fix: ERE brace bug made detection a no-op + bytes32 false positives#1
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Two bugs made the local pre-commit hook either useless or unusable:
1. ERE/BRE mismatch — the hook's patterns used BRE intervals/groups (\{64\},
\(live\|test\), \?) but are run with `grep -E` (ERE), where \{ etc. are
LITERALS. So ETHEREUM/AWS/OpenAI/Google/Anthropic/GitHub/Stripe detection
matched nothing — the hook printed 'No private keys detected' on a real
0x+64hex key and let it through. Fixed all braces/groups to ERE syntax.
(The CI workflow already used correct ERE.)
2. bytes32 false positives — once the Ethereum pattern actually fires,
'0x'+64hex is indistinguishable from a legitimate bytes32 (hashes, storage
slots, calldata, test fixtures), so a fixed hook floods every such file.
Now a bare 64-hex is only flagged when it looks secret: a .env file, or a
secret-ish keyword (priv/secret/mnemonic/seed/wallet/signer) on the line.
Applied to both the hook and the CI workflow.
Adds test/test-detection.sh (6 cases): real keys in .env/code, AWS, OpenAI all
blocked; a bare bytes32 and a clean file allowed. All pass.
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Two confirmed bugs
1. ERE/BRE mismatch — the local hook detected nothing
hooks/pre-commitdefines patterns with BRE syntax (0x[a-fA-F0-9]\{64\},sk_\(live\|test\)_,[_-]\?) but runs them withgrep -E(ERE), where\{\(\|\?are literal characters, not operators. So the Ethereum / AWS / OpenAI / Google / Anthropic / GitHub / Stripe patterns matched nothing.Proof (shipped
hooks/pre-commitvs a real 64-hex key):(The
.github/workflows/check-secrets.ymlalready used correct ERE{64}, so CI was unaffected by this one.)2. bytes32 false positives — fixing #1 alone floods
Once
0x[a-fA-F0-9]{64}actually fires, it can't tell a private key from a legitimate bytes32 (hashes, storage slots, calldata, test fixtures). On a real codebase it flags hundreds of false positives, making the hook unusable and CI permanently red.Fix: a bare 64-hex is only flagged when it looks secret — the file is a
.env, or the line carries a secret-ish keyword (priv|secret|mnemonic|seed|wallet|signer). The existingPRIVATE_KEY_WITH_VALUE_PATTERNstill covers labeled assignments. Applied to both the hook and the workflow.Tests
Adds
test/test-detection.sh(run from repo root) — 6/6 pass:.envFound while integrating LeakShield into a public repo: the hook reported a real leaked key as safe (bug 1), and the corrected pattern then flagged every bytes32 in the tree (bug 2).