Objective: Compromise Application Using Sanitizers
Compromise Application Using Sanitizers [CRITICAL NODE - Root Goal]
├───[AND] Exploit Sanitizer Weaknesses
│ └───[OR] Exploit Sanitizer Performance Overhead (DoS) [HIGH-RISK PATH if Sanitizers in Production]
│ └───[AND] Cause Excessive Sanitizer Checks
│ └─── Sanitizers Running in Production Environment [CRITICAL NODE - Sanitizers in Production]
│ └─── Attacker exploits this overhead to cause DoS by sending normal or slightly increased traffic [CRITICAL NODE - DoS Exploitation]
├───[AND] Exploit Sanitizer Weaknesses
│ └───[OR] Information Leakage via Sanitizer Output [HIGH-RISK PATH if Sanitizers in Staging/Production & Verbose Logging]
│ └─── Leak Sensitive Data in Sanitizer Error Messages (Debug Logs) [CRITICAL NODE if Verbose Logging & Sanitizers in Staging/Production]
│ └───[AND] Trigger Sanitizer Error in Production/Staging with Verbose Logging
│ ├─── Application deployed with sanitizers enabled in non-development environments (incorrectly) [CRITICAL NODE - Misconfiguration]
│ └─── Verbose error logging enabled, exposing file paths, memory addresses, potentially data snippets [CRITICAL NODE - Verbose Logging]
├───[AND] Exploit Misuse/Misconfiguration of Sanitizers [HIGH-RISK PATH - Misuse/Misconfiguration]
│ ├───[OR] Sanitizers Not Enabled in Production (False Sense of Security) [HIGH-RISK PATH - False Security Assumption]
│ │ └───[AND] Application Relies on Sanitizers for Security in Production [CRITICAL NODE - False Security Assumption]
│ │ ├─── Developers assume sanitizers prevent vulnerabilities in production [CRITICAL NODE - Misconception]
│ │ └─── Attackers exploit vulnerabilities that sanitizers would have caught in development but are missed in production [CRITICAL NODE - Exploitable Vulnerabilities in Production]
│ └───[OR] Sanitizers Enabled in Production (Performance/Information Leakage Risk) [HIGH-RISK PATH - Sanitizers in Production]
│ └─── Performance Degradation (DoS) [CRITICAL NODE - Performance DoS]
│ └─── Sanitizers Running in Production Environment [CRITICAL NODE - Sanitizers in Production]
├───[AND] Exploit Misuse/Misconfiguration of Sanitizers [HIGH-RISK PATH - Misuse/Misconfiguration]
│ └───[OR] Ignoring Sanitizer Warnings During Development [HIGH-RISK PATH - Ignoring Sanitizer Warnings]
│ └───[AND] Developers Neglect Sanitizer Reports [CRITICAL NODE - Neglecting Sanitizer Reports]
│ ├─── Developers ignore or dismiss these warnings due to noise or time pressure [CRITICAL NODE - Developer Negligence]
│ └─── Attackers exploit the underlying vulnerabilities that were flagged by sanitizers but not fixed [CRITICAL NODE - Exploitable Unfixed Vulnerabilities] [HIGH-RISK PATH - Exploiting Unfixed Vulnerabilities]
└───[AND] Indirect Exploitation via Sanitizer-Revealed Vulnerabilities [HIGH-RISK PATH - Indirect Exploitation]
└───[OR] Exploit Vulnerabilities Discovered by Sanitizers (But Not Fixed) [HIGH-RISK PATH - Exploiting Unfixed Vulnerabilities]
└───[AND] Sanitizers Identify Real Vulnerabilities [CRITICAL NODE - Sanitizer Identifies Vulnerability]
└─── Developers fail to fix these vulnerabilities, leaving them exploitable by attackers [CRITICAL NODE - Unfixed Vulnerabilities] [HIGH-RISK PATH - Exploiting Unfixed Vulnerabilities]
Attack Tree Path: Compromise Application Using Sanitizers [CRITICAL NODE - Root Goal]:
This is the ultimate objective of the attacker. Success means gaining unauthorized access, control, or causing damage to the application.
Attack Tree Path: Exploit Sanitizer Performance Overhead (DoS) [HIGH-RISK PATH if Sanitizers in Production]:
Attack Vector: If sanitizers are mistakenly left enabled in a production environment, they introduce significant performance overhead due to runtime checks. An attacker can exploit this by sending normal or slightly increased traffic to the application. The overhead from sanitizers will amplify the resource consumption, leading to performance degradation and potentially a Denial of Service (DoS). * Critical Nodes within this path: * Sanitizers Running in Production Environment [CRITICAL NODE - Sanitizers in Production]: This is the fundamental misconfiguration that enables this DoS attack. * Attacker exploits this overhead to cause DoS by sending normal or slightly increased traffic [CRITICAL NODE - DoS Exploitation]: This is the actual attack action, leveraging the performance penalty of sanitizers. * Performance Degradation (DoS) [CRITICAL NODE - Performance DoS]: This is the outcome of the attack, rendering the application unavailable or severely degraded.
Attack Tree Path: Information Leakage via Sanitizer Output [HIGH-RISK PATH if Sanitizers in Staging/Production & Verbose Logging]:
Attack Vector: When sanitizers detect errors (memory leaks, use-after-free, etc.), they often output detailed error messages to logs or standard error. If sanitizers are enabled in staging or production (especially if combined with verbose logging configurations), these error messages can inadvertently leak sensitive information. This information might include file paths, memory addresses, snippets of data being processed, or details about the application's internal structure. An attacker can trigger sanitizer errors by sending specific inputs designed to cause memory-related issues and then observe the error logs or responses for leaked information. * Critical Nodes within this path: * Leak Sensitive Data in Sanitizer Error Messages (Debug Logs) [CRITICAL NODE if Verbose Logging & Sanitizers in Staging/Production]: This is the direct consequence of the information leakage. * Application deployed with sanitizers enabled in non-development environments (incorrectly) [CRITICAL NODE - Misconfiguration]: This is a prerequisite for this attack, as sanitizers are intended for development. * Verbose error logging enabled, exposing file paths, memory addresses, potentially data snippets [CRITICAL NODE - Verbose Logging]: Verbose logging amplifies the risk of information leakage from sanitizer outputs.
Attack Tree Path: Exploit Misuse/Misconfiguration of Sanitizers [HIGH-RISK PATH - Misuse/Misconfiguration]:
This is a broad category encompassing various ways sanitizers can be misused or misconfigured, leading to security risks. It's an overarching path that leads to other more specific high-risk paths.
Attack Tree Path: Sanitizers Not Enabled in Production (False Sense of Security) [HIGH-RISK PATH - False Security Assumption]:
Attack Vector: Developers might mistakenly believe that using sanitizers during development provides inherent security to the production application, even if sanitizers are not enabled in production. This false sense of security can lead to relaxed security practices, insufficient testing without sanitizers in production-like environments, and ultimately, the deployment of vulnerable code to production. Attackers can then exploit the vulnerabilities that sanitizers would have detected during development but are now present in the live application. * Critical Nodes within this path: * Application Relies on Sanitizers for Security in Production [CRITICAL NODE - False Security Assumption]: This is the core issue – relying on sanitizers for production security when they are not designed for that purpose. * Developers assume sanitizers prevent vulnerabilities in production [CRITICAL NODE - Misconception]: This is the root misconception driving the false sense of security. * Attackers exploit vulnerabilities that sanitizers would have caught in development but are missed in production [CRITICAL NODE - Exploitable Vulnerabilities in Production]: This is the negative outcome – vulnerabilities that could have been prevented are now exploitable in production.
Attack Tree Path: Sanitizers Enabled in Production (Performance/Information Leakage Risk) [HIGH-RISK PATH - Sanitizers in Production]:
Attack Vector: As previously described in "Exploit Sanitizer Performance Overhead (DoS)" and "Information Leakage via Sanitizer Output", running sanitizers in production directly introduces performance and information leakage risks. This path highlights the inherent dangers of having sanitizers active in a live environment. * Critical Nodes within this path: * Performance Degradation (DoS) [CRITICAL NODE - Performance DoS]: The performance impact leading to potential DoS. * Sanitizers Running in Production Environment [CRITICAL NODE - Sanitizers in Production]: The root cause of these risks.
Attack Tree Path: Ignoring Sanitizer Warnings During Development [HIGH-RISK PATH - Ignoring Sanitizer Warnings]:
Attack Vector: Sanitizers are designed to report potential vulnerabilities during development and testing. If developers ignore or dismiss these warnings (due to alert fatigue, time pressure, or lack of understanding), the underlying vulnerabilities remain unfixed in the codebase. Attackers can then exploit these vulnerabilities in deployed applications. * Critical Nodes within this path: * Developers Neglect Sanitizer Reports [CRITICAL NODE - Neglecting Sanitizer Reports]: This is the key process failure – not acting on sanitizer findings. * Developers ignore or dismiss these warnings due to noise or time pressure [CRITICAL NODE - Developer Negligence]: This highlights the human factor contributing to neglected reports. * Attackers exploit the underlying vulnerabilities that were flagged by sanitizers but not fixed [CRITICAL NODE - Exploitable Unfixed Vulnerabilities] [HIGH-RISK PATH - Exploiting Unfixed Vulnerabilities]: This is the direct consequence – vulnerabilities are present and exploitable because warnings were ignored.
Attack Tree Path: Indirect Exploitation via Sanitizer-Revealed Vulnerabilities / Exploit Vulnerabilities Discovered by Sanitizers (But Not Fixed) [HIGH-RISK PATH - Indirect Exploitation] / [HIGH-RISK PATH - Exploiting Unfixed Vulnerabilities]:
Attack Vector: Sanitizers are effective at discovering vulnerabilities like memory errors, race conditions, and undefined behavior. This path describes the scenario where sanitizers successfully identify these vulnerabilities, and developers are even aware of these findings (through logs, reports, etc.). However, if developers fail to fix these identified vulnerabilities, they remain in the application. Attackers can then exploit these underlying vulnerabilities. The exploitation is "indirect" in the sense that the attacker isn't directly attacking the sanitizer itself, but rather exploiting the vulnerabilities that the sanitizer revealed but were not remediated. * Critical Nodes within this path: * Sanitizer Identifies Real Vulnerabilities [CRITICAL NODE - Sanitizer Identifies Vulnerability]: This is the starting point – sanitizers are working as intended. * Developers fail to fix these vulnerabilities, leaving them exploitable by attackers [CRITICAL NODE - Unfixed Vulnerabilities] [HIGH-RISK PATH - Exploiting Unfixed Vulnerabilities]: This is the critical failure point – vulnerabilities are known but not fixed, leading to potential exploitation.