Managing secrets in CI/CD pipelines is essential for maintaining security while ensuring efficient automation in modern development workflows. Secrets such as API keys, database credentials, and deployment tokens are necessary for testing and deploying applications but can pose security risks if not managed properly. CI/CD platforms like GitHub Actions and Jenkins offer native secrets storage, but these solutions have limitations such as lack of enterprise security features and vulnerability to breaches. External secrets managers like HashiCorp Vault and cloud provider solutions offer enhanced security through features like automated secret rotation, role-based access control, and detailed auditing, making them preferable as codebases grow and compliance requirements become stringent. Security best practices for managing secrets include implementing the principle of least privilege, ensuring environment isolation, avoiding hardcoding secrets, using short-lived credentials, and conducting regular audits and monitoring. These strategies help to mitigate risks associated with potential breaches and ensure that CI/CD pipelines remain secure and efficient.