From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ED6F2C433FE for ; Tue, 8 Nov 2022 10:51:22 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S233735AbiKHKvW (ORCPT ); Tue, 8 Nov 2022 05:51:22 -0500 Received: from lindbergh.monkeyblade.net ([23.128.96.19]:39822 "EHLO lindbergh.monkeyblade.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S233697AbiKHKvM (ORCPT ); Tue, 8 Nov 2022 05:51:12 -0500 Received: from mail-oi1-x22d.google.com (mail-oi1-x22d.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4864:20::22d]) by lindbergh.monkeyblade.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 95047120BD for ; Tue, 8 Nov 2022 02:51:10 -0800 (PST) Received: by mail-oi1-x22d.google.com with SMTP id r76so15058756oie.13 for ; Tue, 08 Nov 2022 02:51:10 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20210112; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:mime-version:from:to:cc:subject :date:message-id:reply-to; bh=3A36DlCeXplb/KgX1gMDKXD1AONVpRlLAWhUm3wuJqI=; b=CjeeXtoDXdEhCwDlwUkLdSLXbTTVBzQSNVEGBdR1AesyExBus2e5QwnIFRuxr51brq Khk0afGvC+BuZJGTQCBfRQ/soaXLwtCwEjmeRdPkhQtExwAnEFY34MgTbrnrZxsB2Qka nbpy7iO7JyspdP86vjVDlIuHoJD21/5sobkt5dOOQQWBEMPd+8u0xLNvgV4cLQWRlyB5 vBMXaOoH4ydCtxe6Z87mRLAW142DUwefio+UnXas3BVLX+oK7bUufVLNyJ/h+tzLZgio zjLy+ZaA1j8baxmOW79cy4FR9RGGoauwtwLBHI7uuJzutYi9BSBIVrWYo6xqhmqMlPuP YS8w== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20210112; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:mime-version:x-gm-message-state :from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:reply-to; bh=3A36DlCeXplb/KgX1gMDKXD1AONVpRlLAWhUm3wuJqI=; b=jtOjkU5wnw4KLAj130zw1SOYXuiK2u+PO5l/uWSL2eQLUvhzTaWlwNs5oYtfAezSIz FB25xsr32HMycxVuR/48T+WuvX01pff2ZX19Y4C3p+3zTy7P4afAhRFyEkQmYXYXeHnj mhj3yF0Gcfx10JFPgo3Ieh1/Af7/TSLgxfTedYaddpO3fzpl5fD8Zvz4YxH1Lenqcrf4 zftreWE25m+bUj0eRW6/9QPyTEqI4jGXBtuU+y4UcBEYb4iydojkAoorSzyKCgP8kzga xHxvfdISjz7PEO9+oD597gaLgVvxhsN1x8erV3VYs44o1UF7TncKuwKVAJSN9agIFRsn WHGg== X-Gm-Message-State: ACrzQf3IFJ/erUHeziUw22vA/QRIf9L/1lHwt2Ugfup0KO/iXsNHfdb/ XXtt0+BeDCTUR5P49e5J/fJRcx39Lj0mgbyD2b0Dp4XDVx4= X-Google-Smtp-Source: AMsMyM5dDvreNBmoZjiL7/zSS+j2zdO6wQiWmxkDcm+raBFF5kKzj3u4LFWBgJJbBgQ2lY82fI8AaUjLwIhxrp4Rmco= X-Received: by 2002:a05:6808:11c1:b0:353:f1a5:207a with SMTP id p1-20020a05680811c100b00353f1a5207amr37564437oiv.183.1667904669643; Tue, 08 Nov 2022 02:51:09 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 From: M Hickford Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2022 10:50:33 +0000 Message-ID: Subject: The enduring popularity of git-credential-store To: git@vger.kernel.org Cc: "peff@peff.net" Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Among StackOverflow users [1], git-credential-store appears several times more popular than any other credential helper. Does this make anyone else uneasy? The docs warn that git-credential-store "stores your passwords unencrypted on disk" [2]. Are users sacrificing security for convenience? Firstly, how grave is storing credentials in plaintext? Software development guidelines such as CWE discourage storing credentials in plaintext [3]. Password managers in desktop environments, mobile operating systems and web browsers typically encrypt passwords on disk and guard them behind a master password. Secondly, the docs recommend git-credential-cache [2] which ships with Git and is equally easy to configure. So why isn't it more popular? My hypothesis: while caching works great for passwords typed from memory, the combination of caching with personal access tokens has poor usability. The unmemorised token is lost when the cache expires, so the user has to generate a new token every session. I suspect GitHub's 2021 decision to stop accepting passwords [4] may have inadvertently pushed users from 'cache' to 'store'. Thirdly, why doesn't everyone use SSH keys? Unlike HTTP remotes, upfront set-up is necessary to clone a public repo. For users unfamiliar with SSH, this set-up may be intimidating. Introducing users new to Git to SSH at the same time is a significant cognitive load. Any ideas how to improve the security of the average Git user? [1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/35942754/how-can-i-save-username-and-password-in-git probably as good a survey of non-expert users as we can get [2] https://git-scm.com/docs/git-credential-store [3] https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/256.html [4] https://github.blog/2020-12-15-token-authentication-requirements-for-git-operations/ [5] https://lore.kernel.org/git/20111210103444.GL16529@sigill.intra.peff.net/t/#u discussion at introduction of store helper