CWE-201: Insertion of Sensitive Information Into Sent Data

What is Insertion of Sensitive Information Into Sent Data?

• Overview: This vulnerability occurs when an application sends data that includes sensitive information to another party. This transmission can expose sensitive data that should remain private, potentially leading to unauthorized access or data leaks.

• Exploitation Methods:

• Attackers can intercept data transmissions to capture sensitive information.
• Common attack patterns include man-in-the-middle attacks, network sniffing, and improper data exposure through APIs or logs.

• Security Impact:

• Direct consequences include unauthorized access to sensitive information such as personal data, credentials, or proprietary business information.
• Potential cascading effects involve further exploitation, such as identity theft, financial fraud, or reputational damage.
• Business impact includes legal liabilities, regulatory fines, and loss of customer trust.

• Prevention Guidelines:

• Specific code-level fixes include ensuring data is properly encrypted before transmission and only necessary information is sent.
• Security best practices involve implementing secure communication protocols like HTTPS and using data minimization principles.
• Recommended tools and frameworks include encryption libraries (e.g., OpenSSL), secure API gateways, and data loss prevention (DLP) solutions.

Corgea can automatically detect and fix Insertion of Sensitive Information Into Sent Data in your codebase. [Try Corgea free today](https://corgea.app).

Technical Details

Likelihood of Exploit: Not specified

Affected Languages: Not Language-Specific

Affected Technologies: Not specified

Vulnerable Code Example

import requests

def send_user_data(username, password, email):
    # This function sends user data to a third-party API
    data = {
        'username': username,
        'password': password,  # Sensitive information should not be sent in plaintext
        'email': email
    }
    # Sending sensitive information like passwords in plaintext is a security risk
    response = requests.post("https://thirdparty.example.com/api", json=data)
    return response.json()

How to fix Insertion of Sensitive Information Into Sent Data?

The vulnerability in the above code is that it sends sensitive information (the user's password) to a third-party service. This can lead to exposure of the password to unauthorized actors if the third-party service is compromised, or if the transmission is intercepted. To fix this, sensitive information should be handled with caution. Instead of sending sensitive data directly, consider the following best practices:

1. Do not send sensitive information: Avoid sending sensitive data like passwords unless absolutely necessary. Instead, use tokens or encrypted values if authentication is required.
2. Use HTTPS: Ensure that any data sent is encrypted in transit by using HTTPS.
3. Tokenization: If you must authenticate or authorize, use tokens instead of plaintext passwords. This isolates the password from the data being sent.
4. Data Minimization: Only send the minimum amount of information necessary for the task.

Fixed Code Example

import requests

def authenticate_and_get_token(username, password):
    # Authenticate the user locally and return a token
    # Example: Send the login credentials to your own server
    response = requests.post("https://myserver.example.com/auth", json={'username': username, 'password': password})
    # Ensure the communication with the server is done over HTTPS to protect credentials
    return response.json().get('token')

def send_user_data(username, email):
    # This function sends user data to a third-party API using a token for authentication
    token = authenticate_and_get_token(username, 'user_password')  # Authenticate locally and use a token
    data = {
        'username': username,
        'email': email
    }
    headers = {'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}'}  # Use a token for authorization
    # The token is used instead of a password, reducing the risk of sensitive data exposure
    response = requests.post("https://thirdparty.example.com/api", json=data, headers=headers)
    return response.json()

In the fixed code, we've moved the password handling to a local authentication function that exchanges credentials for a token. The token is then used to authenticate requests to the third-party API, mitigating the risk of exposing sensitive information. Always ensure that sensitive operations are performed over HTTPS to protect data in transit.