Fix hard-coded secrets in Node.js and Express
=============================================

Read the key from process.env at startup, where the deployment puts it from
your secret store, and throw if it is missing or blank so the app never starts
without it. Send it in the Authorization header, not the URL, return a generic
502 on partner errors, and keep .env files out of git.

Page: https://softwaresecurity.com/fix/hardcoded-secrets/node-express/

What is in this archive
-----------------------
hardcoded-secrets/node-express/   the project: three implementations of the same code and one test suite
  impl/vulnerable.js   (vulnerable)
  impl/fixed.js   (fixed)
  impl/wrong.js   (a plausible fix that still fails)
run-all.mjs   runs the tests in all three modes and checks the results (Node.js only)
LICENSE-CODE.txt

Run it
------
  Tested with Node.js 26.11.1; package.json allows Node.js ^22.23.2 || ^24.18.1
  || >=26.5.1. run-all.mjs needs Node.js 22 or later. Supported versions:
  https://softwaresecurity.com/fix/versions/

  From the hardcoded-secrets/node-express folder, install the dependencies once
  (this needs network access):

    npm ci

  Then run the tests. IMPL chooses the implementation the tests load:

    # every test passes
    IMPL=fixed npm test --silent
    # an exploit test fails
    IMPL=vulnerable npm test --silent
    # a test fails
    IMPL=wrong npm test --silent

  The JUnit report is written to reports/junit.xml. To run all three modes and
  check the results in one step, run the harness from this top folder (it needs
  only Node.js; --install runs the install step first):

    node run-all.mjs --install hardcoded-secrets/node-express
    node run-all.mjs hardcoded-secrets/node-express

Verified
--------
  11 October 2026 on macOS 27.0 (Darwin 27.0.0, arm64), with node 26.11.1, npm
  11.20.0, express 5.3.0. Versions and results hold for that date: run the tests
  with your own versions before relying on the fix.

Licence
-------
  The code is MIT licensed (LICENSE-CODE.txt). The page text is CC BY 4.0.
