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Threat Model Analysis for hashicorp/consul

Threat: Unauthorized Access to Consul Servers

  • Description: An attacker gains unauthorized access to Consul server nodes, potentially by exploiting weak credentials, vulnerabilities in server OS, or network misconfigurations. They could use compromised credentials or exploit unpatched services running on the server.
    • Impact: Full control over the Consul cluster. This includes reading/modifying service discovery data, key-value store (secrets), disrupting services, and potentially pivoting to the underlying infrastructure.
    • Affected Consul Component: Consul Servers (Core Server Functionality, Data Storage, API)
    • Risk Severity: Critical
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Implement strong ACLs and enforce authentication for all server access.
      • Use TLS client certificates for server authentication.
      • Harden Consul server operating systems and apply security patches regularly.
      • Implement network segmentation to restrict access to Consul servers.
      • Regularly audit access logs and security configurations.
      • Apply principle of least privilege for server access.

Threat: Denial of Service (DoS) against Consul Servers

  • Description: An attacker floods Consul servers with excessive requests, overwhelming their resources and causing performance degradation or service outage. This could be achieved through API abuse, network flooding, or exploiting resource-intensive API calls.
    • Impact: Disruption of service discovery, configuration retrieval, and application functionality relying on Consul. Applications might fail to locate services or retrieve necessary configurations, leading to cascading failures.
    • Affected Consul Component: Consul Servers (API, Query Processing, Raft Consensus)
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Implement rate limiting and request throttling on Consul API endpoints.
      • Monitor Consul server resource utilization (CPU, memory, network).
      • Implement robust health checks and failover mechanisms within the Consul cluster.
      • Utilize network-level DoS protection (firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems).
      • Properly size Consul server infrastructure to handle expected load and bursts.

Threat: Data Corruption or Loss on Consul Servers

  • Description: Data within the Consul cluster becomes corrupted or lost due to software bugs, hardware failures, or malicious actions. An attacker might intentionally corrupt data through API manipulation if they gain unauthorized access.
    • Impact: Inconsistent service discovery, incorrect configuration data, application malfunctions, and potential data loss. This can lead to unpredictable application behavior and service disruptions.
    • Affected Consul Component: Consul Servers (Data Storage, Raft Consensus, Replication)
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Configure Consul cluster with sufficient server nodes for redundancy and fault tolerance (at least 3 servers in production).
      • Enable and regularly perform backups of Consul server data.
      • Monitor Consul server health and replication status.
      • Use durable storage for Consul server data (e.g., SSDs with RAID).
      • Implement disaster recovery plans and regularly test them.

Threat: Remote Code Execution (RCE) on Consul Servers

  • Description: An attacker exploits vulnerabilities in Consul server software to execute arbitrary code on server nodes. This could be through exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities in Consul itself or its dependencies.
    • Impact: Complete compromise of Consul servers, allowing attackers to control the cluster, access sensitive data, and potentially pivot to other systems within the infrastructure.
    • Affected Consul Component: Consul Servers (Core Server Processes, API)
    • Risk Severity: Critical
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Keep Consul server software up-to-date with the latest security patches.
      • Regularly perform vulnerability scanning of Consul server infrastructure.
      • Harden Consul server operating systems and follow security best practices.
      • Implement intrusion detection and prevention systems.
      • Minimize exposed surface area of Consul servers.

Threat: Compromised Consul Agents

  • Description: An attacker compromises Consul agents running on application nodes or other infrastructure components. This could be through vulnerabilities in the agent host OS, weak agent configurations, or by exploiting application vulnerabilities to gain access to the agent process.
    • Impact: Service registration manipulation (rogue services), health check manipulation (false status), data exfiltration (cached data), and potential local node compromise. This can lead to misdirection of traffic, service disruptions, and further attacks on the compromised node.
    • Affected Consul Component: Consul Agents (Agent Process, Service Registration, Health Checks, Local Cache)
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Implement strong authentication and authorization for agent communication with Consul servers (ACL tokens, TLS).
      • Securely deploy and configure Consul agents, following least privilege principles.
      • Regularly audit and secure agent host operating systems.
      • Monitor agent activity and logs for suspicious behavior.
      • Implement network segmentation to limit the impact of a compromised agent.

Threat: Unauthorized API Access

  • Description: An attacker gains unauthorized access to the Consul API, bypassing authentication and authorization mechanisms. This could be due to weak API access controls, exposed API endpoints, or vulnerabilities in API authentication.
    • Impact: Similar to unauthorized access to Consul servers, allowing manipulation of service discovery, configuration, and potentially cluster disruption. Attackers can use the API to register malicious services, modify configurations, or disrupt cluster operations.
    • Affected Consul Component: Consul API (HTTP API, gRPC API)
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Enforce strong authentication and authorization for all Consul API endpoints (ACLs, TLS client certificates).
      • Implement network segmentation to restrict API access to authorized clients and networks.
      • Regularly audit API access controls and ACL policies.
      • Use TLS for all API communication to protect credentials in transit.

Threat: API Authentication and Authorization Bypass

  • Description: Weaknesses or vulnerabilities in Consul's API authentication and authorization mechanisms are exploited to bypass security controls. Attackers might find flaws in ACL enforcement, token handling, or authentication protocols.
    • Impact: Unauthorized access to API functionalities, potentially leading to data breaches, service disruption, and cluster compromise. Attackers can bypass intended access restrictions and perform actions they are not authorized for.
    • Affected Consul Component: Consul API (ACL System, Authentication Modules)
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Enforce strong ACLs and regularly review and update ACL policies.
      • Use TLS for all API communication to protect credentials in transit and ensure secure authentication.
      • Keep Consul software up-to-date with security patches that address potential authentication/authorization vulnerabilities.
      • Regularly perform penetration testing of Consul API security, specifically focusing on authentication and authorization.