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sec-design.md

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Okay, let's create a detailed design document for the Valkey project, focusing on aspects relevant for threat modeling.

BUSINESS POSTURE

Valkey, being a fork of Redis, aims to provide a high-performance, in-memory data structure store, used as a database, cache, and message broker. It appears to be positioning itself as a community-driven alternative to Redis, potentially with a more open governance model. This suggests a focus on community adoption and long-term sustainability.

Business Priorities:

  • Maintain Performance: Valkey's core value proposition is speed and efficiency. Any design decision must prioritize maintaining or improving performance.
  • Ensure Data Integrity: As a data store, data integrity and consistency are paramount.
  • Community Adoption: Success depends on attracting and retaining a vibrant community of users and contributors.
  • Compatibility: Maintaining a high degree of compatibility with existing Redis clients and tools is crucial for easy migration and adoption.
  • Operational Simplicity: Ease of deployment, configuration, and management are important for user adoption and operational efficiency.

Business Risks:

  • Data Loss/Corruption: Loss or corruption of data stored in Valkey would be a critical failure.
  • Performance Degradation: Significant performance drops would undermine its primary value.
  • Security Breaches: Unauthorized access or data breaches could severely damage reputation and trust.
  • Community Fragmentation: Failure to foster a strong, unified community could lead to project stagnation.
  • Incompatibility Issues: Divergence from Redis compatibility could limit adoption and create user frustration.
  • Lack of Adoption: If the project fails to gain traction, it may become unsustainable.

SECURITY POSTURE

Based on the provided GitHub repository and common practices for similar systems, here's an assessment of the security posture:

Existing Security Controls:

  • security control: Network Security: Valkey, like Redis, primarily relies on network-level security (firewalls, network segmentation) to restrict access. It's typically deployed within a trusted network environment. (Implicit in deployment model)
  • security control: Authentication: Valkey supports authentication via the AUTH command, requiring clients to provide a password before accessing data. (Mentioned in documentation and source code)
  • security control: TLS/SSL: Valkey supports TLS/SSL encryption for secure communication between clients and the server, protecting data in transit. (Mentioned in documentation and source code)
  • security control: Access Control Lists (ACLs): Valkey 6+ introduced ACLs, allowing for fine-grained control over user permissions, restricting access to specific commands and keys. (Mentioned in documentation and source code)
  • security control: Command Renaming/Disabling: Sensitive commands can be renamed or disabled to limit potential attack vectors. (Mentioned in documentation)
  • security control: Limited Exposure: By default, Valkey often binds to the localhost interface, reducing exposure to external networks. (Common deployment practice)
  • security control: Data at Rest Encryption: While not natively built-in, data at rest encryption can be achieved through external mechanisms like disk encryption. (Common deployment practice)

Accepted Risks:

  • accepted risk: Reliance on Network Security: The primary security model often relies heavily on network security, assuming a trusted internal network. This can be a risk if the network perimeter is breached.
  • accepted risk: Limited Input Validation: While Valkey does some basic input parsing, it's primarily designed for performance, and extensive input validation could impact that. This places a responsibility on clients to send well-formed commands.
  • accepted risk: Denial of Service (DoS): Valkey, like any network service, is susceptible to DoS attacks. Mitigation relies on external mechanisms (e.g., rate limiting, load balancing).
  • accepted risk: No built-in auditing: Valkey has limited built-in auditing capabilities.

Recommended Security Controls:

  • security control: Enhanced Auditing: Implement more comprehensive audit logging to track data access and configuration changes. This is crucial for security investigations and compliance.
  • security control: Regular Security Audits: Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities.
  • security control: Integrate with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems: Forward logs to a SIEM for centralized monitoring and threat detection.
  • security control: Implement robust monitoring and alerting: Monitor key metrics (CPU usage, memory usage, network traffic, error rates) and set up alerts for anomalous behavior.
  • security control: Consider a Web Application Firewall (WAF): If Valkey is exposed to the public internet (not recommended), a WAF can provide an additional layer of protection.

Security Requirements:

  • Authentication:

    • All clients MUST authenticate before accessing data.
    • Strong password policies MUST be enforced.
    • Support for multi-factor authentication (MFA) SHOULD be considered.

  • Authorization:

    • ACLs MUST be used to restrict user permissions to the minimum necessary.
    • Regularly review and update ACLs.

  • Input Validation:

    • While extensive input validation might impact performance, basic checks for command syntax and data types SHOULD be performed.
    • Clients SHOULD be responsible for sanitizing data before sending it to Valkey.

  • Cryptography:

    • TLS/SSL MUST be used for all client-server communication.
    • Use strong, up-to-date ciphers and protocols.
    • Consider data-at-rest encryption using external mechanisms.

DESIGN

C4 CONTEXT

graph LR
    subgraph "Valkey System Context"
        ClientApp("Client Application") -- "Uses" --> Valkey
        Valkey("Valkey")
        ExternalSystem("External System") -- "Interacts with" --> Valkey
        AdminUser("Administrator") -- "Manages" --> Valkey
    end
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Element Descriptions:

  • Element:

    • Name: Client Application
    • Type: External System
    • Description: Any application that uses Valkey as a data store, cache, or message broker.
    • Responsibilities: Sending commands to Valkey, retrieving data from Valkey, handling responses from Valkey.
    • Security controls: Authenticate to Valkey, use TLS/SSL for communication, implement appropriate input validation.

  • Element:

    • Name: Valkey
    • Type: System
    • Description: The Valkey in-memory data structure store.
    • Responsibilities: Storing data, processing commands, managing connections, enforcing ACLs.
    • Security controls: Authentication, TLS/SSL support, ACLs, command renaming/disabling.

  • Element:

    • Name: External System
    • Type: External System
    • Description: Any external system that interacts with Valkey, such as a monitoring system or a backup service.
    • Responsibilities: Varies depending on the specific system.
    • Security controls: Authenticate to Valkey, use TLS/SSL for communication.

  • Element:

    • Name: Administrator
    • Type: User
    • Responsibilities: Configuring Valkey, managing users and ACLs, monitoring performance, performing backups.
    • Security controls: Strong authentication, access controls, potentially using a separate management interface.

C4 CONTAINER

graph LR
    subgraph "Valkey Containers"
        ClientApp("Client Application") -- "Uses" --> ValkeyServer("Valkey Server")
        ValkeyServer -- "Persistence" --> Persistence("Persistence Layer")
        AdminUser("Administrator") -- "Manages" --> ValkeyServer
    end
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Element Descriptions:

  • Element:

    • Name: Client Application
    • Type: External System
    • Description: Any application that uses Valkey.
    • Responsibilities: Sending commands, receiving data.
    • Security controls: Authentication, TLS/SSL.

  • Element:

    • Name: Valkey Server
    • Type: Container
    • Description: The main Valkey server process.
    • Responsibilities: Handling client connections, processing commands, managing data in memory, enforcing ACLs.
    • Security controls: Authentication, TLS/SSL, ACLs, command renaming/disabling.

  • Element:

    • Name: Persistence Layer
    • Type: Container
    • Description: Handles data persistence (RDB snapshots and/or AOF logs). This might be part of the Valkey Server process or a separate process.
    • Responsibilities: Writing data to disk, loading data from disk.
    • Security controls: File system permissions, potentially encryption at rest.

  • Element:

    • Name: Administrator
    • Type: User
    • Description: System administrator.
    • Responsibilities: Configuring and managing Valkey.
    • Security controls: Strong authentication, access controls.

DEPLOYMENT

Possible Deployment Solutions:

  1. Bare Metal/Virtual Machine: Deploy Valkey directly on a physical or virtual server.
  2. Docker Container: Deploy Valkey within a Docker container.
  3. Kubernetes: Deploy Valkey as a pod within a Kubernetes cluster.
  4. Cloud Provider Managed Service: Utilize a managed Redis/Valkey service from a cloud provider (e.g., AWS ElastiCache, Azure Cache for Redis, Google Cloud Memorystore).

Chosen Solution (for detailed description): Kubernetes

graph LR
    subgraph "Kubernetes Deployment"
        ClientApp("Client Application") -- "Network" --> Service("Valkey Service")
        Service -- "Kubernetes" --> Pod("Valkey Pod")
        Pod -- "Contains" --> ValkeyContainer("Valkey Container")
        ValkeyContainer -- "Mounts" --> Volume("Persistent Volume")
        AdminUser("Administrator") -- "kubectl" --> K8sAPI("Kubernetes API")
    end
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Element Descriptions:

  • Element:

    • Name: Client Application
    • Type: External System
    • Description: Application accessing Valkey.
    • Responsibilities: Connecting to Valkey, sending commands.
    • Security controls: Network security, TLS/SSL.

  • Element:

    • Name: Valkey Service
    • Type: Kubernetes Service
    • Description: A Kubernetes Service provides a stable endpoint for accessing the Valkey Pod(s).
    • Responsibilities: Load balancing traffic across multiple Valkey Pods (if applicable).
    • Security controls: Network policies.

  • Element:

    • Name: Valkey Pod
    • Type: Kubernetes Pod
    • Description: A Kubernetes Pod running the Valkey container.
    • Responsibilities: Running the Valkey server process.
    • Security controls: Kubernetes security context, network policies.

  • Element:

    • Name: Valkey Container
    • Type: Docker Container
    • Description: The Docker container containing the Valkey server.
    • Responsibilities: Running the Valkey server process.
    • Security controls: Container image security, resource limits.

  • Element:

    • Name: Persistent Volume
    • Type: Kubernetes Persistent Volume
    • Description: A persistent volume for storing Valkey data (if persistence is enabled).
    • Responsibilities: Providing persistent storage.
    • Security controls: Storage encryption, access controls.

  • Element:

    • Name: Administrator
    • Type: User
    • Description: System administrator.
    • Responsibilities: Managing the Kubernetes deployment.
    • Security controls: Kubernetes RBAC.

  • Element:

    • Name: Kubernetes API
    • Type: Kubernetes API Server
    • Description: The Kubernetes API server.
    • Responsibilities: Managing the Kubernetes cluster.
    • Security controls: Kubernetes RBAC, TLS/SSL.

BUILD

The Valkey build process, based on the GitHub repository, appears to utilize a standard make-based system.

graph LR
    Developer("Developer") -- "Writes Code" --> SourceCode("Source Code (GitHub)")
    SourceCode -- "git push" --> GitHubRepo("GitHub Repository")
    GitHubRepo -- "Trigger" --> BuildServer("Build Server (GitHub Actions)")
    BuildServer -- "make" --> Compiler("Compiler (GCC/Clang)")
    Compiler -- "Builds" --> ValkeyBinary("Valkey Binary")
    BuildServer -- "Tests" --> TestSuite("Test Suite")
    TestSuite -- "Results" --> BuildServer
    BuildServer -- "Packages" --> Artifact("Build Artifact (tar.gz)")
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Build Process Description:

  1. Developers write code and push it to the GitHub repository.
  2. GitHub Actions (or a similar CI/CD system) is triggered by the push.
  3. The build server checks out the code.
  4. The make command is used to compile the Valkey source code using a compiler like GCC or Clang.
  5. A test suite is run to verify the build.
  6. If the tests pass, a build artifact (e.g., a tar.gz file) is created.

Security Controls in Build Process:

  • security control: Version Control: The use of Git and GitHub provides version control and allows for tracking changes and identifying potential security issues introduced in specific commits.
  • security control: Automated Build: GitHub Actions (or similar) automates the build process, ensuring consistency and reducing the risk of manual errors.
  • security control: Automated Testing: The test suite helps to identify bugs and regressions, including potential security vulnerabilities.
  • security control: Dependency Management: The project should use a clear dependency management system (even if it's just Makefiles) to track and update dependencies, mitigating supply chain risks.
  • security control: Static Analysis: Integrating static analysis tools (SAST) into the build process (e.g., linters, code analyzers) can help identify potential security vulnerabilities early in the development lifecycle. This is highly recommended.
  • security control: Code Review: All code changes should be reviewed by at least one other developer before being merged. This is a crucial step for identifying security flaws.

RISK ASSESSMENT

Critical Business Processes:

  • Data Storage and Retrieval: Valkey's primary function is to store and retrieve data quickly and reliably. Failure of this process would be critical.
  • Caching: Valkey is often used as a cache to improve the performance of other applications. Failure of the caching functionality could significantly impact the performance of those applications.
  • Message Brokering: If used as a message broker, Valkey's ability to reliably deliver messages is critical.

Data Sensitivity:

The sensitivity of the data stored in Valkey depends entirely on how it's being used. It could range from:

  • Low Sensitivity: Temporary caching data that can be easily regenerated.
  • Medium Sensitivity: Session data, user preferences, non-critical application data.
  • High Sensitivity: Personally Identifiable Information (PII), financial data, authentication tokens. Storing highly sensitive data in Valkey without additional security measures (e.g., application-level encryption) is generally not recommended.

QUESTIONS & ASSUMPTIONS

Questions:

  • What specific compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, PCI DSS) apply to the use of Valkey? This will significantly impact the required security controls.
  • What is the expected scale of deployment (number of instances, data volume, request rate)? This will influence performance and security considerations.
  • Will Valkey be exposed to the public internet, or will it be deployed within a private network? This is a critical factor in determining the necessary network security measures.
  • What is the threat model for the applications using Valkey? Understanding the threats to the client applications will help to inform the security requirements for Valkey itself.
  • What level of data persistence is required? Will RDB snapshots be sufficient, or is AOF logging necessary?
  • Are there any specific performance targets that must be met?
  • What is the process for managing and rotating secrets (passwords, TLS certificates)?
  • What are the plans for monitoring and incident response?

Assumptions:

  • BUSINESS POSTURE: The primary goal is to provide a high-performance, reliable, and community-driven alternative to Redis.
  • SECURITY POSTURE: The initial security posture relies heavily on network security and basic authentication. It is assumed that Valkey will be deployed within a trusted network environment.
  • DESIGN: The design is based on the standard Redis architecture, with a focus on performance and compatibility. The deployment model is assumed to be Kubernetes-based, but other options are possible. The build process is assumed to be automated using GitHub Actions.