Mitigation Strategy: Implement Service-to-Service Authentication and Authorization using Kratos Middleware
Description:
- Choose an Authentication/Authorization Mechanism: Select a suitable mechanism for service-to-service authentication and authorization. Common choices include JWT (JSON Web Tokens), API Keys, or custom token-based authentication.
- Implement Authentication Middleware in Kratos Services: Utilize Kratos middleware to intercept incoming requests in each service. This middleware will be responsible for:
- Authentication: Verifying the identity of the calling service. For JWT, this involves validating the token signature and issuer. For API Keys, it involves checking the key against a store of valid keys.
- Authorization: Enforcing access control policies to determine if the authenticated service is authorized to access the requested resource or endpoint. This can be role-based access control (RBAC), attribute-based access control (ABAC), or policy-based authorization.
- Configure Kratos Services to Issue and Verify Tokens (if using JWT): If using JWT, configure a dedicated service (or a shared component) to issue JWTs to legitimate services upon successful authentication. Configure Kratos services to verify these JWTs using a shared secret or public key.
- Apply Middleware to Relevant Endpoints: Apply the authentication and authorization middleware to all relevant gRPC or HTTP endpoints in your Kratos services that require service-to-service security.
- Test and Enforce Authentication/Authorization: Thoroughly test inter-service communication to ensure that the middleware correctly authenticates and authorizes requests. Verify that unauthorized services are denied access.
List of Threats Mitigated:
- Unauthorized Inter-Service Communication (High Severity): Prevents unauthorized services from accessing internal APIs and resources, mitigating risks of data breaches, service disruption, and privilege escalation.
- Service Impersonation (High Severity): Makes it difficult for a malicious service to impersonate a legitimate service, as each service's identity is verified through authentication mechanisms.
- Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks (Reduced Severity - Authentication Focus): While mTLS provides encryption, application-level authentication adds another layer of defense against MITM attacks by ensuring even if traffic is intercepted, unauthorized services cannot gain access without valid credentials.
Impact:
- Unauthorized Inter-Service Communication: High risk reduction. Kratos middleware provides a direct mechanism to enforce access control between services.
- Service Impersonation: High risk reduction. Authentication middleware verifies service identity, making impersonation significantly harder.
- Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks: Medium risk reduction (authentication aspect). While encryption is crucial for MITM prevention (mTLS), authentication middleware ensures that even if encryption is bypassed or broken, unauthorized access is still prevented.
Currently Implemented:
- Not implemented. Currently, there is no service-to-service authentication or authorization implemented using Kratos middleware. Services are communicating without explicit identity verification at the application level.
Missing Implementation:
- Implementation of authentication middleware in Kratos services. Selection and configuration of an authentication/authorization mechanism (e.g., JWT, API Keys). Development of authorization policies. Application of middleware to relevant service endpoints.
Mitigation Strategy: Implement Authentication and Authorization within Kratos Services using Kratos Middleware
Description:
- Choose an Authentication Strategy: Select an authentication method for end-users or external clients accessing your Kratos services. Options include username/password, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, API Keys, etc.
- Implement Authentication Middleware in Kratos: Utilize Kratos authentication middleware to handle user authentication. This middleware will:
- Extract Credentials: Extract user credentials from requests (e.g., from headers, cookies, or request body).
- Verify Credentials: Validate the provided credentials against an identity provider or user database.
- Establish User Identity: Upon successful authentication, establish the user's identity and make it available to the application context (e.g., through context values in Kratos).
- Implement Authorization Middleware in Kratos: Use Kratos authorization middleware to enforce access control policies. This middleware will:
- Retrieve User Identity: Obtain the authenticated user's identity from the context.
- Evaluate Authorization Policies: Based on the user's identity and the requested resource/action, evaluate predefined authorization policies (e.g., RBAC, ABAC).
- Grant or Deny Access: Allow or deny access to the requested resource based on the authorization decision.
- Define Granular Authorization Policies: Define fine-grained authorization policies to control access to specific endpoints and operations within your Kratos services. Policies should be based on roles, permissions, attributes, or a combination thereof.
- Apply Middleware to Protected Endpoints: Apply both authentication and authorization middleware to all Kratos service endpoints that require access control.
List of Threats Mitigated:
- Unauthorized Access to Resources (High Severity): Prevents unauthorized users or clients from accessing sensitive data or performing restricted actions within Kratos services.
- Privilege Escalation (Medium Severity): Properly implemented authorization middleware helps prevent users from gaining access to resources or operations beyond their authorized privileges.
- Data Breaches due to Unprotected Endpoints (High Severity): Ensures that sensitive endpoints are protected by authentication and authorization, reducing the risk of data breaches.
Impact:
- Unauthorized Access to Resources: High risk reduction. Kratos middleware provides a direct and effective way to control access to resources based on user identity and policies.
- Privilege Escalation: Medium to High risk reduction. Granular authorization policies and middleware enforcement minimize the risk of privilege escalation.
- Data Breaches due to Unprotected Endpoints: High risk reduction. Authentication and authorization middleware are essential for protecting sensitive endpoints and preventing data breaches.
Currently Implemented:
- Partially implemented. Basic authentication might be present in some services, but consistent and robust authentication and authorization using Kratos middleware with well-defined policies are missing.
Missing Implementation:
- Consistent implementation of authentication middleware across all Kratos services. Implementation of authorization middleware and definition of granular authorization policies. Integration with an identity provider or user management system. Application of middleware to all protected endpoints.
Mitigation Strategy: Implement Comprehensive Security Logging within Kratos Services
Description:
- Identify Security-Relevant Events in Kratos Services: Determine which events within your Kratos services are critical for security monitoring and incident response. Examples include:
- Authentication attempts (successes and failures)
- Authorization decisions (permits and denies)
- Access control violations
- Input validation errors
- Errors related to security configurations
- Changes to sensitive data (if applicable and auditable)
- Utilize Kratos Logging Library for Structured Logging: Configure Kratos services to use the built-in Kratos logging library to generate structured logs (e.g., JSON format). Structured logging makes logs easier to parse and analyze programmatically.
- Include Security Context in Logs: Ensure that security-relevant logs include sufficient context for analysis. This may include:
- Timestamp
- Service Name
- User ID (if authenticated)
- Request ID
- Event Type (e.g., "authentication_failure", "authorization_denied")
- Details of the event (e.g., attempted username, requested resource)
- Configure Log Levels for Security Events: Use appropriate log levels (e.g., "Warn", "Error", "Info") to categorize security events based on their severity. This helps prioritize security alerts and analysis.
- Integrate Kratos Logging with Centralized Logging System: Configure Kratos services to ship their logs to a centralized logging system (as mentioned in the previous full list - though the focus here is on the Kratos service logging part).
List of Threats Mitigated:
- Delayed Incident Detection (High Severity): Without security-focused logging within Kratos services, security incidents occurring within the application logic can go unnoticed.
- Insufficient Incident Response Information (Medium Severity): Lack of detailed security logs from Kratos services hinders effective incident investigation and root cause analysis.
- Compliance Violations (Variable Severity): Many security compliance standards require application-level security logging.
Impact:
- Delayed Incident Detection: High risk reduction. Security logging within Kratos services provides visibility into application-level security events, enabling faster detection.
- Insufficient Incident Response Information: High risk reduction. Detailed security logs from Kratos services provide crucial context for incident investigation.
- Compliance Violations: High risk reduction. Implementing security logging in Kratos services helps meet compliance requirements.
Currently Implemented:
- Basic logging is present in Kratos services, but it is not specifically focused on security events and might not be structured or detailed enough for effective security monitoring.
Missing Implementation:
- Identification and implementation of logging for key security events within Kratos services. Configuration of structured logging using the Kratos logging library. Inclusion of security context in logs. Integration of Kratos logging with a centralized logging system for security analysis.