Summary
The published openPDC Docker image contains a fixed administrative credential that users are not required to change during initial setup. An attacker who can reach the application's management interface may authenticate with that credential and gain full administrative control.
The published openPDC Docker image contains a fixed administrative credential that users are not required to change during initial setup. An attacker who can reach the application's management interface may authenticate with that credential and gain full administrative control.
Affected context
The vulnerability occurs in deployments using the affected openPDC Docker image when its fixed administrative credential remains active and the management interface is reachable by an attacker. Risk is higher when that interface is exposed beyond a trusted administrative network or when the container is deployed without an initialization process that replaces default secrets.
The vulnerability occurs in deployments using the affected openPDC Docker image when its fixed administrative credential remains active and the management interface is reachable by an attacker. Risk is higher when that interface is exposed beyond a trusted administrative network or when the container is deployed without an initialization process that replaces default secrets.
Exploit preconditions
- Attack surface: The openPDC management interface exposed over a reachable network path
- Required access: Network connectivity to the management interface; prior authentication is not necessarily required
- Trigger point: Authentication using the fixed administrative credential included in the image
- Why exploitation is possible: The credential is embedded or provisioned as a fixed secret and is not forced to change before administrative access is granted
- Attack surface: The openPDC management interface exposed over a reachable network path
- Required access: Network connectivity to the management interface; prior authentication is not necessarily required
- Trigger point: Authentication using the fixed administrative credential included in the image
- Why exploitation is possible: The credential is embedded or provisioned as a fixed secret and is not forced to change before administrative access is granted
Why this happens
The underlying issue is the use of a hardcoded administrative credential in a distributed container image without a mandatory first-use rotation or equivalent secret provisioning control. This maps to CWE-798: Use of Hard-coded Credentials, because authentication depends on a credential that is predictable, shared, or recoverable from the application artifact rather than being generated and managed securely per deployment.
The underlying issue is the use of a hardcoded administrative credential in a distributed container image without a mandatory first-use rotation or equivalent secret provisioning control. This maps to CWE-798: Use of Hard-coded Credentials, because authentication depends on a credential that is predictable, shared, or recoverable from the application artifact rather than being generated and managed securely per deployment.
Potential impact
- An attacker may obtain full administrative control of the openPDC application
- Application configuration and operational settings could be altered
- Monitoring, measurement, or other managed data may be accessed, modified, or deleted
- Additional accounts, integrations, or persistence mechanisms could be created
- Compromised administrative access can contribute to broader infrastructure or operational disruption
- An attacker may obtain full administrative control of the openPDC application
- Application configuration and operational settings could be altered
- Monitoring, measurement, or other managed data may be accessed, modified, or deleted
- Additional accounts, integrations, or persistence mechanisms could be created
- Compromised administrative access can contribute to broader infrastructure or operational disruption
General mitigation guidance
Mitigation generally focuses on removing shared credentials from application artifacts and making secret initialization explicit and secure.
Common defensive patterns include:
- Generate unique administrative credentials during deployment rather than embedding fixed values in images
- Require a credential change or secure enrollment before administrative functionality becomes available
- Supply secrets through a managed secret store or protected runtime mechanism
- Disable or remove default administrative accounts when they are not required
- Restrict management interfaces to trusted networks, authenticated gateways, or administrative access paths
- Apply least privilege to administrative roles and container runtime permissions
- Rotate credentials and invalidate exposed or previously distributed secrets
Mitigation generally focuses on removing shared credentials from application artifacts and making secret initialization explicit and secure.
Common defensive patterns include:
- Generate unique administrative credentials during deployment rather than embedding fixed values in images
- Require a credential change or secure enrollment before administrative functionality becomes available
- Supply secrets through a managed secret store or protected runtime mechanism
- Disable or remove default administrative accounts when they are not required
- Restrict management interfaces to trusted networks, authenticated gateways, or administrative access paths
- Apply least privilege to administrative roles and container runtime permissions
- Rotate credentials and invalidate exposed or previously distributed secrets
How teams detect issues like this
Organizations can identify hardcoded credential risks through:
- Static analysis and secret-scanning rules for passwords, tokens, and authentication defaults in Dockerfiles, image layers, configuration files, and startup scripts
- Code review checks for fixed administrative accounts and initialization paths that do not require secret rotation
- Container image inspection for embedded credentials and predictable default authentication data
- Deployment policy enforcement that blocks externally reachable management interfaces without approved access controls
- Runtime monitoring for successful administrative logins from unexpected networks, identities, or locations
Automated code and image review tools may help detect exposed secrets, but findings should be validated against the deployment's actual authentication and network controls.
Organizations can identify hardcoded credential risks through:
- Static analysis and secret-scanning rules for passwords, tokens, and authentication defaults in Dockerfiles, image layers, configuration files, and startup scripts
- Code review checks for fixed administrative accounts and initialization paths that do not require secret rotation
- Container image inspection for embedded credentials and predictable default authentication data
- Deployment policy enforcement that blocks externally reachable management interfaces without approved access controls
- Runtime monitoring for successful administrative logins from unexpected networks, identities, or locations
Automated code and image review tools may help detect exposed secrets, but findings should be validated against the deployment's actual authentication and network controls.
