Hardcoded Credentials
Hardcoded credentials, in the context of cybersecurity, are sensitive authentication details—such as passwords, API keys, encryption keys, or private security tokens—that are directly embedded in an application's source code, configuration files, binary executables, or firmware.
The Risk of Hardcoding
The practice of hardcoding is often used by developers for simplicity or speed during development, but it poses a severe security risk because it eliminates the fundamental principle of separation between code and configuration.
Direct Exposure: If the application's source code or compiled assets are made publicly accessible (e.g., pushed to a public code repository, included in a mobile app, or exposed via an open server directory), the hardcoded secret is instantly revealed to anyone. Automated scanning tools used by attackers can find these secrets within minutes.
Wide Attack Surface: Once compromised, the hardcoded secret is not specific to one user; it grants broad, often high-level, access to the entire service or system it protects. For example, a hardcoded AWS API key could grant an attacker programmatic access to all cloud resources associated with that key.
Difficult Rotation: Hardcoded secrets are not managed centrally. When a credential needs to be rotated (e.g., due to a breach), the developer must locate every instance of the secret within the codebase, update it, and redeploy the entire application. This process is slow, prone to errors, and often leads to legacy secrets being forgotten in old code branches.
History Risk: Version control systems keep a history of every file change. Even if a developer removes a hardcoded secret in the latest version of the code, an attacker can still retrieve the secret from the repository's commit history, creating a persistent vulnerability.
Mitigation
Secure practice dictates that credentials should be stored in secure external systems and injected dynamically at runtime. Preferred alternatives include:
Secrets Management Solutions: Dedicated platforms (like HashiCorp Vault or cloud key management services) centralize, encrypt, and manage credentials with strict access controls.
Environment Variables: Storing credentials in environment variables on the host server, which keeps them separate from the source code and out of version control.
The presence of hardcoded credentials is a strong indicator of immature security practices and dramatically increases the risk of a significant data breach or system compromise.
ThreatNG is highly effective at helping mitigate the risk of Hardcoded Credentials because its entire methodology is built on purely external unauthenticated discovery, which is precisely how an attacker finds secrets that have been mistakenly exposed in public-facing assets.
ThreatNG's Role in Finding Hardcoded Credentials
External Discovery and Continuous Monitoring
ThreatNG's core is its External Discovery, which is agentless and unauthenticated. This simulates an attacker's reconnaissance to find publicly exposed code and configuration files that contain hardcoded secrets. The platform's Continuous Monitoring capability ensures that if a developer accidentally commits hardcoded credentials to a public repository or exposes them via a misconfigured server, the exposure is detected immediately, minimizing the window of risk before an attacker can use the credential.
External Assessment and Examples
The discovery of hardcoded credentials directly affects the organization's security posture and the relevant ThreatNG ratings:
Sensitive Code Discovery and Exposure (Code Secret Exposure): This risk is a direct component of the Cyber Risk Exposure Security Rating. This is the explicit identification of hardcoded credentials and other secrets.
Example: ThreatNG identifies a file in a public repository containing a plaintext API key. This finding significantly degrades the Cyber Risk Exposure rating due to confirmed exposure of a code secret.
Non-Human Identity (NHI) Exposure Security Rating: Hardcoded credentials are often machine identities with high privileges. The discovery of these secrets directly raises this rating.
Example: ThreatNG finds a hardcoded AWS Access Key ID in a publicly accessible environment configuration file. This critical credential increases the NHI Exposure Security Rating because it represents a high-risk, non-human identity compromise.
Mobile App Exposure: This assessment explicitly evaluates mobile app content for Access Credentials and Security Credentials.
Example: ThreatNG discovers a hardcoded Stripe API Key or Facebook OAuth token embedded within the application content in a marketplace.
Investigation Modules and Examples
The investigation modules are the tools ThreatNG uses to gather granular evidence of hardcoding:
Sensitive Code Exposure: The Code Repository Exposure submodule is the key tool. It is dedicated to discovering public code repositories and finding a wide array of hardcoded secrets.
Access Credentials: This includes tokens for cloud and third-party services like AWS Access Key ID, Google Cloud API Key, Stripe API key, Slack Token, and Twilio API Key. Example: ThreatNG finds a public code repository containing a Password in URL, a classic hardcoded credential risk.
Security Credentials: It looks for cryptographic keys and files, such as PGP private key block, RSA Private Key, and SSH DSA Private Key.
Database Exposures: It discovers database credentials and files, including the PostgreSQL password file and the Microsoft SQL database file.
Online Sharing Exposure: This module discovers organization mentions within online Code-Sharing Platforms like Pastebin and GitHub Gist.
Example: ThreatNG finds that a developer pasted a piece of internal code to Pastebin, which includes a hardcoded Jenkins credentials file, exposing a system credential.
Archived Web Pages: This module checks archived files on the organization’s online presence, including JSON Files, PHP Files, and Txt Files, which may retain hardcoded credentials from previous deployments.
Intelligence Repositories and Reporting
Intelligence Repositories (DarCache):
Compromised Credentials (DarCache Rupture): When ThreatNG discovers a hardcoded credential, this repository immediately cross-checks it to confirm if the secret has already been exposed in dark web dumps. This linkage provides the necessary certainty for immediate, emergency action.
Vulnerabilities (DarCache Vulnerability): This repository can confirm whether an exposed system using a hardcoded credential (e.g., a database server) is also running an outdated version with a known KEV vulnerability, thereby escalating the risk of the hardcoded secret.
Reporting: The Prioritized Report (High, Medium, Low) ensures that severe risks like hardcoded credentials are at the top of the remediation list. The Context Engine™ delivers Legal-Grade Attribution, providing the irrefutable evidence required to justify the immediate work necessary to remove the hardcoded secret and rotate the compromised key.
Complementary Solutions
Other security solutions can powerfully use ThreatNG's high-certainty findings on hardcoded credentials:
Secrets Management Solutions: When ThreatNG discovers a hardcoded secret (e.g., a Twilio API Key) in public code, this finding can be automatically sent to the organization's Secrets Management tool (e.g., HashiCorp Vault). The solution can then immediately use this external alert to revoke the exposed key and notify the development team to retrieve the new key securely from the vault, completing the remediation and enforcing policy.
DevSecOps Platforms (e.g., SAST/DAST): ThreatNG provides the external proof of a hardcoding failure. This evidence can be shared with the organization’s internal SAST tools. The SAST tool can then use this context to run a mandatory, internal scan of all private code branches for the same key-leakage patterns, proactively finding and blocking other hardcoded secrets before they ever reach a public repository.
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Tools: If ThreatNG detects an AWS Access Key ID exposed on a publicly facing server, the CSPM tool can use this external alert to automatically audit the permissions associated with that specific key and enforce the Principle of Least Privilege, or temporarily disable the key until it can be securely rotated.
