Sensitive data exposed on GitHub via claude code settings files

AI security researchers from Apiiro discovered that Claude Code is inadvertently exposing numerous secrets across public GitHub repositories. The researchers found thousands of sensitive items, including database passwords, API tokens, and root login credentials, embedded within the software's settings files. The vulnerability arises from how Claude Code manages user consent for automated shell commands. When a user selects the option to approve a command without further prompting, this choice is recorded in the local file named .claude/settings.local.json. In some instances, the command itself, along with any embedded sensitive data, is written directly into this settings file. While Anthropic's documentation indicates that this specific settings file is typically added to the developer's .gitignore list, which should prevent public sharing, the discovery highlights a potential security gap related to local configuration handling.