CWE-316: Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information in Memory

Description

The product stores sensitive information in cleartext in memory.

Extended Description

The sensitive memory might be saved to disk, stored in a core dump, or remain uncleared if the product crashes, or if the programmer does not properly clear the memory before freeing it. It could be argued that such problems are usually only exploitable by those with administrator privileges. However, swapping could cause the memory to be written to disk and leave it accessible to physical attack afterwards. Core dump files might have insecure permissions or be stored in archive files that are accessible to untrusted people. Or, uncleared sensitive memory might be inadvertently exposed to attackers due to another weakness.

ThreatScore

Threat Mapped score: 3.0

Industry: Finiancial

Threat priority: P2 - Serious (High)

Observed Examples (CVEs)

CVE: CVE-2001-1517

Sensitive authentication information in cleartext in memory.
CVE: CVE-2001-0984

Password protector leaves passwords in memory when window is minimized, even when "clear password when minimized" is set.
CVE: CVE-2003-0291

SSH client does not clear credentials from memory.

Related Attack Patterns (CAPEC)

N/A

Attack TTPs

N/A

Modes of Introduction

Phase	Note
Architecture and Design	OMISSION: This weakness is caused by missing a security tactic during the architecture and design phase.

Common Consequences

Impact: Read Memory — Notes:

Potential Mitigations

None listed.

Applicable Platforms

None (Not Language-Specific, Undetermined)

Demonstrative Examples

N/A

Notes

Relationship: This could be a resultant weakness, e.g. if the compiler removes code that was intended to wipe memory.
Terminology: Different 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).

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