Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered alarming vulnerabilities in thousands of iOS applications, revealing that hardcoded secrets in their code have put users' sensitive information at risk.
A recent analysis by Cybernews examined over 156,000 iOS apps and detected more than 815,000 hardcoded secrets—some of which are highly sensitive and could potentially lead to security breaches or data leaks.
The term "secret" broadly refers to sensitive credentials like API keys, passwords, and encryption keys. These are often embedded directly into an app’s source code for convenience during development, but developers sometimes fail to remove them before release. According to Cybernews, the average iOS app exposes 5.2 secrets, and 71% of apps contain at least one leaked credential.
While some of these hardcoded secrets pose minimal risk, the report highlights serious threats. Researchers identified over 83,000 cloud storage endpoints, with 836 exposed without authentication, potentially leaking more than 400TB of data. Additionally, 51,000 Firebase endpoints were discovered, thousands of which were accessible to outsiders. Other exposed credentials include API keys for platforms like Fabric API, Live Branch, and MobApp Creator.
Among the most critical findings were 19 hardcoded Stripe secret keys, which directly control financial transactions. Cybernews researchers emphasized the severity of this issue, stating: “Stripe is widely used by e-commerce and even fintech companies to handle online payments.”
This vulnerability could allow cybercriminals to manipulate transactions or gain unauthorized access to payment infrastructure.
The findings challenge the common belief that iOS apps offer stronger security compared to other platforms.
“Many people believe that iOS apps are more secure and less likely to contain malware. However, our research shows that many apps in the ecosystem contain easily accessible hardcoded credentials. We followed the trail and found open databases with personal data and accessible infrastructure,” said Aras Nazarovas, a security researcher at Cybernews.
This study underscores the importance of secure coding practices and urges developers to adopt better security protocols to prevent data breaches and unauthorized access.
