Secret management systems are designed to securely store, manage, and automatically rotate secrets such as API keys and passwords. They prevent hardcoding secrets into configuration files or source code, which is a common security vulnerability. Secret stores often provide APIs that can be queried by applications at runtime to retrieve the necessary secrets, making them a dynamic and secure solution for managing sensitive information. Additionally, secret management systems can handle permissions and policies governing who can access specific secrets, thus providing finer control over secret usage.