$50,000 Bounty: GitHub Access Token | by Monika sharma | May, 2025 | InfoSec Write-ups

A security researcher discovered a GitHub access token within a Shopify desktop application, leading to a $50,000 bug bounty and highlighting a critical supply chain vulnerability.

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$50,000 Bounty: GitHub Access Token

How a hidden token in a desktop app could have compromised one of the world’s biggest e-commerce platforms

Introduction

Imagine stumbling across a GitHub token that gives write access to a company’s private repositories. That’s not just a security bug it’s a potential supply chain disaster.

That’s exactly what security researcher Augustozanellato found when reverse engineering a MacOS desktop application made by a Shopify employee. His discovery earned him a massive $50,000 bounty from Shopify’s bug bounty program.

Let’s break down what happened how he found it why it’s so critical and how YOU can find similar bugs.

The Vulnerability

Where was the bug?

Inside a publicly available MacOS desktop app (built using Electron framework).
Buried inside the app’s files was a leftover .env file containing environment variables.
One of these variables was GH_TOKEN — a GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) issued to a Shopify employee.

This token had