Cleartext Storage in a File or on Disk

Draft Variant

Structure: Simple

Description

The product stores sensitive information in cleartext in a file, or on disk.

Extended Description

The sensitive information could be read by attackers with access to the file, or with physical or administrator access to the raw disk. Even if the information is encoded in a way that is not human-readable, certain techniques could determine which encoding is being used, then decode the information.

Common Consequences 1

Scope: Confidentiality

Impact: Read Application Data

Detection Methods 1

Automated Static AnalysisHigh

Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)

Demonstrative Examples 1

ID : DX-43

The following examples show a portion of properties and configuration files for Java and ASP.NET applications. The files include username and password information but they are stored in cleartext.

This Java example shows a properties file with a cleartext username / password pair.

Code Example:Bad
Java
Java Web App ResourceBundle properties file*java

The following example shows a portion of a configuration file for an ASP.Net application. This configuration file includes username and password information for a connection to a database but the pair is stored in cleartext.

Code Example:Bad
ASP.NET
asp.net

Username and password information should not be included in a configuration file or a properties file in cleartext as this will allow anyone who can read the file access to the resource. If possible, encrypt this information.

Observed Examples 5

CVE-2001-1481Cleartext credentials in world-readable file.

CVE-2005-1828Password in cleartext in config file.

CVE-2005-2209Password in cleartext in config file.

CVE-2002-1696Decrypted copy of a message written to disk given a combination of options and when user replies to an encrypted message.

CVE-2004-2397Cleartext storage of private key and passphrase in log file when user imports the key.

Applicable Platforms

Languages:

Not Language-Specific : Undetermined

Modes of Introduction

Architecture and Design

Related Weaknesses

ChildOf:

Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information (CWE-312)

Taxonomy Mapping

PLOVER
Software Fault Patterns

Notes

TerminologyDifferent people use "cleartext" and "plaintext" to mean the same thing: the lack of encryption. However, within cryptography, these have more precise meanings. Plaintext is the information just before it is fed into a cryptographic algorithm, including already-encrypted text. Cleartext is any information that is unencrypted, although it might be in an encoded form that is not easily human-readable (such as base64 encoding).