Use of Hard-coded Credentials

Description

Demonstrations

The following examples help to illustrate the nature of this weakness and describe methods or techniques which can be used to mitigate the risk.

Note that the examples here are by no means exhaustive and any given weakness may have many subtle varieties, each of which may require different detection methods or runtime controls.

Example One

The following code uses a hard-coded password to connect to a database:

...
DriverManager.getConnection(url, "scott", "tiger");
...

This is an example of an external hard-coded password on the client-side of a connection. 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

Example Two

The following code is an example of an internal hard-coded password in the back-end:

int VerifyAdmin(char *password) {

  if (strcmp(password, "Mew!")) {

    printf("Incorrect Password!\n");
    return(0)

  }
  printf("Entering Diagnostic Mode...\n");
  return(1);

}

int VerifyAdmin(String password) {
  if (!password.equals("Mew!")) {
    return(0)
  }
  //Diagnostic Mode
  return(1);
}

Every instance of this program can be placed into diagnostic mode with the same password. Even worse is the fact that if this program is distributed as a binary-only distribution, it is very difficult to change that password or disable this "functionality."

Example Three

The following code examples attempt to verify a password using a hard-coded cryptographic key.

int VerifyAdmin(char *password) {

  if (strcmp(password,"68af404b513073584c4b6f22b6c63e6b")) {


    printf("Incorrect Password!\n");
    return(0);

  }
  printf("Entering Diagnostic Mode...\n");
  return(1);

}

public boolean VerifyAdmin(String password) {
  if (password.equals("68af404b513073584c4b6f22b6c63e6b")) {
    System.out.println("Entering Diagnostic Mode...");
    return true;
  }
  System.out.println("Incorrect Password!");
  return false;

int VerifyAdmin(String password) {
  if (password.Equals("68af404b513073584c4b6f22b6c63e6b")) {
    Console.WriteLine("Entering Diagnostic Mode...");
    return(1);
  }
  Console.WriteLine("Incorrect Password!");
  return(0);
}

The cryptographic key is within a hard-coded string value that is compared to the password. It is likely that an attacker will be able to read the key and compromise the system.

Example Four

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.

# Java Web App ResourceBundle properties file
...
webapp.ldap.username=secretUsername
webapp.ldap.password=secretPassword
...

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.

...
<connectionStrings>
  <add name="ud_DEV" connectionString="connectDB=uDB; uid=db2admin; pwd=password; dbalias=uDB;" providerName="System.Data.Odbc" />
</connectionStrings>
...

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.

Example Five

In 2022, the OT:ICEFALL study examined products by 10 different Operational Technology (OT) vendors. The researchers reported 56 vulnerabilities and said that the products were "insecure by design" [REF-1283]. If exploited, these vulnerabilities often allowed adversaries to change how the products operated, ranging from denial of service to changing the code that the products executed. Since these products were often used in industries such as power, electrical, water, and others, there could even be safety implications.

Multiple vendors used hard-coded credentials in their OT products.

See Also