Open source password manager KeePass was updated over the weekend to patch a vulnerability allowing attackers to retrieve the cleartext master password from a memory dump.
Tracked as CVE-2023-32784 and impacting KeePass 2.x versions, the issue is related to the custom-developed textbox used for password entry, which creates a leftover string in memory for each character that the user types.
An attacker can use a KeePass process dump, a hibernation file, a swap file, or even a RAM dump of the entire system to retrieve the strings and reconstruct the typed password. Because the strings are ordered in memory, even multiple typed-in passwords can be retrieved.
Several weeks ago, a security researcher published a proof-of-concept (PoC) tool that can exploit the vulnerability to retrieve passwords from memory dumps.
The researcher also pointed out that the risks associated with the flaw were minimal, as remote exploitation was not possible. Unless a system was already infected with malware, there was no reason to assume password compromise due to this issue.
At the time, KeePass announced that a patch for the bug had been included in the test version of KeePass 2.54, with the stable release scheduled for July.
The update, however, was released several weeks earlier, improving process memory protections to prevent the creation of managed strings and prevent password recovery. The application also creates dummy fragments in memory now, and mixes them with the correct fragments.
The software update brings several other changes as well, including user interface and integration enhancements, new features, and other improvements and bug fixes, the KeePass 2.54 changelog shows.
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