Spring Boot's /actuator/env Sanitizer Can Leak Secrets With Non-Standard Variable Names
Spring Boot's built-in sanitizer for the /actuator/env endpoint masks values only when property names contain keywords like 'password', 'secret', 'token', or 'key'. Variables with unconventional names such as DB_PASS, WEBHOOK_SIGNING, or PARTNER_SHARED_VALUE fall outside these defaults and are exposed in plain text. Enabling authorization controls via 'show-values=when-authorized' addresses who can access the endpoint but does not prevent unmasked secrets from appearing to authorized users. The Spring Boot documentation provides a configurable SanitizingFunction interface to extend masking behavior, but determining which project-specific names to include remains the developer's responsibility. Security gaps most often arise from ad-hoc naming conventions adopted under deadline pressure that are never audited against the sanitizer's pattern list.
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