CWE-526: Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information in an Environment Variable
Description
The product uses an environment variable to store unencrypted sensitive information.
Information stored in an environment variable can be accessible by other processes with the execution context, including child processes that dependencies are executed in, or serverless functions in cloud environments. An environment variable's contents can also be inserted into messages, headers, log files, or other outputs. Often these other dependencies have no need to use the environment variable in question. A weakness that discloses environment variables could expose this information.
- Abstraction
- VariantA weakness tied to a specific language, technology or resource.
- Likelihood of exploit
- Not rated by MITRE
- Status
- Incomplete
Common consequences
- Confidentiality
Read Application Data
Potential mitigations
- Architecture and Design
Encrypt information stored in the environment variable to protect it from being exposed to an unauthorized user. If encryption is not feasible or is considered too expensive for the business use of the application, then consider using a properly protected configuration file instead of an environment variable. It should be understood that unencrypted information in a config file is also not guaranteed to be protected, but it is still a better choice, because it reduces attack surface related to weaknesses such as CWE-214. In some settings, vaults might be a feasible option for safer data...
- Implementation
If the environment variable is not necessary for the desired behavior, then remove it entirely, or clear it to an empty value.
Related weaknesses
CAPEC attack patterns that exploit it
CWE 4.20 links no CAPEC attack pattern to this weakness.