⚠️ MEDIUM: Insecure Secret Management in Environment Configuration

[parmarmanojkumar]

⚠️ MEDIUM SECURITY VULNERABILITY

Severity: Medium
Component: Configuration Management
Files: Multiple .env files throughout the project

Issue Description

Based on code analysis, there are references to sensitive configuration in environment files. This pattern suggests potential exposure of secrets in configuration files.

Security Impact

• Secrets exposure in version control
• Credential theft through file access
• Environment inconsistencies
• OWASP Top 10: A07 Identification and Authentication Failures

Current Risk Areas

• API keys and tokens in plain text
• Database connection strings
• Third-party service credentials
• Encryption keys

Recommended Fix

# Implement secure secret management
import os
from azure.keyvault.secrets import SecretClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

def get_secret(secret_name):
    if os.getenv('USE_KEY_VAULT') == 'true':
        # Use Azure Key Vault or similar
        credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
        client = SecretClient(vault_url=os.getenv('VAULT_URL'), credential=credential)
        return client.get_secret(secret_name).value
    else:
        # Fallback to environment variables (dev only)
        return os.getenv(secret_name)

# Usage
api_key = get_secret('API_KEY')
db_password = get_secret('DB_PASSWORD')

Security Measures

1. Use Secret Management Services:

   • Azure Key Vault
   • AWS Secrets Manager
   • HashiCorp Vault

2. Environment Separation:

   • Different secrets for dev/staging/prod
   • No production secrets in development

3. Access Controls:

   • Role-based access to secrets
   • Audit logging for secret access

4. Secret Rotation:

   • Automated key rotation
   • Expiration policies

Environment Configuration

# .env.example (safe to commit)
USE_KEY_VAULT=true
VAULT_URL=https://your-vault.vault.azure.net/
DB_HOST=localhost
API_BASE_URL=https://api.example.com

# Actual .env (never commit)
USE_KEY_VAULT=false
API_KEY={{your_api_key}}
DB_PASSWORD={{your_db_password}}

Priority: Medium - Implement before production deployment with sensitive data.

[InfosysResponsibleAI]

Thank you for sharing the issues and recommendation. We are analyzing the issues at our end and will revert back to you as early as possible.