Skip to content

CRITICAL: Implement Secure Storage and Encryption for Third-Party API Tokens #4847

@basantnema31

Description

@basantnema31

Description

For an application that analyzes or interacts with git commit data, it often requires users to provide third-party API tokens (like GitHub Personal Access Tokens or OAuth tokens). If these tokens are stored in plaintext within the database, the application represents a massive security risk to its users.

Impact

  • If the database is compromised, attackers gain full access to users' linked third-party accounts (e.g., their GitHub repositories).
  • Catastrophic breach of user trust and severe compliance violations.
  • High risk of supply chain attacks targeting the users' linked repositories.

Proposed Solution

  1. Implement a robust encryption mechanism (e.g., AES-256-GCM) at the application layer before storing any third-party tokens in the database.
  2. Securely manage the encryption/decryption keys using environment variables or a dedicated Key Management Service (KMS).
  3. Ensure tokens are only decrypted momentarily in memory when making the necessary API calls.

I am highly experienced in application security and am ready to implement this critical data protection layer.

/assign

Labels: gssoc, quality:exceptional, level:critical

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

No labels
No labels

Projects

No projects

Milestone

No milestone

Relationships

None yet

Development

No branches or pull requests

Issue actions