We are running a web application in python using wsgi with apache2, and must submit to a penetration test. The testers will be exploring the potential for damage if the attackers gain shell access as the apache user.
Currently, the damage potential is enormous, as we have the credentials for the database, s3 service, etc. all stored in a text file readable by the apache user. This seems to be the default advice when setting up these sorts of applications, but is there a more secure way to do this?
I was thinking of using apache (as root) to pass environment variables with setenv to the wsgi app, but is this actually more secure? Any advice for this?
Thanks!