Attack Surface: 1. Unauthenticated Access to Mesos Master/Agent API
Description: The Mesos Master and Agent APIs provide control over the cluster. If these APIs are accessible without authentication, an attacker can gain complete control.
Mesos Contribution: Mesos exposes these APIs by default, and authentication is not enabled unless explicitly configured. This is a direct Mesos responsibility.
Example: An attacker sends a request to the /master/shutdown endpoint on an unauthenticated Master, causing the entire cluster to shut down. Or, an attacker uses the Agent API to launch a malicious container.
Impact: Complete cluster compromise, data loss, denial of service, arbitrary code execution.
Risk Severity: Critical
Mitigation Strategies:
* Enable Authentication: Configure Mesos to require authentication for all API access (e.g., using HTTP Basic Auth, Kerberos, or a custom authentication module).
* Network Segmentation: Restrict network access to the Master and Agent API endpoints using firewalls, security groups, or network policies. Only allow access from authorized clients and networks.
* TLS Encryption: Always use HTTPS with valid, trusted certificates to protect communication from eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks.
* Regular Audits: Periodically review authentication and network access configurations.
Attack Surface: 2. Weak or Default Credentials
Description: Even with authentication enabled, using weak, default, or easily guessable credentials allows attackers to bypass authentication. Mesos Contribution: While Mesos itself doesn't enforce weak credentials, the responsibility for setting strong credentials for Mesos components (Master, Agent, frameworks interacting with Mesos) falls directly within the Mesos deployment configuration. Example: An attacker uses a common username/password combination (e.g., "admin/admin") to gain access to the Mesos Master. Impact: Cluster compromise, data loss, denial of service, arbitrary code execution. Risk Severity: Critical Mitigation Strategies: * Strong Password Policies: Enforce strong password policies for all Mesos-related accounts (including framework credentials). * No Default Credentials: Ensure that Mesos is not deployed with any default credentials. Change all default settings immediately after installation. * Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Consider implementing MFA for critical accounts, especially for the Mesos Master. * Credential Rotation: Regularly rotate credentials to minimize the impact of compromised credentials.
Attack Surface: 3. Resource Exhaustion (DoS) - Mesos-Managed Resources
Description: A malicious or buggy task (or framework) can consume excessive resources (CPU, memory, disk, network) that are managed by Mesos, causing a denial of service for other tasks or the entire cluster. This is distinct from a general DoS on the host; it's specifically about resources Mesos allocates. Mesos Contribution: Mesos is directly responsible for resource allocation and scheduling. Without proper limits configured within Mesos, it can allow tasks to consume all available resources it manages. Example: A framework submits a large number of tasks that consume all available memory as reported to and managed by Mesos on the Mesos Agents, preventing other tasks from running. Impact: Denial of service, performance degradation, cluster instability. Risk Severity: High Mitigation Strategies: * Resource Quotas: Use Mesos's resource limiting features (cgroups, etc.) to enforce resource quotas for each task and framework. Define strict limits on CPU, memory, disk I/O, and network bandwidth within the Mesos configuration. * Framework Roles and Weights: Use Mesos roles and weights to prioritize resource allocation among different frameworks. * Monitoring and Alerting: Implement monitoring and alerting specifically for Mesos-managed resource utilization to detect exhaustion and take corrective action. * Rate Limiting (Master): Implement rate limiting on the Mesos Master API to prevent attackers from flooding it with requests.
Attack Surface: 4. Misconfigured ACLs (Access Control Lists)
Description: Mesos ACLs control which principals (users, frameworks) can perform which actions (e.g., register a framework, launch tasks, access resources). Misconfigured ACLs can grant excessive permissions, leading to unauthorized access or actions. Mesos Contribution: Mesos provides and relies on ACLs as its primary authorization mechanism. Their configuration is entirely within Mesos's control. Example: An ACL is configured to allow any framework to launch tasks on any Agent, allowing a compromised framework to take over the entire cluster. Impact: Unauthorized access to resources, data breaches, privilege escalation, cluster compromise. Risk Severity: High Mitigation Strategies: * Principle of Least Privilege: Design and implement ACLs following the principle of least privilege. Grant only the minimum necessary permissions to each principal. * Regular Audits: Regularly review and audit ACL configurations to ensure they are correct and up-to-date. * Testing: Thoroughly test ACL configurations to verify that they enforce the intended access controls. * Documentation: Clearly document ACL configurations and the rationale behind them.
Description: Mesos itself, and the libraries it directly depends on and includes (e.g., libprocess), may have vulnerabilities that can be exploited remotely. This excludes dependencies of container runtimes (covered separately) and focuses on components bundled with or directly required by Mesos. Mesos Contribution: Mesos directly incorporates and relies on these components. Their security is inseparable from Mesos's own security. Example: A vulnerability in libprocess allows an attacker to send a crafted message to the Mesos Master, causing it to crash or execute arbitrary code. Impact: Remote code execution, denial of service, cluster compromise. Risk Severity: High (depending on the specific vulnerability) Mitigation Strategies: * Regular Updates: Keep Mesos and all its directly included dependencies (including libprocess) updated to the latest stable versions. * Vulnerability Scanning: Use a vulnerability scanner to identify known vulnerabilities in Mesos and its direct dependencies. * Security Advisories: Monitor security advisories for Mesos and related projects (Apache, libprocess). * Dependency Management: Use a dependency management system to track and manage Mesos's own dependencies, making it easier to update them.
Description: Using HTTP instead of HTTPS for communication between Mesos components (Master, Agents, and frameworks communicating with the Mesos API) allows attackers to eavesdrop on traffic and potentially steal credentials or sensitive data. Mesos Contribution: Mesos supports both HTTP and HTTPS, but it's the user's responsibility within the Mesos configuration to configure HTTPS. This is a direct configuration choice within Mesos. Example: An attacker on the same network as the Mesos Master uses a packet sniffer to capture HTTP traffic to the Mesos API, revealing framework authentication credentials. Impact: Credential theft, data breaches, man-in-the-middle attacks. Risk Severity: High Mitigation Strategies: * Enforce HTTPS: Configure Mesos to use HTTPS for all communication between its components. Disable HTTP access entirely. * Valid Certificates: Use valid, trusted TLS certificates issued by a reputable certificate authority (CA). * Strong Ciphers: Configure Mesos to use strong TLS ciphers and protocols. Avoid weak or outdated ciphers.