diff --git a/pkg/build/push.go b/pkg/build/push.go
index 2954f02843e..3039ce639bf 100644
--- a/pkg/build/push.go
+++ b/pkg/build/push.go
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"io/fs"
+	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"regexp"
@@ -28,6 +30,7 @@ import (
 	"cloud.google.com/go/storage"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 
+	"sigs.k8s.io/release-sdk/git"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/release-utils/helpers"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/release-utils/tar"
 
@@ -530,10 +533,15 @@ func (bi *Instance) StageLocalSourceTree(workDir, buildVersion string) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("compile tarball exclude regex: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	excludeGit := regexp.MustCompile(`(^|/)\.git(/|$)`)
+	// The tarball ships the workspace clones, including their git
+	// directories, as the release process relies on their state. Make sure
+	// no repository leaks the credentials embedded in its remote URLs:
+	if err := stripRemoteCredentials(filepath.Join(workDir, "src")); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("stripping remote credentials from workspace repositories: %w", err)
+	}
 
 	if err := tar.Compress(
-		tarballPath, filepath.Join(workDir, "src"), excludeBuildDir, excludeGit,
+		tarballPath, filepath.Join(workDir, "src"), excludeBuildDir,
 	); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("create tarball: %w", err)
 	}
@@ -554,6 +562,60 @@ func (bi *Instance) StageLocalSourceTree(workDir, buildVersion string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// stripRemoteCredentials replaces the remote URLs of every git repository
+// found under path with their equivalents without credentials. The workspace
+// clones authenticate with the GitHub token embedded in their remote URLs,
+// which must not leak into the staged source tarball.
+func stripRemoteCredentials(path string) error {
+	return filepath.WalkDir(path, func(entry string, d fs.DirEntry, err error) error {
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		if !d.IsDir() || d.Name() != ".git" {
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		repoPath := filepath.Dir(entry)
+
+		repo, err := git.OpenRepo(repoPath)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("opening workspace repository %s: %w", repoPath, err)
+		}
+
+		remotes, err := repo.Remotes()
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("listing remotes of %s: %w", repoPath, err)
+		}
+
+		for _, remote := range remotes {
+			for _, remoteURL := range remote.URLs() {
+				parsed, err := url.Parse(remoteURL)
+				if err != nil || parsed.User == nil {
+					continue
+				}
+
+				parsed.User = nil
+
+				logrus.Infof(
+					"Removing credentials from remote %s of %s", remote.Name(), repoPath,
+				)
+
+				if err := repo.SetURL(remote.Name(), parsed.String()); err != nil {
+					return fmt.Errorf("setting URL of remote %s: %w", remote.Name(), err)
+				}
+
+				// SetURL replaces all remote URLs; break to avoid
+				// iterating the now-stale URL list.
+				break
+			}
+		}
+
+		// Do not descend into the git directory itself
+		return filepath.SkipDir
+	})
+}
+
 // DeleteLocalSourceTarball the deletion of the tarball is now decoupled from
 // StageLocalSourceTree to be able to use it during the anago.stage function.
 func (bi *Instance) DeleteLocalSourceTarball(workDir string) error {
diff --git a/pkg/build/push_test.go b/pkg/build/push_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..aa07c76619d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/build/push_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2026 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package build
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+
+	"sigs.k8s.io/release-sdk/git"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/release-utils/command"
+)
+
+func testGit(t *testing.T, dir string, args ...string) {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	_, err := command.NewWithWorkDir(dir, "git", args...).RunSilentSuccessOutput()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+}
+
+func TestStripRemoteCredentials(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	workDir := t.TempDir()
+	repoPath := filepath.Join(workDir, "src", "k8s.io", "kubernetes")
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(repoPath, 0o755))
+	testGit(t, repoPath, "init", "-q")
+	testGit(t, repoPath, "remote", "add", "origin", "https://git:supersecret@github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes")
+	testGit(t, repoPath, "remote", "add", "clean", "https://github.com/kubernetes/release")
+
+	require.NoError(t, stripRemoteCredentials(filepath.Join(workDir, "src")))
+
+	repo, err := git.OpenRepo(repoPath)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	remotes, err := repo.Remotes()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Len(t, remotes, 2)
+
+	urls := map[string]string{}
+
+	for _, remote := range remotes {
+		require.Len(t, remote.URLs(), 1)
+		urls[remote.Name()] = remote.URLs()[0]
+	}
+
+	// The credentials are stripped, remotes without credentials are untouched
+	require.Equal(t, "https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes", urls["origin"])
+	require.Equal(t, "https://github.com/kubernetes/release", urls["clean"])
+
+	// No repositories under the path is not an error
+	require.NoError(t, stripRemoteCredentials(t.TempDir()))
+}
diff --git a/pkg/notes/notes_test.go b/pkg/notes/notes_test.go
index 7f484b566b1..f26a6df5db2 100644
--- a/pkg/notes/notes_test.go
+++ b/pkg/notes/notes_test.go
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ func TestPrettySIG(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	for input, expected := range cases {
-		require.Equal(t, expected, (prettySIG(input)))
+		require.Equal(t, expected, prettySIG(input))
 	}
 }