Despite years of warnings, the file persists because GitHub is where beginners learn. A student following a tutorial might not understand the permanence of Git history; even if they delete the file in a later commit, the credentials remain buried in the repository's metadata for anyone to find. The Verdict password.txt

However, because password.txt can contain arbitrary text. GitHub cannot know if password.txt holds real credentials or a novel excerpt. The responsibility still lies with the developer.

You’ve seen it. Maybe in a tutorial. Maybe in a late-night coding session. A file named password.txt — sitting innocently in a project root, waiting to be committed.