOT username for more valid results
PT_TOKEN language:bash	pivotaltracker tokens
filename:.bashrc password	search for passwords, etc. in .bashrc (try with .bash_profile too)
filename:.bashrc mailchimp	variation of above (try more variations)
filename:.bash_profile aws	aws access and secret keys
rds.amazonaws.com password	Amazon RDS possible credentials
extension:json api.forecast.io	try variations, find api keys/secrets
extension:json mongolab.com	mongolab credentials in json configs
extension:yaml mongolab.com	mongolab credentials in yaml configs (try with yml)
jsforce extension:js conn.login	possible salesforce credentials in nodejs projects
SF_USERNAME salesforce	possible salesforce credentials
filename:.tugboat NOT _tugboat	Digital Ocean tugboat config
HEROKU_API_KEY language:shell	Heroku api keys
HEROKU_API_KEY language:json	Heroku api keys in json files
filename:.netrc password	netrc that possibly holds sensitive credentials
filename:_netrc password	netrc that possibly holds sensitive credentials
filename:hub oauth_token	hub config that stores github tokens
filename:robomongo.json	mongodb credentials file used by robomongo
filename:filezilla.xml Pass	filezilla config file with possible user/pass to ftp
filename:recentservers.xml Pass	filezilla config file with possible user/pass to ftp
filename:config.json auths	docker registry authentication data
filename:idea14.key	IntelliJ Idea 14 key, try variations for other versions
filename:config irc_pass	possible IRC config
filename:connections.xml	possible db connections configuration, try variations to be specific
filename:express.conf path:.openshift	openshift config, only email and server thou
filename:.pgpass	PostgreSQL file which can contain passwords
filename:proftpdpasswd	Usernames and passwords of proftpd created by cpanel
filename:ventrilo_srv.ini	Ventrilo configuration
[WFClient] Password= extension:ica	WinFrame-Client infos needed by users to connect toCitrix Application Servers
filename:server.cfg rcon password	Counter Strike RCON Passwords
JEKYLL_GITHUB_TOKEN	Github tokens used for jekyll
filename:.bash_history	Bash history file
filename:.cshrc	RC file for csh shell
filename:.history	history file (often used by many tools)
filename:.sh_history	korn shell history
filename:sshd_config	OpenSSH server config
filename:dhcpd.conf	DHCP service config
filename:prod.exs NOT prod.secret.exs	Phoenix prod configuration file
filename:prod.secret.exs	Phoenix prod secret
filename:configuration.php JConfig password	Joomla configuration file
filename:config.php dbpasswd	PHP application database password (e.g., phpBB forum software)
path:sites databases password	Drupal website database credentials
shodan_api_key language:python	Shodan API keys (try other languages too)
filename:shadow path:etc	Contains encrypted passwords and account information of new unix systems
filename:passwd path:etc	Contains user account information including encrypted passwords of traditional unix systems
extension:avastlic "support.avast.com"	Contains license keys for Avast! Antivirus
filename:dbeaver-data-sources.xml	DBeaver config containing MySQL Credentials
filename:.esmtprc password	esmtp configuration
extension:json googleusercontent client_secret	OAuth credentials for accessing Google APIs
HOMEBREW_GITHUB_API_TOKEN language:shell	Github token usually set by homebrew users
xoxp OR xoxb	Slack bot and private tokens
.mlab.com password	MLAB Hosted MongoDB Credentials
filename:logins.json	Firefox saved password collection (key3.db usually in same repo)
filename:CCCam.cfg	CCCam Server config file
msg nickserv identify filename:config	Possible IRC login passwords
filename:settings.py SECRET_KEY	Django secret keys (usually allows for session hijacking, RCE, etc)
filename:secrets.yml password	Usernames/passwords, Rails applications
filename:master.key path:config	Rails master key (used for decrypting credentials.yml.enc for Rails 5.2+)
filename:deployment-config.json	Created by sftp-deployment for Atom, contains server details and credentials
filename:.ftpconfig	Created by remote-ssh for Atom, contains SFTP/SSH server details and credentials
filename:.remote-sync.json	Created by remote-sync for Atom, contains FTP and/or SCP/SFTP/SSH server details and credentials
filename:sftp.json path:.vscode	Created by vscode-sftp for VSCode, contains SFTP/SSH server details and credentails
filename:sftp-config.json	Created by SFTP for Sublime Text, contains FTP/FTPS or SFTP/SSH server details and credentials
filename:WebServers.xml	Created by Jetbrains IDEs, contains webserver credentials with encoded passwords (not encrypted!)
"api_hash" "api_id"	Telegram API token
"https://hooks.slack.com/services/"	Slack services URL often have secret API token as a suffix
filename:github-recovery-codes.txt	GitHub recovery key
filename:gitlab-recovery-codes.txt	GitLab recovery key
filename:discord_backup_codes.txt	Discord recovery key
extension:yaml cloud.redislabs.com	Redis credentials provided by Redis Labs found in a YAML file
extension:json cloud.redislabs.com	Redis credentials provided by Redis Labs found in a JSON file