[SECURITY] npm i logs bearer token in case there is a formatting issue.

[falk-stefan]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

Accidentally providing a misformed token will print the bearer token to the log-output.

I wasn't sure if this is indeed a security risk but I figured it might not hurt to point it out in case it is. Please close the issue right away if this is not critical.

Expected Behavior

Do not print any bearer tokens to standard output.

Steps To Reproduce

Create a .npmrc file

@*******:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com
//npm.pkg.github.com/:_authToken=${GITHUB_NPM_PAT}

Accidentally append a newline \n to your token e.g.

echo ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} | gcloud secrets versions add $SECRET_NAME --data-file=-

instead of

echo -n ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} | gcloud secrets versions add $SECRET_NAME --data-file=-
     ^^

and npm i write the following to standard output:

Step #0: �[0m�[91mnpm error Bearer ghs_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Step #0: npm error is not a legal HTTP header value

Environment

• npm: 10.8.2
• node: 20
• OS: Ubuntu

[kchindam-infy]

HI @falk-stefan Could you share private package for @TapNTour so that i can quickly try to troubleshoot the issue to find the RC.

[kchindam-infy]

introduced malformed token in npmrc config and tried it with latest node and npm version could not reproduce the issue, checked both the terminal output and details logs. Have you tried it on latest npm version, would you mind sharing the output screenshot. by masking the token.

[falk-stefan]

@kchindam-infy I'm sorry, I'm currently trying to get something out and do not have the time to give this a try at the moment. I did not use the latest version of npm but v10.8.2. I noticed the output in Google Cloud Build logs.

Since echo "text" will always append a \n I figured this must have been the issue and it started to work after adding the -n flag.

That being said.. I then noticed that these token seems to be short lived anyways and that I do not have to persist them which is why I no longer do this

echo ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} | gcloud secrets versions add $SECRET_NAME --data-file=-

in my CI/CD.