🔴 CRITICAL: Plain-text Password Storage in Zustand Store (CWE-312)

[Harshit2405-2004]

🔴 CRITICAL Security Vulnerability

Severity: CRITICAL
Type: Security - Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information
CWE: CWE-312
OWASP: A02:2021 - Cryptographic Failures

---

📍 Affected Files

• packages/react/src/store/userStore.js (lines 26-27)
• packages/react-native/src/store/userStore.js (lines 13-14)

---

🔥 Vulnerability Description

Plain-text passwords are stored in the Zustand state management store, making them accessible through:

• Browser memory inspection
• React DevTools
• Application state dumps
• Store persistence middleware (if enabled)

Current Vulnerable Code:

const useUserStore = create((set) => ({
  username: null,
  password: null,  // CRITICAL: Plain-text password in state
  token: null,
  
  setPassword: (password) => set(() => ({ password })),  // Stores raw password
}));

---

⚠️ Security Impact

• Direct credential exposure in browser memory
• Visible in React DevTools to anyone with browser access
• Persisted to localStorage if persistence is enabled
• Violates security best practices - passwords should never be stored client-side

---

💥 Exploitation Scenario

1. User logs in with username/password
2. Password stored in Zustand store
3. Attacker opens React DevTools or uses memory inspection
4. Password retrieved in clear text
5. Attacker gains full account access

---

✅ Recommended Fix

Remove password storage entirely and use only secure token-based authentication.

---

🎯 Action Items

• Remove password field from useUserStore in both React and React Native
• Remove setPassword method
• Update login flows to discard password after authentication
• Audit all components using password from store
• Add security test to prevent future password storage

---

⏱️ Timeline

Fix Required: Within 24 hours
Priority: P0 - Critical Security Issue

Discovered by: Automated codebase security analysis
Date: April 5, 2026