GHSA-q62h-354g-5r85 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Information Exposure vulnerability in Steeltoe.Management.Endpoint. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-q62h-354g-5r85 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Steeltoe's env sanitizer misses connection strings — leaks embedded DB passwords
Real-World Exposure
Steeltoe.Management.Endpoint.NETSteeltoe.Management.EndpointCoreReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects NuGet packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
The Sanitizer component in the Environment actuator redacts configuration values by matching the configuration key name against a suffix list. The default list (password, secret, key, token, .*credentials.*, vcap_services) does not cover the standard .NET pattern ConnectionStrings:<name> or Steeltoe Connectors' Steeltoe:Client:<type>:Default:ConnectionString. There is no value-based scrubbing, so full connection string values including embedded Password= and user:pass@host segments are returned verbatim in /actuator/env responses.
Impact
Any caller who can reach /actuator/env can receive connection strings containing plaintext credentials. Those credentials enable direct connection to the backing database, bypassing the application tier.
Affected configuration
- Application configuration contains credentials in
ConnectionStrings:*or*:ConnectionStringkeys. - On standard deployments:
envis added toManagement:Endpoints:Actuator:Exposure:Include. This is not the default. - On Cloud Foundry: the
/cloudfoundryapplication/envpath is accessible to any authenticated CF user withread_basic_datapermissions (Space Auditor and above) regardless of the exposure configuration.
Mitigations
If an immediate upgrade is not possible:
- On the standard path, remove
envfrom the actuator exposure list. - Add
.*connectionstring.*toKeysToSanitizeas a defense-in-depth measure for both paths. - Require authorization on actuator endpoints.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| .NETNuGet | Steeltoe.Management.Endpoint | all versions | 4.2.0 |
| .NETNuGet | Steeltoe.Management.EndpointCore | all versions | 3.4.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for Steeltoe.Management.Endpoint. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update Steeltoe.Management.Endpoint to 4.2.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-q62h-354g-5r85 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-q62h-354g-5r85 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-q62h-354g-5r85. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-q62h-354g-5r85 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-q62h-354g-5r85 across NuGet dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.