Description: An attacker gains direct access to the underlying storage (object storage, filesystem) where Loki stores log data. This could be achieved by exploiting misconfigured storage permissions or compromising storage account credentials. The attacker could then download or access raw log chunks and index data directly, bypassing Loki's access controls and accessing sensitive log information.
Impact: Confidentiality breach, exposure of sensitive log data, potential compliance violations, reputational damage.
Loki Component Affected: Storage Backend (Object Storage, Filesystem)
Risk Severity: High
Mitigation Strategies:
- Implement strong access control lists (ACLs) or Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies on the storage backend, restricting access to only authorized Loki components and administrators.
- Enable encryption at rest for the storage backend to protect data even if storage access is compromised.
- Regularly audit storage access logs to detect and investigate suspicious activity.
Description: An attacker attempts to bypass Loki's intended access controls and directly query the Loki Query API to retrieve logs they are not authorized to access. This could be done by exploiting weak or missing authentication mechanisms, bypassing authorization checks, or leveraging vulnerabilities in the Query API itself.
Impact: Confidentiality breach, unauthorized access to sensitive log data, potential data exfiltration, compliance violations, reputational damage.
Loki Component Affected: Querier, Distributor (API Gateway)
Risk Severity: Critical
Mitigation Strategies:
- Implement robust authentication for the Loki Query API using methods like OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, or basic authentication with strong credentials.
- Enforce granular authorization policies within Loki, utilizing multi-tenancy and label-based access control to restrict query access based on user roles or permissions.
- Regularly review and audit Loki access control configurations and user permissions.
Threat: Log Injection/Tampering
Description: An attacker injects malicious or falsified log entries into Loki. This could be achieved by compromising log shippers (e.g., Promtail) or exploiting vulnerabilities in the Loki ingestion pipeline (Distributor, Ingester). Injected logs could contain misleading information, malicious code, or be used to pollute audit trails, leading to incorrect analysis and potentially further attacks.
Impact: Integrity compromise, corrupted audit trails, inaccurate monitoring and alerting, potential for misleading investigations, injection of malicious code or data into downstream systems that consume logs.
Loki Component Affected: Distributor, Ingester, Log Shippers (Promtail, etc.)
Risk Severity: High
Mitigation Strategies:
- Secure log shippers and the log generation process. Implement authentication and encryption for communication between log shippers and Loki.
- Implement input validation and sanitization on log data at the ingestion point (Distributor, Ingester) to detect and reject potentially malicious entries.
- Consider using digital signatures or other integrity mechanisms to verify the authenticity and integrity of log data at the source or ingestion point.
Description: An attacker overwhelms Loki components (Ingesters, Distributors, Queriers, Compactor) with excessive requests or malicious payloads, causing service disruption or unavailability. This could target the API endpoints, ingestion pipeline, or query engine, making Loki unable to process or query logs.
Impact: Availability compromise, loss of logging capabilities, inability to monitor system health, delayed incident response, potential service outages.
Loki Component Affected: Distributor, Ingester, Querier, Compactor, API Gateway
Risk Severity: High
Mitigation Strategies:
- Implement rate limiting and request throttling on Loki API endpoints (Ingestion API, Query API).
- Deploy Loki behind a load balancer and Web Application Firewall (WAF) to mitigate common DoS attacks.
- Configure resource limits and quotas for Loki components to prevent resource exhaustion.
Description: Incorrectly configured Loki components (Ingesters, Distributors, Queriers, Compactor) can lead to security vulnerabilities, performance issues, or data loss. This could include weak authentication settings, overly permissive access controls, or misconfigured storage settings, directly impacting Loki's security and operational stability.
Impact: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability compromise, security breaches, data loss, service instability, performance degradation.
Loki Component Affected: All components (configuration)
Risk Severity: High
Mitigation Strategies:
- Follow security best practices and hardening guidelines for Loki deployment and configuration.
- Use infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools to manage Loki configurations and ensure consistency.
- Regularly review and audit Loki configurations for security vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
Threat: Vulnerabilities in Loki Software
Description: Vulnerabilities may be discovered in Loki's codebase itself. Exploiting these vulnerabilities could allow attackers to gain unauthorized access, cause service disruption, or compromise log data. This could include remote code execution vulnerabilities or authentication bypasses within Loki.
Impact: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability compromise, security breaches, data loss, service instability, potential for remote code execution, complete compromise of Loki infrastructure.
Loki Component Affected: All components (Loki codebase)
Risk Severity: Critical
Mitigation Strategies:
- Keep Loki updated to the latest version to patch known vulnerabilities.
- Subscribe to security advisories and vulnerability notifications for Loki.
- Implement a vulnerability management process to promptly address discovered vulnerabilities.