T09 · Insecure Skill Coding Practices
- Location
references/olares-cluster-middleware.md:18- Finding
Plaintext Middleware Administrator Password Disclosure
- Content
View full analysis
Vulnerability Details
File Location:
references/olares-cluster-middleware.md, lines 18–21 and 32–33
Vulnerability Type: Plaintext sensitive credential exposure through standard output
Risk Level: HighVulnerable Code Snippet
markdown - **Table mode never shows admin passwords.** Always. - **JSON mode redacts admin passwords as `<redacted>` by default.** Pass `--show-passwords` to include them in the JSON output. This is a deliberate guard: a casual `cluster mw list -o json` should not splatter credentials onto a terminal or into a piped log. Use `--show-passwords` consciously — and only when you know where the output is going.bash # JSON with passwords (use carefully — output may end up in logs). olares-cli cluster middleware list -o json --show-passwordsTechnical Analysis
The Skill explicitly documents a flag that retrieves middleware administrator passwords and emits them as plaintext JSON through standard output. Although credentials are redacted by default and the documentation warns users about logging risks,
--show-passwordsbypasses that protection.Standard output is not a secure secret-delivery channel. Plaintext credentials may be retained in terminal scrollback, Agent conversation transcripts, command execution records, CI/CD logs, screen recordings, shell pipelines, redirected files, or observability systems. Middleware inventory does not inherently require disclosure of administrator passwords, so this capability unnecessarily broadens access to sensitive data.
No evidence indicates that the Skill itself exfiltrates the passwords. Exploitation requires an active profile authorized to view the relevant middleware data and access to the resulting output or retained artifacts.
Attack Path
- The victim or Agent operates under an Olares profile authorized to view middleware credentials.
- An attacker, unsafe automation workflow, or misleading request induces execution of:
bash olares-cli
...[truncated 1112 chars]
- Remediation
View remediation
Remediation Suggestions
- Remove
--show-passwordsfrom the Agent-facing Skill and keep all middleware inventory output permanently redacted. - Separate ordinary inventory access from secret retrieval so listing middleware never returns passwords.
- If credential retrieval is operationally required, use a dedicated secret-management workflow with explicit authorization, reauthentication, and auditable user consent.
- Deliver credentials through an approved secret store or protected ephemeral channel rather than standard output.
- Prevent secret values from being recorded in Agent transcripts, telemetry, terminal logs, and CI/CD output.
- Add output-layer secret filtering as defense in depth, including detection and redaction of password fields before rendering JSON.
- Prefer short-lived, scoped credentials over persistent middleware administrator passwords and rotate any credentials that may already have been exposed through logged output.
- Remove