limitations.rst 949 B

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  1. Known security limitations
  2. --------------------------
  3. Lack of secure memory wiping
  4. ============================
  5. `Memory wiping`_ is used to protect secret data or key material from attackers
  6. with access to uninitialized memory. This can be either because the attacker
  7. has some kind of local user access or because of how other software uses
  8. uninitialized memory.
  9. Python exposes no API for us to implement this reliably and as such almost all
  10. software in Python is potentially vulnerable to this attack. The
  11. `CERT secure coding guidelines`_ assesses this issue as "Severity: medium,
  12. Likelihood: unlikely, Remediation Cost: expensive to repair" and we do not
  13. consider this a high risk for most users.
  14. .. _`Memory wiping`: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20130529-00/?p=4223/
  15. .. _`CERT secure coding guidelines`: https://www.securecoding.cert.org/confluence/display/c/MEM03-C.+Clear+sensitive+information+stored+in+reusable+resources