Skip to content
OpenAdvisories

Weakness (CWE)

CWE-526: Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information in an Environment Variable

Variant Incomplete

The product uses an environment variable to store unencrypted sensitive information.

How to prevent it (2 mitigations)
  1. Architecture and Design

    Encrypt information stored in the environment variable to protect it from being exposed to an unauthorized user. If encryption is not feasible or is considered too expensive for the business use of the application, then consider using a properly protected configuration file instead of an environment variable. It should be understood that unencrypted information in a config file is also not guaranteed to be protected, but it is still a better choice, because it reduces attack surface related to weaknesses such as CWE-214. In some settings, vaults might be a feasible option for safer data transfer. Users should be notified of the business choice made to not protect the sensitive information through encryption.

  2. Implementation

    If the environment variable is not necessary for the desired behavior, then remove it entirely, or clear it to an empty value.

Source: MITRE CWE-526

1 result · Clear filters · Feed

  • Medium 5.3
    CVE-2026-108592 Public exploit

    mini-swe-agent 1.10.0 through 2.4.6 Environment Exposure via BubblewrapEnvironment

    mini-swe-agent 1.10.0 through 2.4.6 contains an information exposure vulnerability in BubblewrapEnvironment because bwrap omits --clearenv, so sandboxed commands inherit the host environment. Attackers using prompt injection in processed task content can make…