Alexa skill plaintext client secret exposed

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Metadata

Id: cloudformation-aws-alexa-skill-plaintext-client-secret-exposed

Provider: AWS

Platform: CloudFormation

Severity: Medium

Category: Encryption

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Provider Reference

Description

Alexa skill client secrets must not be stored as plaintext in CloudFormation templates because embedding secrets in templates exposes credentials to source control and anyone with template access, risking unauthorized access to the skill and its integrations. The AuthenticationConfiguration.ClientSecret property on Alexa::ASK::Skill resources must be a string that uses a secure dynamic reference beginning with {{resolve:secretsmanager: or {{resolve:ssm-secure:. This retrieves the secret from AWS Secrets Manager or AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store (SecureString) at deploy time. Resources with non-string values or ClientSecret values that do not start with those prefixes will be flagged. Use dynamic references instead of hardcoding secrets; for example, a secure CloudFormation configuration looks like:

MySkillWithSecretsManager:
  Type: Alexa::ASK::Skill
  Properties:
    AuthenticationConfiguration:
      ClientId: my-client-id
      ClientSecret: "{{resolve:secretsmanager:my-secret-name:SecretString:clientSecret::}}"

MySkillWithSSM:
  Type: Alexa::ASK::Skill
  Properties:
    AuthenticationConfiguration:
      ClientId: my-client-id
      ClientSecret: "{{resolve:ssm-secure:/my/secure/param:1}}"

Compliant Code Examples

Resources:
  MySkill:
    Type: "Alexa::ASK::Skill"
    Properties:
      SkillPackage:
        S3Bucket: "my-skill-packages"
        S3Key: "skillpackage.zip"
        S3BucketRole: arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill
        Overrides:
          Manifest:
            apis:
              custom:
                endpoint:
                  uri: arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill
      AuthenticationConfiguration:
        ClientId: "amzn1.application-oa2-client.1234"
        ClientSecret: "{{resolve:secretsmanager:123456}}"
        RefreshToken: "Atzr|1234"
      VendorId: "1234"
  MySkill2:
    Type: "Alexa::ASK::Skill"
    Properties:
      SkillPackage:
        S3Bucket: "my-skill-packages"
        S3Key: "skillpackage.zip"
        S3BucketRole: arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill
        Overrides:
          Manifest:
            apis:
              custom:
                endpoint:
                  uri: arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill
      AuthenticationConfiguration:
        ClientId: "amzn1.application-oa2-client.1234"
        ClientSecret: "{{resolve:ssm-secure:123456}}"
        RefreshToken: "Atzr|1234"
      VendorId: "1234"
      # trigger validation

{
  "Resources": {
    "MySkill": {
      "Type": "Alexa::ASK::Skill",
      "Properties": {
        "SkillPackage": {
          "S3Bucket": "my-skill-packages",
          "S3Key": "skillpackage.zip",
          "S3BucketRole": "arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill",
          "Overrides": {
            "Manifest": {
              "apis": {
                "custom": {
                  "endpoint": {
                    "uri": "arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill"
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          }
        },
        "AuthenticationConfiguration": {
          "ClientId": "amzn1.application-oa2-client.1234",
          "ClientSecret": "{{resolve:secretsmanager:123456}}",
          "RefreshToken": "Atzr|1234"
        },
        "VendorId": "1234"
      }
    },
    "MySkill2": {
      "Type": "Alexa::ASK::Skill",
      "Properties": {
        "SkillPackage": {
          "S3Bucket": "my-skill-packages",
          "S3Key": "skillpackage.zip",
          "S3BucketRole": "arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill",
          "Overrides": {
            "Manifest": {
              "apis": {
                "custom": {
                  "endpoint": {
                    "uri": "arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill"
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          }
        },
        "AuthenticationConfiguration": {
          "ClientId": "amzn1.application-oa2-client.1234",
          "ClientSecret": "{{resolve:ssm-secure:123456}}",
          "RefreshToken": "Atzr|1234"
        },
        "VendorId": "1234"
      }
    }
  }
}

Non-Compliant Code Examples

Resources:
  MySkill:
    Type: "Alexa::ASK::Skill"
    Properties:
      SkillPackage:
        S3Bucket: "my-skill-packages"
        S3Key: "skillpackage.zip"
        S3BucketRole: arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill
        Overrides:
          Manifest:
            apis:
              custom:
                endpoint:
                  uri: arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill
      AuthenticationConfiguration:
        ClientId: "amzn1.application-oa2-client.1234"
        ClientSecret: "1234"
        RefreshToken: "Atzr|1234"
      VendorId: "1234"

{
  "Resources": {
    "MySkill": {
      "Type": "Alexa::ASK::Skill",
      "Properties": {
        "SkillPackage": {
          "S3BucketRole": "arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill",
          "Overrides": {
            "Manifest": {
              "apis": {
                "custom": {
                  "endpoint": {
                    "uri": "arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:377024778620:function:aws-node-alexa-skill"
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          },
          "S3Bucket": "my-skill-packages",
          "S3Key": "skillpackage.zip"
        },
        "AuthenticationConfiguration": {
          "ClientId": "amzn1.application-oa2-client.1234",
          "ClientSecret": "1234",
          "RefreshToken": "Atzr|1234"
        },
        "VendorId": "1234"
      }
    }
  }
}