Storing sensitive data in plaintext in memory makes the data
more easily accessible than if encrypted. This significantly lowers the
difficulty of exploitation by attackers.
Extended Description
The sensitive memory might be saved to disk, stored in a core dump, or
remain uncleared if the application crashes, or if the programmer does not
clear the memory before freeing it.
SSH client does not clear credentials from
memory.
Potential Mitigations
Phase
Description
Sensitive information should not be stored in plaintext in memory.
Even if heavy fortifications are in place, sensitive data should be
encrypted to prevent the risk of losing confidentiality.
Other Notes
It could be argued that such problems are usually only exploitable by
those with administrator privileges. However, swapping could cause the
memory to be written to disk and leave it accessible to physical attack
afterwards.
Description
