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Difference between revisions of "Password Management: Hardcoded Password"
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Revision as of 20:37, 4 November 2008
This is a Vulnerability. To view all vulnerabilities, please see the Vulnerability Category page.
- This article includes content generously donated to OWASP by
Last revision (mm/dd/yy): 11/4/2008
Description
Hardcoded passwords may compromise system security in a way that cannot be easily remedied.
It is never a good idea to hardcode a password. Not only does hardcoding a password allow all of the project's developers to view the password, it also makes fixing the problem extremely difficult. Once the code is in production, the password cannot be changed without patching the software. If the account protected by the password is compromised, the owners of the system will be forced to choose between security and availability.
Risk Factors
TBD
Examples
The following code uses a hardcoded password to connect to a database:
... DriverManager.getConnection(url, "scott", "tiger"); ...
This code will run successfully, but anyone who has access to it will have access to the password. Once the program has shipped, there is no going back from the database user "scott" with a password of "tiger" unless the program is patched. A devious employee with access to this information can use it to break into the system. Even worse, if attackers have access to the bytecode for application, they can use the javap -c command to access the disassembled code, which will contain the values of the passwords used. The result of this operation might look something like the following for the example above:
javap -c ConnMngr.class 22: ldc #36; //String jdbc:mysql://ixne.com/rxsql 24: ldc #38; //String scott 26: ldc #17; //String tiger
Related Attacks
Related Vulnerabilities
Related Controls
Related Technical Impacts
References
TBD
