Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-555

Weakness Allowed

J2EE Misconfiguration: Plaintext Password in Configuration File

Abstraction: Variant · Status: Draft

The J2EE application stores a plaintext password in a configuration file.

Mapping guidance

This CWE entry is at the Variant level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.

Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.

Relationships and members
ChildOf: CWE-260 · View CWE-1000
Modes of introduction
Architecture and Design
Implementation
Detection methods

Automated Static Analysis

Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)

Content history
Submission: Anonymous Tool Vendor (under NDA) · 2006-07-19 · CWE Draft 3
Modification: Sean Eidemiller · Cigital · 2008-07-01 · CWE 1.0

added/updated demonstrative examples

Modification: Eric Dalci · Cigital · 2008-07-01 · CWE 1.0

updated Potential_Mitigations, Time_of_Introduction

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2008-09-08 · CWE 1.0

updated Description, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2011-03-29 · CWE 1.12

updated Description

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2011-06-01 · CWE 1.13

updated Common_Consequences

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2012-05-11 · CWE 2.2

updated Relationships

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2012-10-30 · CWE 2.3

updated Potential_Mitigations

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2014-07-30 · CWE 2.8

updated Relationships

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2017-11-08 · CWE 3.0

updated Taxonomy_Mappings

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2020-02-24 · CWE 4.0

updated Relationships

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2020-08-20 · CWE 4.2

updated Relationships

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2023-04-27 · CWE 4.11

updated Relationships

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2023-06-29 · CWE 4.12

updated Mapping_Notes

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2025-12-11 · CWE 4.19

updated Applicable_Platforms, Weakness_Ordinalities

Modification: CWE Content Team · MITRE · 2026-10-28 · CWE 5.0

updated Common_Consequences, Description, Detection_Factors

3 vulnerabilities reference this CWE, most recent first.

CVE-2023-20059 (GCVE-0-2023-20059)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2023-03-23 00:00 – Updated: 2024-10-25 16:02
VLAI
Title
Cisco DNA Center Information Disclosure Vulnerability
Summary
A vulnerability in the implementation of the Cisco Network Plug-and-Play (PnP) agent of Cisco DNA Center could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to view sensitive information in clear text. The attacker must have valid low-privileged user credentials. This vulnerability is due to improper role-based access control (RBAC) with the integration of PnP. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the device and sending a query to an internal API. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to view sensitive information in clear text, which could include configuration files.
SSVC
Exploitation: none Automatable: no Technical Impact: partial
CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)
Decision recorded 2024-10-25 14:36 UTC
CWE
Assigner
cisco CNA under the mitre root
CNA scorecard C 66/100 over 434 records in the last 180 days details
References
Impacted products
Date Public
2023-03-22 00:00
Show details on NVD website

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      "exploits": [
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GHSA-723J-VWR2-6865

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2023-03-23 18:30 – Updated: 2023-03-30 21:30
VLAI
Details

A vulnerability in the implementation of the Cisco Network Plug-and-Play (PnP) agent of Cisco DNA Center could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to view sensitive information in clear text. The attacker must have valid low-privileged user credentials. This vulnerability is due to improper role-based access control (RBAC) with the integration of PnP. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the device and sending a query to an internal API. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to view sensitive information in clear text, which could include configuration files.

Show details on source website

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  "aliases": [
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  "id": "GHSA-723j-vwr2-6865",
  "modified": "2023-03-30T21:30:23Z",
  "published": "2023-03-23T18:30:19Z",
  "references": [
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      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20059"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-dnac-infodisc-pe7zAbdR"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ]
}

GHSA-RV79-M662-C92X

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2025-07-21 15:30 – Updated: 2025-07-22 18:30
VLAI
Details

An issue was discovered in CommScope Ruckus Unleashed prior to 200.15.6.12.304, where an authenticated request to the management endpoint /admin/_cmdstat.jsp discloses the administrator password in a trivially reversible obfuscated form. The same obfuscation method persists in configuration prior to 200.18.7.1.302, allowing anyone who obtains the system configuration to recover the plaintext credentials.

Show details on source website

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  "aliases": [
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    "github_reviewed": false,
    "github_reviewed_at": null,
    "nvd_published_at": "2025-07-21T15:15:28Z",
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "An issue was discovered in CommScope Ruckus Unleashed prior to 200.15.6.12.304, where an authenticated request to the management endpoint `/admin/_cmdstat.jsp` discloses the administrator password in a trivially reversible obfuscated form. The same obfuscation method persists in configuration prior to 200.18.7.1.302, allowing anyone who obtains the system configuration to recover the plaintext credentials.",
  "id": "GHSA-rv79-m662-c92x",
  "modified": "2025-07-22T18:30:40Z",
  "published": "2025-07-21T15:30:31Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-46119"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://sector7.computest.nl/post/2025-07-ruckus-unleashed"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://support.ruckuswireless.com/security_bulletins/330"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "http://commscope.com"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ]
}

Mitigation
Architecture and Design

Do not hardwire passwords into your software.

Mitigation
Architecture and Design

Use industry standard libraries to encrypt passwords before storage in configuration files.

No CAPEC attack patterns related to this CWE.