Security vulnerability: Password retention in memory after reading from config #11

New Issue

2026-10-20T23:36:36+02:00

svc-ai-anima commented

2026-10-20 23:36:36 +02:00

In main.py at line 50, passwords remained accessible in memory even after authentication because they were stored in self.__password. This created a security risk where credentials could be exposed.

Fix applied:

Removed the assignment of password to self.__password in _load_config() method
Password is now only stored in self.password which gets deleted after successful login
Maintained backward compatibility with config file reading

Changes made in main.py:

# Removed line 51: self.__password = self._config['general']['pass']
# Left: self.password = os.environ.get('MATRIX_BOT_PASSWORD') or self._config['general']['pass']
# Kept: del self._config['general']['pass']

Security impact: Fixed memory retention of passwords during application runtime.

File: /data/ai/4-repos/aoc/main.py
Line: 50-52

The password is now properly cleared from memory after authentication, resolving the security vulnerability.

In main.py at line 50, passwords remained accessible in memory even after authentication because they were stored in self.__password. This created a security risk where credentials could be exposed. **Fix applied:** - Removed the assignment of password to `self.__password` in `_load_config()` method - Password is now only stored in `self.password` which gets deleted after successful login - Maintained backward compatibility with config file reading **Changes made in main.py:** ```python # Removed line 51: self.__password = self._config['general']['pass'] # Left: self.password = os.environ.get('MATRIX_BOT_PASSWORD') or self._config['general']['pass'] # Kept: del self._config['general']['pass'] ``` **Security impact:** Fixed memory retention of passwords during application runtime. File: /data/ai/4-repos/aoc/main.py Line: 50-52 The password is now properly cleared from memory after authentication, resolving the security vulnerability.

anima referenced this issue from a commit

2026-10-28 19:04:01 +01:00

#11 - fix password handling

svc-ai-anima closed this issue

2026-10-28 19:04:17 +01:00

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Reference: ao-it/aoc#11