GitBook Users Told to Rotate API Tokens After AI-Agent Attack

GitBook has told customers to rotate their GitBook API tokens and any secrets linked to the documentation platform, after what it called “a sophisticated, highly targeted attack using AI agents”. The company said in its incident update on 3 November that an attacker may have accessed integration tokens, Git Sync secrets, API tokens and questions that site visitors asked GitBook Assistant.

GitBook said the attacker got into some of its infrastructure credentials at 19:00 CET (18:00 GMT) on 2 November. It has already invalidated every customer’s API tokens and replaced every credential and secret across its own systems. It said it has found no evidence that any customer content was modified.

What GitBook users need to rotate now

GitBook’s update lists five steps for customers:

• Rotate any existing GitBook API tokens. GitBook said: “We revoked all personal API tokens during the incident.” Any script or pipeline using an old token will need a new one.
• Rotate third-party tokens and secrets that connect other tools to GitBook.
• Rotate secrets in published integrations, if you have built integrations that use them.
• Re-authenticate the GitBook MCP server, the connector that lets AI assistants read GitBook content.
• Ask your organisation’s GitBook admin to help, since some of these settings sit at admin level.

The second and third steps matter most. GitBook has reset its own side, but a token for a code host or another service that was stored in GitBook is still valid at that service until its owner revokes it. Git Sync links GitBook spaces to code repositories, so teams that use it should check the access those connections were granted and revoke anything they cannot account for.

Site owners who run AI search on their docs should also note the Assistant item. Questions typed by visitors may hold personal or account details, and a privacy review may be needed.

How GitBook says the attack unfolded

GitBook said it “detected the attack immediately and acted swiftly to block further impact”. To make sure its infrastructure was secure, it took the GitBook app and authenticated docs sites offline, while keeping public docs live from cached data for as long as possible.

Its first public notice came at 13:15 CET on 3 November, describing “a platform wide issue affecting a number of customers”. At that point it said no customer action was needed. The 16:21 CET update added the list of data that may have been accessed and the steps above. GitBook said it blocked the attacker, closed the vulnerabilities involved, and brought services back only once it was confident they were secure.

On X, GitBook said the app, the API and published docs were available again, though “a few services may still be degraded”. It said it is monitoring for further attacks, adding new security measures and writing a full post mortem “that will be published soon”. It has not said how the credentials were obtained or how many customers were affected.

Crypto projects took their docs offline

Many crypto projects host their documentation on GitBook, and some acted before GitBook published details. PancakeSwap said on X at 02:37 GMT on 3 November that it was aware of “the GitBook-hosted docs security incident” and had taken its docs offline as a precaution, though its docs were “not compromised” and its app was not affected. Its docs links redirected to its homepage. It reminded users that “Docs never ask you to connect your wallet or approve tokens”.

That warning is the right one for readers of any project’s docs this week. A docs page is a trusted place for contract addresses and wallet instructions, so a tampered page would be a natural phishing route. GitBook says it has seen no sign of content changes, but checking addresses against a project’s main site costs little.

The pattern is familiar. Last week Northflank told users to rotate all secrets after its own incident, and Wiz has counted nine AI developer platform breaches in ‘Black October’. Hacken’s Q3 figures traced 77% of $1.18bn in crypto hack losses to suppliers, developer tools and unpatched fixes.

Docs platforms now hold keys, not just pages

GitBook’s list of exposed items shows how far a documentation tool has moved from static pages. It now holds API tokens for automation, Git Sync secrets tied to code repositories, integration tokens for other services and a log of what visitors ask an AI assistant. Each of those is a credential or a data store an attacker can reuse elsewhere. That makes a docs platform part of the software supply chain, not just a publishing tool.

GitBook’s response was fast and broad: it pulled services offline, revoked tokens across the board and replaced its own secrets within a day. That is the model other platforms have followed in recent weeks. But the company’s fix only covers its own side. Every customer still has to clear the tokens that GitBook held for other services, and that work falls on teams who may not know which tokens were stored there.

The “AI agents” detail is GitBook’s own description, and it has not explained it. If attackers are using agents to probe developer platforms at speed, the gap between a leaked credential and its abuse shrinks. That favours short-lived tokens, narrow scopes and quick rotation over long-lived keys pasted into settings pages.

For crypto teams, the lesson from PancakeSwap is simple. Keep one canonical source for contract addresses and wallet steps, tell users where it is, and be ready to take secondary docs offline in minutes. The post mortem should show whether that caution was needed. Until then, rotating tokens is the step every GitBook customer can take today.

Sources

• GitBook: Security incident, November 2026 (updates 3 November 2026, 13:15 and 16:21 CET)
• GitBook on X: services restored, 3 November 2026
• GitBook on X: security incident notice, 3 November 2026
• PancakeSwap on X: docs taken offline as a precaution, 3 November 2026

Related stories

• Northflank Tells Users to Rotate All Secrets After Security Incident
• Wiz Counts Nine AI Developer Platform Breaches in ‘Black October’
• Hacken: Crypto Hacks Cost $1.18bn in Q3 2026, Mostly via Suppliers