Attack Surface: Malicious Key/Value Input (Data Corruption/Logic Errors)
Description: Attackers inject crafted keys or values that, while valid for LevelDB, are semantically incorrect for the application, leading to data corruption or unexpected behavior.
How LevelDB Contributes: LevelDB stores data as raw byte arrays; it doesn't enforce any application-level schema or data validation. This is the core of the risk: LevelDB accepts anything.
Example: An application uses LevelDB to store user permissions. An attacker, through a vulnerability elsewhere, writes an invalid permission level (e.g., a string instead of an integer) for their user ID, gaining elevated privileges. LevelDB accepts this invalid data without complaint.
Impact: Data corruption, unauthorized access, application malfunction.
Risk Severity: Critical
Mitigation Strategies: * Developers: * Implement rigorous input validation and sanitization before data is written to LevelDB. This is the primary defense and is absolutely crucial because LevelDB provides no inherent protection here. * Define and enforce a strict schema for keys and values. Use a serialization format (e.g., Protocol Buffers) if necessary. * Consider cryptographic hashes/signatures to verify data integrity after retrieval from LevelDB (detecting corruption that might have occurred).
Attack Surface: Direct Filesystem Access (Data Breach/Corruption)
Description: Attackers gain unauthorized access to the LevelDB data files on the filesystem.
How LevelDB Contributes: LevelDB stores data in files (SSTables, MANIFEST, LOG) on the local filesystem. This is its fundamental storage mechanism.
Example: An attacker exploits a server vulnerability to gain shell access and then reads or modifies the LevelDB data files directly, bypassing all application-level security.
Impact: Data breach (confidentiality loss), data corruption, data loss.
Risk Severity: Critical
Mitigation Strategies: * Developers: * Ensure the application runs with the least privileged user account. * Configure strict filesystem permissions on the LevelDB data directory, allowing access only to the application's user. This is a direct mitigation against this specific attack. * Users/System Administrators: * Use filesystem encryption (e.g., dm-crypt, BitLocker) to protect the data at rest. This is a crucial defense-in-depth measure. * Implement intrusion detection systems (IDS) and file integrity monitoring (FIM).
Attack Surface: Compromised LevelDB Build/Dependency (Supply Chain Attack)
Description: A malicious version of the LevelDB library itself is used.
How LevelDB Contributes: The application's security is directly tied to the integrity of the LevelDB library it uses. If the library is compromised, the entire application is vulnerable.
Example: An attacker compromises a third-party mirror hosting LevelDB binaries and replaces the legitimate library with a backdoored version. The application unknowingly uses this compromised library.
Impact: Complete system compromise; arbitrary code execution.
Risk Severity: Critical
Mitigation Strategies:
* Developers:
* Download LevelDB only from official sources (the Google GitHub repository).
* Verify the integrity of downloaded binaries using checksums (SHA-256) or digital signatures. This is essential.
* Build LevelDB from source in a secure, isolated environment, if feasible.
* Use dependency management tools that support integrity checking (e.g., go mod with checksum verification).
* Regularly update LevelDB.