CWE-260: Password in Configuration File
Description
The product stores a password in a configuration file that might be accessible to actors who do not know the password.
Submission Date :
July 19, 2006, midnight
Modification Date :
2023-10-26 00:00:00+00:00
Organization :
MITRE
Extended Description
This can result in compromise of the system for which the password is used. An attacker could gain access to this file and learn the stored password or worse yet, change the password to one of their choosing.
Example - 1
Below is a snippet from a Java properties file.
webapp.ldap.username = secretUsernamewebapp.ldap.password = secretPasswordBecause the LDAP credentials are stored in plaintext, anyone with access to the file can gain access to the resource.
Example - 2
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. 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. 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.
// # Java Web App ResourceBundle properties file//
...webapp.ldap.username=secretUsernamewebapp.ldap.password=secretPassword...
<add name="ud_DEV" connectionString="connectDB=uDB; uid=db2admin; pwd=password; dbalias=uDB;" providerName="System.Data.Odbc" />
...<connectionStrings></connectionStrings>...
Related Weaknesses
This table shows the weaknesses and high level categories that are related to this weakness. These relationships are defined to give an overview of the different insight to similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction.
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