uNetworking / uNetworking/uWebSockets
Security: Committed private keys in `uWebSockets/misc` trigger compliance failures
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- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
- 19k
- Forks
- 1.9k
- Avg merge
- 3h 24m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 5
Description
Problem
During a security audit of our dependencies, we identified committed private keys in the repository:
uWebSockets/misc/cert.pemuWebSockets/misc/key.pem
While we understand these are likely used for testing and tooling, committing secrets to version control triggers high-severity alerts in enterprise compliance scanners (e.g., TruffleHog, GitHub Secret Scanning) and violates modern security protocols.
Supporting Standards
- OWASP: The Secrets Management Cheat Sheet explicitly states that secrets should never be stored in version control.
- NIST SP 800-57: Outlines strict requirements for protecting private keys to maintain the integrity of a system's security posture.
Suggested Resolution
We recommend removing these static files from the repository and instead generating them dynamically during the test or build bootstrap phase.
This would resolve compliance flags for all downstream users and align the library with "Secure by Design" industry standards.
Thank you for your work on this library!
Contributor guide
No contributing guide indexed for this repository
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by inspecting uWebSockets/misc/cert.pem and uWebSockets/misc/key.pem, then trace where the test or build bootstrap references them. Confirm how those assets are used before choosing a replacement generation or provisioning path. Done means the committed private key is removed, the relevant test or build flow still works, and secret scanners no longer flag the repository.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp
- Domain
- security
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100