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threat-modeling.md

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Threat Model Analysis for dragonflydb/dragonfly

Threat: Unauthenticated Access

  • Description: An attacker connects to the Dragonfly instance without providing any credentials. They can then issue any command, including reading, writing, and deleting all data. This occurs if authentication is disabled or a weak/default password is in use.
    • Impact: Complete data compromise (read, write, delete), potential for application disruption, session hijacking, and data corruption. Full control over the data store.
    • Affected Component: Core Dragonfly server, authentication mechanism (AUTH command handling, password validation logic).
    • Risk Severity: Critical
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Mandatory: Enable strong password authentication using --requirepass with a complex, randomly generated, and frequently rotated password. Never use a default or easily guessable password.
      • Consider using ACLs (if supported by the Dragonfly version) to further restrict access based on user roles, even after authentication.

Threat: Data Tampering via Unauthorized Connection

  • Description: Following successful unauthenticated access, an attacker modifies data stored in Dragonfly. They can use commands like SET, HSET, LPUSH, etc., to alter existing data or inject malicious data, bypassing any application-level controls.
    • Impact: Data corruption, application malfunction, incorrect business logic execution, potential for session hijacking if session data is modified. The integrity of the data store is compromised.
    • Affected Component: All data storage and manipulation commands (e.g., SET, GET, HSET, HGET, LPUSH, LPOP, and all other write commands).
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Crucially: Implement strong authentication and authorization (as described above). This is the primary defense.
      • Secondary: Application-level data validation is a good practice but cannot prevent this threat if Dragonfly itself is compromised.

Threat: Memory Exhaustion DoS (Targeting Dragonfly)

  • Description: An attacker sends a large number of requests specifically designed to consume Dragonfly's memory, or stores excessively large values, causing Dragonfly to become unresponsive or crash. This is a direct attack on Dragonfly's in-memory nature.
    • Impact: Denial of service specifically targeting Dragonfly, application unavailability, potential data loss if persistence is not configured or fails.
    • Affected Component: Dragonfly's memory management, data storage allocation.
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Essential: Set a memory limit using --maxmemory. This is Dragonfly's built-in defense.
      • Essential: Configure an appropriate eviction policy using --maxmemory-policy (e.g., allkeys-lru, volatile-lru, allkeys-random). Choose a policy that suits your application's data access patterns.
      • Monitor Dragonfly's memory usage and set up alerts for high memory consumption specifically within Dragonfly.

Threat: Snapshot Exposure (Direct Dragonfly Data)

  • Description: An attacker gains access to Dragonfly's snapshot files (RDB or AOF). These files contain a direct copy of the data stored in Dragonfly. Exposure leads to a complete data breach of the Dragonfly data store.
    • Impact: Data breach, exposure of all sensitive information stored in Dragonfly.
    • Affected Component: Snapshotting mechanism (RDB and AOF file generation and storage, file system permissions where these files are stored).
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Store snapshot files in a secure location with strictly restricted access permissions (file system level).
      • Encrypt snapshot files at rest. This is crucial.
      • Regularly rotate snapshot files and securely delete old ones.
      • Never store snapshots on publicly accessible locations or locations accessible to untrusted users/processes.

Threat: Dragonfly Code Vulnerability Exploitation

  • Description: An attacker exploits a vulnerability in the Dragonfly codebase itself (e.g., a buffer overflow, format string vulnerability, or a logic error in a command handler) to gain arbitrary code execution or elevate privileges within the context of the Dragonfly process.
    • Impact: Complete system compromise (potentially beyond just Dragonfly), data breach, denial of service. This is the most severe type of threat.
    • Affected Component: Potentially any part of the Dragonfly codebase, depending on the specific vulnerability.
    • Risk Severity: Critical
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Paramount: Keep Dragonfly absolutely up to date with the latest security patches. Subscribe to security advisories for Dragonfly and apply updates immediately when released.
      • Run Dragonfly as a non-root user with strictly limited privileges. This limits the damage if a vulnerability is exploited.
      • Use a containerization technology (e.g., Docker) to isolate Dragonfly and further limit the impact of a potential compromise. The container should have minimal privileges.
      • Regularly perform security audits and penetration testing, specifically targeting the Dragonfly instance.

Threat: Module Loading Vulnerability (Dragonfly-Specific)

  • Description: If Dragonfly is configured to load external modules (using --loadmodule), an attacker could trick Dragonfly into loading a malicious module that grants them unauthorized access or control over the Dragonfly instance itself.
    • Impact: System compromise (of the Dragonfly process and potentially the host), data breach, denial of service. This is a direct attack on Dragonfly's extensibility.
    • Affected Component: Module loading mechanism (--loadmodule, module loading and execution logic).
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Only load modules from trusted sources. This is critical.
      • Verify the integrity of modules before loading them (e.g., using checksums or digital signatures, and verifying the source).
      • Run Dragonfly with limited privileges (as above) to minimize the impact of a compromised module.
      • Avoid using modules unless absolutely necessary. If you don't need modules, don't enable them.
      • If using modules, ensure they are kept up-to-date with security patches, just like Dragonfly itself.