Are there any security concerns with sharing the client secrets of a Google API project?

Question

I'm working on a project using the YouTube Data API. The Python script I'm running uses a client secrets JSON file, which I presume is for verifying the account owner.

If I am having issues with it and need assistance, are there any security concerns with sharing this publicly? Is it even alright if it's held privately in a private github repository?

Answer 1

If you check the Google Developer TOS which you agreed to when you created your account on Google developer console

It is against the TOS for you to share this file with anyone. This is secret and only intended for the developer or team of developers who created it. This pertains to the entire client secret json file you download from Google developer console or google cloud console.

Again DO not share your google secret file. No matter what the accepted answer stays about how problematic it may or may not, nor does it matter what type of client it is. Sharing the client secret file would be volatilizing the TOS you agreed to.

My corrections for another answer on this thread here

The answer in question has some statements that i strongly disagree with and feel may cause confusion to developers. Let me start by saying I am not an employee of Google, my comments are my own and from my experience with working googles oauth / identity server server for eight+ years and contact with google identity team. I am concerned that some of the information in the answer above may confuse some developers. Rather than just saying dont share them the other question tries incorrectly IMO to explain why it wouldn't be so bad to share them. I will explain why you should never share them beyond the fact that its against googles TOS.

The security implications depend on the type of client secret. You can tell the difference by whether the key in the JSON file is installed or web.

The type of client has no effect upon I how great the security risk would be. If we ignore the definition of what a constitutes a security risk completely and just say that any chance anyone could get access to a users account or authenticate a user on behalf of the project, would constitute to big of a security risk then there is no difference.

Using the following command I could authenticate myself all i need is the credentials file for your project

https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth?client_id={clientid}.apps.googleusercontent.com&redirect_uri=urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob&scope=https://www.googleapis.com/auth/analytics.readonly&response_type=code

This would only work 100% of the time for an installed application. Why is this bad if i am just authenticating my own user. I could then use my evil powers to send so many requests against the API that the target google developer project would be locked down by Google for spamming.

If i have stolen another users login and password i can login to them from your Google developer project and i have access to their data and Google thinks its you hacking them.

This is a little harder with a web application due to the Redirect URI, However a lot of developers include add localhost as a redirect uri when in development and forget to take it out (Please never leave localhost as a redirect uri when you are in proudcution) . So in the event you have left redirect URI as a valid redirect URI in a web browser client then I can do the exact same thing.

Remember I am now able to authenticate users based upon your project to access mostly my own data. However if you have also set up access to client data for example via google drive I may be able to access that as well. (Note: Im not Sure on this one i havent actually tried.)

If i have manged though man in the middle attack or some other means to get a users refresh token, and I have the client secret file I can now access users data because I can create new access tokens with my refresh token for as long as i want. This is probably a bit harder to achieve.

Web application secrets If the client secret is of the web type, then yes: you should absolutely not post it, and invalidate it if it gets exposed. This would allow a malicious entity to impersonate your backend and perform actions on your users' accounts on your behalf.

As stated above this will only be the case if the developer in question has left the redirect uri open for localhost or the person who now has your client secret file also has access to your web server. One very important fact is that if you have left localhost open i can then put up my own website using your credentials and set it up so it look exactly like your website. Users then think they are logging into Your super awesome app when in fact they are logging into Hacker Super awesome app giving them access to the users data. Again google thinks its you hacking them.

Installed application secrets If the client secret is an installed-type secret, then it's less problematic to share privately, as it doesn't grant the sorts of abilities a web application secret does, such as the ability to authenticate as users who grant your application permission to access their data. As the documentation notes, "in this context, the client secret is obviously not treated as a secret."

This is completely false Installed applications give the exact same permissions as web applications there is no difference with-regard to Oauth2 access an access token is an access token no matter if it was created for an installed application or a web application.

As stated above security risk with giving out access to your installed application this is actually worse. As there are no redirect uris with installed applications. Anyone that has access to your client secret file could authenticate users who assume they are you because they are being shown your consent screen. Not only is your Google developer project being hjacked but your reputation to your users who think that they are authenticating to Super awesome app and in fact they are not granting the person who has stolen your credentials access to their data.

I would like to add one last thing. If you give another person your project credentials. The client secret json file. You are giving them access to make calls on your behalf. If you have bulling set up lets say against google maps api. You will be charged for the calls they make.

I hope this helps to clear up some of the confusion related to the accepted anwser.