Recently someone pointed out to us that password specified in the deployment plan is stored in clear text in the config.ser after deployment, for example, when deploying a datasource with the database password specified in the deployment plan. I notice that there was another user mentioning exactly the same problem in the geronimo-user list two years ago [1].
I did a little more dig and also found this JIRA [2] along with this discussion [3] on encrypting passwords in deployment plans. I understand that there are different arguments on what is "real" security. But I also well appreciate users' concerns on having clear text password appearing in the system. In China, we have a saying "guard against the good guys but not the bad guys", meaning the guard is there just to prevent the good guys from doing bad. Taking the same example as in the old thread [3], if we lock a bicycle, then the good guys won't steal it, while the bad guys with the intention to steal it can still find ways to steal it. But if we leave the bicycle unlocked, then the good guys are tempted to steal the bicycle too, because it's so easy. Back to JIRA [2], I think an alternative is to let user input the password in encrypted form in the deployment plan at the very beginning. We can provide a small command line tool to let user ecrypt the password beforehands. If this is acceptable, then there is a very simple way to satisfy requirement [1] & [2]. We can simply add a little encryption logic in the class org.apache.geronimo.gbean.GBeanData [4], similar to what we did in GBeanOverride for config.xml. Comments are welcome. -Jack [1] http://www.nabble.com/plaintext-password-in-config.ser-to9834211.html [2] http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/GERONIMO-3003 [3] http://www.nabble.com/Plaintext-passwords-in-Geronimo-plans-and-config-files-td9100565s134.html [4] Index: D:/Dev/s/wasce_v2.1.0.1/server/framework/modules/geronimo-kernel/src/main/java/org/apache/geronimo/gbean/GBeanData.java =================================================================== --- D:/Dev/s/wasce_v2.1.0.1/server/framework/modules/geronimo-kernel/src/main/java/org/apache/geronimo/gbean/GBeanData.java (revision 111111) +++ D:/Dev/s/wasce_v2.1.0.1/server/framework/modules/geronimo-kernel/src/main/java/org/apache/geronimo/gbean/GBeanData.java (working copy) @@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ import java.util.Map; import java.util.Set; +import org.apache.geronimo.crypto.EncryptionManager; + /** * @version $Rev: 556119 $ $Date: 2007-07-13 15:34:02 -0400 (Fri, 13 Jul 2007) $ */ @@ -112,6 +114,10 @@ } public void setAttribute(String name, Object value) { + if (name.toLowerCase().indexOf("password") > -1 + && value instanceof String) { + value = EncryptionManager.decrypt((String) value); + } attributes.put(name, value); } @@ -207,6 +213,10 @@ for (Map.Entry<String, Object> entry : attributes.entrySet()) { String name = entry.getKey(); Object value = entry.getValue(); + if (name.toLowerCase().indexOf("password") > -1 + && value instanceof String) { + value = EncryptionManager.encrypt((String) value); + } try { out.writeObject(name); out.writeObject(value);
