# Sensitive values exposed through state or plan artifacts

A deployment artifact readable by an unintended principal contains credentials or equivalent confidential material.

**Candidate CWE:** [CWE-522](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/522.html)

## Test hypothesis

Create a trusted fixture plan/state with a synthetic secret marker. Trace the marker into the artifact, then compare artifact access for its owner and a principal who should not receive the value.

## Evidence required

Exact artifact version, marker presence, storage/access policy, unintended reader and secure comparison. Redact real values if encountered incidentally.

## Rule out false positives

The sensitive display flag does not remove state values by design; the finding requires an inappropriate reader, exposure path or broken confidentiality promise.

## Playbook and command references

- [Infrastructure configuration: from repository default to deployed impact](https://bug-bounty-field-manual.kmahshooq.chatgpt.site/modules/infrastructure-config.html) — Trace IaC, charts, Compose and image packaging into supported deployments, including exposed services and sensitive artifacts.

[Find the associated command snippets](https://bug-bounty-field-manual.kmahshooq.chatgpt.site/commands.html?q=Infrastructure%20configuration%3A%20from%20repository%20default%20to%20deployed%20impact)

## Referenced by these target playbooks

[Cloud & containers](https://bug-bounty-field-manual.kmahshooq.chatgpt.site/cloud.html) · [OSS & self-hosted](https://bug-bounty-field-manual.kmahshooq.chatgpt.site/oss.html)

## Report checklist

- [ ] Capture the affected version, configuration, identities, and object ownership.
- [ ] Preserve a valid baseline and a negative control.
- [ ] Reproduce the forbidden data access, action, or state change on controlled fixtures.
- [ ] Explain the intended security rule and why the observed behavior violates it.
- [ ] State prerequisites, uncertainty, cleanup, and the smallest demonstrated impact.

## Conditional ATT&CK mapping

- [T1552.001 · Unsecured Credentials: Credentials In Files](https://bug-bounty-field-manual.kmahshooq.chatgpt.site/attack.html#T1552-001) — **Only if:** The tested path retrieves credentials from insufficiently protected configuration, source, log, archive, or other files; retain only redacted evidence and location details. **Not established by:** A high-entropy string, sample credential, or accessible file without authentication material is insufficient. Reading arbitrary non-secret data is a different behavior.

## Primary references

- [Terraform sensitive data handling](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/language/manage-sensitive-data)
- [Terraform JSON display](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/cli/commands/show)

[Back to the complete vulnerability catalog](https://bug-bounty-field-manual.kmahshooq.chatgpt.site/vulnerabilities.html)