zhmcclient is a pure Python client library for the IBM Z HMC Web Services API. In affected versions the Python package zhmcclient writes password-like properties in clear text into its HMC and API logs in the following cases: 1. The boot-ftp-password and ssc-master-pw properties when creating or updating a partition in DPM mode, in the zhmcclient API and HMC logs. 2. The ssc-master-pw and zaware-master-pw properties when updating an LPAR in classic mode, in the zhmcclient API and HMC logs. 3. The ssc-master-pw and zaware-master-pw properties when creating or updating an image activation profile in classic mode, in the zhmcclient API and HMC logs. 4. The password property when creating or updating an HMC user, in the zhmcclient API log. 5. The bind-password property when creating or updating an LDAP server definition, in the zhmcclient API and HMC logs. This issue affects only users of the zhmcclient package that have enabled the Python loggers named zhmcclient.api (for the API log) or zhmcclient.hmc (for the HMC log) and that use the functions listed above. This issue has been fixed in zhmcclient version 1.18.1. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
The product stores sensitive information in cleartext within a resource that might be accessible to another control sphere.
Because the information is stored in cleartext (i.e., unencrypted), attackers could potentially read it. Even if the information is encoded in a way that is not human-readable, certain techniques could determine which encoding is being used, then decode the information. When organizations adopt cloud services, it can be easier for attackers to access the data from anywhere on the Internet. In some systems/environments such as cloud, the use of “double encryption” (at both the software and hardware layer) might be required, and the developer might be solely responsible for both layers, instead of shared responsibility with the administrator of the broader system/environment.