java-hardcoded-secrets-mining
Read-only mining codemod for SonarSource rule java:S6418 — Secrets should not be hard-coded.
It scans Java source and emits metrics only; it never modifies code (return null).
Findings are high-signal review candidates surfaced by AST pattern matching — they are
not proven vulnerabilities. A static mining pass cannot prove an end-to-end taint flow
from an untrusted source to the sink, so confirm data flow before remediating.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Rule key | java:S6418 |
| Type | Vulnerability |
| Severity | Blocker |
| Primary CWE | CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials) |
| Tags | cert, cwe, former-hotspot |
What it detects
Secret-like variables and fields assigned a hard-coded string literal.
Sinks:
- variable/field declarations and assignments whose name matches
password/secret/token/apiKey/accessKey/privateKey/credential/…
Emission rule: Emits when a secret-named target is assigned a string literal of length ≥ 4. Values from env/config method calls are skipped.
Metric: java-hardcoded-secrets-mining
| dimension | meaning |
|---|---|
rule | SonarSource rule key |
cwe | primary CWE identifier |
severity | always blocker |
sink | the detected sink (method/constructor) |
package_name | enclosing Java package |
class_name | enclosing class/interface/enum/record |
method_name | enclosing method/constructor (or <none>) |
file | file path (relative to scan target) |
line | 1-based line of the finding |
arg_kind | classification of the relevant argument (literal, concatenation, variable, method_call, field, object_creation, expression, none) |
secret_name | name of the secret-like variable/field |
Security standards
- CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials)
- OWASP ASVS 4.0: 2.10.4, 3.5.2, 6.4.1
- OWASP Mobile Top 10 2024: M1
- OWASP Top 10 2021: A7
- OWASP Top 10: A2
- PCI DSS 3.2: 6.5.10
- PCI DSS 4.0: 6.2.4
Run locally
Part of the java-security-blocker-mining suite covering 19 blocker-severity
Java vulnerability rules. Each codemod is read-only and emits a single named metric.