About validity checks

Validity checks and extended metadata checks help you prioritize remediation of exposed credentials that pose immediate security risks.

Кто может использовать эту функцию?

Secret scanning is available for the following repository types:

  • Public repositories: Secret scanning runs automatically for free.
  • Organization-owned private and internal repositories: Available with GitHub Secret Protection enabled on GitHub Team or GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
  • User-owned repositories: Available on GitHub Enterprise Cloud with Enterprise Managed Users. Available on GitHub Enterprise Server when the enterprise has GitHub Secret Protection enabled.

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About validity checks

Validity checks, a feature of secret scanning, verify whether a detected secret is still active and could be exploited. This helps you prioritize remediation by focusing first on secrets that are confirmed to be active.

You can enable automatic validity checks for detected secrets. Once enabled, GitHub will periodically check the validity of a detected credential by sending the secret to the issuer and testing it against APIs provided by that service. Validity checks are available for secrets from many service providers, and support continues to expand as GitHub partners with additional services.

GitHub prioritizes privacy when checking the validity of the credential. We typically make GET requests, pick the least intrusive endpoints, and select endpoints that don't return any personal information.

GitHub displays the validation status of the secret in the alert view, so you can see if the secret is active, inactive, or if the validation status is unknown. You can optionally perform an "on-demand" validity check for the secret in the alert view.

About extended metadata checks

Примечание.

Extended metadata checks in security configurations is currently in public preview and subject to change.

Extended metadata checks provide additional contextual information about detected secrets. They are often referred to as analyzers in other tools.

You can enable extended metadata checks if validity checks are enabled. Then, you'll get information that helps you:

  • Gain deeper insight into detected secrets: Know who owns a secret.
  • Prioritize remediation: Understand the scope and impact of each exposed secret.
  • Improve incident response: Quickly identify responsible teams or individuals when a secret is leaked.
  • Enhance compliance: Ensure secrets align with your organization’s governance and security policies.
  • Reduce false positives: Use additional context to determine if a detection requires action.

The specific metadata available depends on what the service provider shares with GitHub. Not all secret types support extended metadata checks. For more information, see Оценка оповещений от сканирования секретов.

Getting started with validity and extended metadata checks

Примечание.

Starting on February 18, 2026, GitHub will automatically enable extended metadata checks for repositories that have validity checks enabled. For repositories managed by security configurations, GitHub will update those configurations and apply the feature to attached repositories. This is a one-time transition to help organizations benefit from enhanced metadata without manual configuration.

You can enable validity and extended metadata checks at the repository, organization, or enterprise level to help prioritize which exposed credentials pose the most immediate security risks.

For large organizations, we recommend using security configurations to enable these features at the organization or enterprise level. Security configurations allow you to centrally manage secret scanning settings and apply them consistently across many repositories.

To get started: