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🔒 fix: mask short API keys in terminal output#19

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arvarik merged 1 commit into
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fix-api-key-masking-947239730423495154
Jun 23, 2026
Merged

🔒 fix: mask short API keys in terminal output#19
arvarik merged 1 commit into
mainfrom
fix-api-key-masking-947239730423495154

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@arvarik

@arvarik arvarik commented Jun 23, 2026

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🎯 What: The vulnerability fixed

The configuration management CLI (gemstack config) had a logic error where API keys were only masked if they were longer than 8 characters. API keys with 8 or fewer characters were displayed in full plain text in the terminal during set, get, and list operations.

⚠️ Risk: The potential impact if left unfixed

Users with short API keys would have their credentials exposed in terminal history, logs, or to shoulder-surfers. This could lead to unauthorized access to their AI service accounts and potential cost/data risks.

🛡️ Solution: How the fix addresses the vulnerability

The fix centralizes the masking logic into a single _mask_value helper function. This function:

  1. Identifies sensitive keys using a case-insensitive check for "api-key".
  2. Ensures that if a key is sensitive, it is always masked.
  3. If the value is longer than 8 characters, it shows the first 4 and last 4 characters.
  4. If the value is 8 characters or shorter, it displays a complete mask (********).
  5. Applies this logic consistently across config set, config get, and config list.

PR created automatically by Jules for task 947239730423495154 started by @arvarik

Consolidated and improved masking logic for configuration values.
- Centralized masking in `_mask_value` helper function.
- Ensure any key containing 'api-key' is masked.
- Short API keys (<= 8 chars) are now fully masked with '********'.
- Long API keys (> 8 chars) retain the prefix/suffix masking.
- Masking check is now case-insensitive.

This fixes a vulnerability where short API keys were exposed in terminal output.

Co-authored-by: google-labs-jules[bot] <161369871+google-labs-jules[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
@google-labs-jules

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@arvarik arvarik merged commit a90cdf4 into main Jun 23, 2026
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@arvarik arvarik deleted the fix-api-key-masking-947239730423495154 branch June 23, 2026 21:35
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