Why is this an issue?
Hard-coding credentials in source code or binaries makes it easy for attackers to extract sensitive information, especially in distributed or open-source applications. This practice exposes your application to significant security risks.
This rule flags instances of hard-coded credentials used in database and LDAP connections. It looks for hard-coded credentials in connection strings, and for variable names that match any of the patterns from the provided list.
In the past, it has led to the following vulnerabilities:
Exceptions
- Issue is not raised when URI username and password are the same.
- Issue is not raised when searched pattern is found in variable name and value.
How to fix it
Credentials should be stored in a configuration file that is not committed to the code repository, in a database, or managed by your cloud provider’s secrets management service. If a password is exposed in the source code, it must be changed immediately.
Code Examples
Noncompliant code example
string username = "admin";
string password = "Admin123"; // Noncompliant
string usernamePassword = "user=admin&password=Admin123"; // Noncompliant
string url = "scheme://user:Admin123@domain.com"; // Noncompliant
Compliant solution
string username = "admin";
string password = GetEncryptedPassword();
string usernamePassword = string.Format("user={0}&password={1}", GetEncryptedUsername(), GetEncryptedPassword());
string url = $"scheme://{username}:{password}@domain.com";
string url2 = "http://guest:guest@domain.com"; // Compliant
const string Password_Property = "custom.password"; // Compliant
Resources
- OWASP - Top 10 2021 Category A7 - Identification and Authentication Failures
- OWASP - Top 10 2017 Category A2 - Broken Authentication
- CWE - CWE-798 - Use of Hard-coded Credentials
- CWE - CWE-259 - Use of Hard-coded Password
- Derived from FindSecBugs rule Hard Coded Password