I would be okay with this solution. N
On Aug 22, 2013, at 1:32 PM, Gary Gregory wrote: > On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 2:24 PM, Nick Williams > <[email protected]> wrote: > Ahhh. Okay, I see where the disconnect was, now. > > I think our best bet is a "boolean password() default false;" attribute on > the @PluginAttribute annotation. This idea was mentioned earlier by someone > else (I've lost track of who). The configuration processor should then log > ten asterisks (**********) in place of the value for that attribute if it's > given a value, or null/blank as it usually would if it's not given a value. > > I think this is going to be more effective than using char[] instead of > String, IMO. > > Thoughts? > > If we are going to do that, we might as well create a Password class that > wraps a char[] (or a UTF-8 byte[]) and toString()s itself as "**********". > > Then you call a getValue() on the Password when it is time to use it. > > Gary > > > > On Aug 22, 2013, at 12:26 PM, Ralph Goers wrote: > >> A password that is in the xml configuration will be logged to the status >> logger. It formats the arguments to the methods. You would need to annotate >> the attribute with something to get it to mask the value. >> >> Ralph >> >> On Aug 22, 2013, at 9:58 AM, Nick Williams wrote: >> >>> I think a more accurate statement is "regardless of how passwords are >>> stored (char[], String, etc.), it's a Log4j design issue to ensure that >>> they are never logged under any circumstances." I think it's more important >>> to be cognizant of what you're doing with passwords and make sure they >>> aren't exposed, no matter how they're represented. >>> >>> Nick >>> >>> On Aug 22, 2013, at 11:49 AM, Gary Gregory wrote: >>> >>>> On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 12:17 PM, Nick Williams >>>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> I believe it's sufficient to simply *make sure* our code doesn't let these >>>> passwords from the configuration get into logs. I don't see it as >>>> necessary to add special password support, IMO. But I could be missing >>>> something. >>>> >>>> It's something that is easy enough to do (String <-> char[]) so I want to >>>> make sure that if we leave it as is, we're all OK saying "passwords are in >>>> plain Strings and it's not a Log4j design issue" >>>> >>>> Gary >>>> >>>> >>>> N >>>> >>>> On Aug 22, 2013, at 6:28 AM, Gary Gregory wrote: >>>> >>>>> On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 12:38 PM, Nick Williams >>>>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> This discussion comes up on the Tomcat mailing list at least every few >>>>> months, and it always ends the same way. >>>>> >>>>> The passwords are in a configuration file. That configuration file lives >>>>> with the application. So, for example, if the application is a web app >>>>> the configuration file lives on the web app server or a server it has >>>>> access to. Either way, if a hacker gets a hold of that configuration >>>>> file, it's because they've breached your firewall/server protection >>>>> systems and it's game over anyway. >>>>> >>>>> There's really no use in making efforts to protect passwords in these >>>>> configuration files. Any effort to do so just adds a _false_ sense of >>>>> security, which is more dangerous than no security at all. >>>>> >>>>> My concern is more in the other direction. When secrets are in String >>>>> objects, they end up as plain text in log files or any kind of dump (if >>>>> Strings are dumped with toString()). At work, we get different kinds of >>>>> logs from users where the user has painstakingly blanked out certain >>>>> data. Using char[] avoids saying giving in plain text your secrets when >>>>> they are in Strings. In the case of Log4j2, this may never happen as the >>>>> code stands now (do we have passwords in toString()s?)... >>>>> >>>>> Gary >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Nick >>>>> >>>>> On Aug 19, 2013, at 9:54 AM, Gary Gregory wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 10:52 AM, Gary Gregory <[email protected]> >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 10:34 AM, Ralph Goers <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>> I'm not sure how this applies to what you are suggesting, but we should >>>>>> avoid passwords being in clear text in the configuration. I would >>>>>> suggest using a standard plugin interface similar to what I did with the >>>>>> secret key provider in the Flume Appender. >>>>>> >>>>>> We should at the last offer something like >>>>>> http://wiki.eclipse.org/Jetty/Howto/Secure_Passwords >>>>>> >>>>>> So perhaps we need a boolean password attribute on PluginElement and >>>>>> PluginAttribute >>>>>> >>>>>> Gary >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Gary >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Ralph >>>>>> >>>>>> On Aug 19, 2013, at 7:29 AM, Gary Gregory <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 10:25 AM, Paul Benedict <[email protected]> >>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> Do you need the password ever after authentication? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I guess it depends on whether the code handles re-auth in case of a >>>>>>> disconnect. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Gary >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 8:55 AM, Gary Gregory <[email protected]> >>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 7:27 AM, Ralph Goers <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>>> What passwords? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> For example: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> - org.apache.logging.log4j.core.net.SMTPManager.FactoryData.password >>>>>>> - org.apache.logging.log4j.core.net.JMSTopicManager.password >>>>>>> - org.apache.logging.log4j.core.net.JMSQueueManager.FactoryData.password >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Gary >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Ralph >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Aug 19, 2013, at 4:22 AM, Gary Gregory <[email protected]> >>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> I've seen it done many places: Should we track passwords internally as >>>>>>>> char[] instead of String for ivars. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> This prevents Log4j spilling your secrets by accident in a toString to >>>>>>>> internal log call. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Gary >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> -- >>>>>>>> E-Mail: [email protected] | [email protected] >>>>>>>> Java Persistence with Hibernate, Second Edition >>>>>>>> JUnit in Action, Second Edition >>>>>>>> Spring Batch in Action >>>>>>>> Blog: http://garygregory.wordpress.com >>>>>>>> Home: http://garygregory.com/ >>>>>>>> Tweet! http://twitter.com/GaryGregory >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> E-Mail: [email protected] | [email protected] >>>>>>> Java Persistence with Hibernate, Second Edition >>>>>>> JUnit in Action, Second Edition >>>>>>> Spring Batch in Action >>>>>>> Blog: http://garygregory.wordpress.com >>>>>>> Home: http://garygregory.com/ >>>>>>> Tweet! http://twitter.com/GaryGregory >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> Cheers, >>>>>>> Paul >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> E-Mail: [email protected] | [email protected] >>>>>>> Java Persistence with Hibernate, Second Edition >>>>>>> JUnit in Action, Second Edition >>>>>>> Spring Batch in Action >>>>>>> Blog: http://garygregory.wordpress.com >>>>>>> Home: http://garygregory.com/ >>>>>>> Tweet! http://twitter.com/GaryGregory >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> E-Mail: [email protected] | [email protected] >>>>>> Java Persistence with Hibernate, Second Edition >>>>>> JUnit in Action, Second Edition >>>>>> Spring Batch in Action >>>>>> Blog: http://garygregory.wordpress.com >>>>>> Home: http://garygregory.com/ >>>>>> Tweet! http://twitter.com/GaryGregory >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> E-Mail: [email protected] | [email protected] >>>>>> Java Persistence with Hibernate, Second Edition >>>>>> JUnit in Action, Second Edition >>>>>> Spring Batch in Action >>>>>> Blog: http://garygregory.wordpress.com >>>>>> Home: http://garygregory.com/ >>>>>> Tweet! http://twitter.com/GaryGregory >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> E-Mail: [email protected] | [email protected] >>>>> Java Persistence with Hibernate, Second Edition >>>>> JUnit in Action, Second Edition >>>>> Spring Batch in Action >>>>> Blog: http://garygregory.wordpress.com >>>>> Home: http://garygregory.com/ >>>>> Tweet! http://twitter.com/GaryGregory >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> E-Mail: [email protected] | [email protected] >>>> Java Persistence with Hibernate, Second Edition >>>> JUnit in Action, Second Edition >>>> Spring Batch in Action >>>> Blog: http://garygregory.wordpress.com >>>> Home: http://garygregory.com/ >>>> Tweet! http://twitter.com/GaryGregory >>> >> > > > > > -- > E-Mail: [email protected] | [email protected] > Java Persistence with Hibernate, Second Edition > JUnit in Action, Second Edition > Spring Batch in Action > Blog: http://garygregory.wordpress.com > Home: http://garygregory.com/ > Tweet! http://twitter.com/GaryGregory
