Insecure password storage

Description

Insecure storage of password could lead to account compromise. The vulnerability is the result of storing password using insecure methods that are susceptible to unauthorized access or compromise.

The following example shows insecure storage of password credentials in cookies:

Javascript

response.addCookie(new Cookie("password", password));

Recommendation

To safely store account credentials, consider the following recommendations:

For Android, use AccountManager to store account credentials.
For iOS, use keychain to store account credentials.

Kotlin

import android.accounts.Account
import android.accounts.AccountManager
import android.content.Context

fun saveCredentials(context: Context, accountType: String, username: String, password: String) {
    val accountManager = AccountManager.get(context)
    val account = Account(username, accountType)
    accountManager.addAccountExplicitly(account, password, null)
}

fun getCredentials(context: Context, accountType: String, username: String): String? {
    val accountManager = AccountManager.get(context)
    val accounts = accountManager.getAccountsByType(accountType)
    for (account in accounts) {
        if (account.name == username) {
            return accountManager.getPassword(account)
        }
    }
    return null
}

Swift

import Foundation

func saveCredentials(username: String, password: String) {
    let query: [String: Any] = [
        kSecClass as String: kSecClassGenericPassword,
        kSecAttrAccount as String: username,
        kSecValueData as String: password.data(using: .utf8)!,
        kSecAttrAccessible as String: kSecAttrAccessibleWhenUnlocked
    ]

    SecItemDelete(query as CFDictionary)
    SecItemAdd(query as CFDictionary, nil)
}

func getCredentials(username: String) -> String? {
    let query: [String: Any] = [
        kSecClass as String: kSecClassGenericPassword,
        kSecAttrAccount as String: username,
        kSecReturnData as String: true,
        kSecMatchLimit as String: kSecMatchLimitOne
    ]

    var dataTypeRef: AnyObject?
    let status = SecItemCopyMatching(query as CFDictionary, &dataTypeRef)

    guard status == errSecSuccess, let data = dataTypeRef as? Data else {
        return nil
    }

    return String(data: data, encoding: .utf8)
}

Flutter

import 'package:flutter/services.dart';

class CredentialService {
  static const platform = MethodChannel('credentialChannel');

  static Future<void> saveCredentials(String username, String password) async {
    try {
      await platform.invokeMethod('saveCredentials', {'username': username, 'password': password});
    } on PlatformException catch (e) {
      print("Failed to save credentials: '${e.message}'.");
    }
  }

  static Future<String?> getCredentials(String username) async {
    try {
      return await platform.invokeMethod('getCredentials', {'username': username});
    } on PlatformException catch (e) {
      print("Failed to get credentials: '${e.message}'.");
      return null;
    }
  }
}

Links

Standards

OWASP_MASVS_L1:
- MSTG_STORAGE_2
OWASP_MASVS_L2:
- MSTG_STORAGE_2
PCI_STANDARDS:
- REQ_2_2
- REQ_3_6
- REQ_3_7
- REQ_6_2
OWASP_MASVS_v2_1:
- MASVS_STORAGE_1
- MASVS_STORAGE_2
SOC2_CONTROLS:
- CC_2_1
- CC_4_1
- CC_6_7
- CC_7_1
- CC_7_2
- CC_7_4
- CC_7_5
CNIL_FOR_DEVELOPERS:
- DEVELOPERS_4_1_2