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CWE-526 - Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information in an Environment Variable

CWE-526

  • Abstraction:
  • Variant
  • Structure:
  • Simple
  • Status:
  • Incomplete
Weakness Name

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.

Common Consequences

Scope: Confidentiality

Impact: Read Application Data

Related Weaknesses
  • Release Date:
  • 2006-07-19
  • Latest Modification Date:
  • 2023-06-29

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