github / github/codeql

False positive in Go / Golang context when logging using %T

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#18,926 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
false-positive Go
Dominant language
CodeQL
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Description

**Description of the false positive**

[The warning](https://github.com/developerproductivity/costpuller/security/code-scanning/2) is "Clear-text logging of sensitive information", but what is actually logged is the _type_ of the variable which holds the information and not the information itself.

CodeQL correctly determines that a variable potentially holding a piece of sensitive information is [referenced in a `log.Fatalf()` call](https://github.com/developerproductivity/costpuller/blob/517634a461440261d5f0e5a3ccab0326e32c69a0/cloudability.go#L214-L214), but it misses the fact that the reference is processed using a `%T` format specifier which will result in the log receiving the _type_ of the data and not the _value_ of the data:

```go
apiKeyPair, ok := apiKeyPairAny.([]any)
if !ok {
log.Fatalf("Error reading Cloudability API keypair, expected an array, found %T",
apiKeyPairAny)
```

**Possible workaround**

I'm hoping that the following will suffice to work around the problem, but it's ugly and really shouldn't be necessary!

```go
log.Fatalf("Error reading Cloudability API keypair, expected an array, found %v",
reflect.TypeOf(apiKeyPairAny).String())
```

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing the CodeQL alert in cloudability.go around line 214 and inspect how the log.Fatalf call and its %T format argument are interpreted. Confirm that logging a value with %T is not treated as clear-text logging of the value, while logging the value itself remains covered; done means the reported false positive is no longer raised.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
go
Domain
security
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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