On 9/27/19 6:56 PM, Sage Gerard wrote:
I got sloppy here in a Stripe integration:
https://github.com/zyrolasting/stripe-integration/blob/master/main.rkt#L31
I'm not an InfoSec expert, but I know I'd like to secure the secret key
used here in memory instead of using a parameter.
I'd probably encrypt the value provided by a client module and store it
(write-only from the client's perspective) using set-box!. But I have
several other questions:
1. Does the garbage collector keep a clear text copy of the secret in
memory before I encrypt it? If so, how can I make it easy for a client
module to set the secret key AND make it such that a garbage collection
pass will remove the clear secret from RAM?
If the secret ever exists as (or within!) a Racket string or byte
string, then I think you should assume that the GC might leave old
copies in memory when it moves objects around. Memory allocated by a
foreign library or using Racket's malloc in 'raw or 'atomic-interior
mode shouldn't get copied by the GC.
2. Are there any existing /cross-platform/ Racket projects that can
proactively keep secrets away from the garbage collector and swap space?
Nothing relevant comes up for "secret", "security" or "swap" on the
package index.
I thought about this briefly when I was working on the crypto package,
but I decided it was way too difficult to address at the time.
3. Are there any other intermediaries in a Racket process that might
keep a copy of a cleartext secret?
If you read the secret from a file, it might occur in an IO buffer that
is not securely erased. If you read it in encrypted form and then
decrypt it, the decryption implementation might use intermediate storage
that isn't securely erased.
Ryan
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