Data Exposure

Keep Sensitive Data Out of URLs

A URL is convenient because it is easy to copy, bookmark, route, log, and inspect. Those same properties make it a poor place for passwords, long-lived access tokens, recovery secrets, or other values that should remain confidential. The problem is not that HTTPS exposes the URL to everyone on the network. HTTPS protects the request in transit between endpoints under its security assumptions. The problem is what happens before and after transport: URLs routinely pass through browser history, application and proxy logging, monitoring systems, support messages, screenshots, and copied links. A secret placed in a URL can therefore reach systems and people that never needed the secret.