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threat-modeling.md

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Threat Model Analysis for milvus-io/milvus

Threat: Unauthorized Data Access via Weak Authentication (Direct Milvus)

  • Threat: Unauthorized Data Access via Weak Authentication (Direct Milvus)

    • Description: An attacker gains access to sensitive vector data and metadata stored within Milvus by exploiting weak or default credentials, or a misconfigured authentication system within Milvus itself. The attacker directly interacts with the Milvus API using compromised credentials.
    • Impact: Complete compromise of data confidentiality. Attackers can read, copy, or exfiltrate all data stored in Milvus. This could lead to privacy violations, intellectual property theft, or reputational damage.
    • Milvus Component Affected:
      • Proxy: The entry point for client connections, responsible for authentication.
      • RootCoord: Manages user and role information (if RBAC is enabled).
      • Milvus Server (general): Authentication logic throughout the server.
    • Risk Severity: Critical
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Enforce Strong Authentication: Mandate strong, unique passwords for all Milvus users. Consider multi-factor authentication (MFA) if supported by the Milvus version or through an external authentication proxy.
      • Disable Default Accounts: Change or disable any default accounts and passwords immediately after Milvus installation.
      • Implement RBAC: Utilize Milvus's Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) features (if available in your version) to grant granular permissions to users and applications, limiting access based on the principle of least privilege.
      • Regular Password Audits: Periodically audit user passwords and enforce password complexity policies.
      • Integrate with Identity Provider: Integrate Milvus with a centralized identity provider (e.g., LDAP, Active Directory, OAuth 2.0) for centralized user management and authentication, if supported.

Threat: Network Exposure and Direct Attack (Direct Milvus)

  • Threat: Network Exposure and Direct Attack (Direct Milvus)

    • Description: An attacker directly connects to the Milvus service because the Milvus network ports are exposed to the internet or a less-trusted network without proper network segmentation. The attacker bypasses any application-level security controls and interacts directly with the Milvus API, exploiting any weaknesses in the exposed service.
    • Impact: Potential for complete data compromise (read, write, delete) and denial of service. The attacker could exploit any vulnerabilities in the Milvus server directly, without needing to compromise the application layer.
    • Milvus Component Affected:
      • Proxy: The exposed network endpoint.
      • All Milvus components accessible via the network.
    • Risk Severity: Critical
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Network Segmentation: Isolate Milvus within a private network or VPC. Use firewalls (e.g., security groups in cloud environments) and network policies (e.g., Kubernetes NetworkPolicies) to strictly limit access to only authorized clients and networks.
      • VPN or Private Link: Use a VPN or private link (e.g., AWS PrivateLink) to establish secure connections to Milvus from client applications, avoiding public internet exposure.
      • Never Expose Directly: Absolutely avoid exposing Milvus ports directly to the public internet.
      • Ingress Controller (Kubernetes): If deploying in Kubernetes, use an Ingress controller with proper TLS termination and strict access control rules, ensuring only authorized traffic reaches the Milvus service.

Threat: Exploitation of Milvus Server Vulnerabilities (Direct Milvus)

  • Threat: Exploitation of Milvus Server Vulnerabilities (Direct Milvus)

    • Description: An attacker exploits a vulnerability within the Milvus server code itself (e.g., buffer overflow, remote code execution, or other flaws specific to Milvus) to gain unauthorized access or control. The attacker might use publicly disclosed exploits or discover zero-day vulnerabilities specific to Milvus.
    • Impact: Potentially complete system compromise. The attacker could gain control of the Milvus server, access all data, modify data, or disrupt service. The impact is directly tied to the exploited Milvus component.
    • Milvus Component Affected:
      • Potentially any Milvus component, depending on the specific vulnerability. This could include Proxy, QueryCoord, DataCoord, IndexCoord, RootCoord, or worker nodes.
    • Risk Severity: Critical
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Keep Milvus Updated: Regularly update Milvus to the latest stable version to patch known security vulnerabilities. Subscribe to Milvus security advisories and apply patches promptly.
      • Vulnerability Scanning: Regularly scan the Milvus deployment for vulnerabilities using vulnerability scanners that specifically target Milvus and its known dependencies.
      • Penetration Testing: Conduct periodic penetration testing specifically targeting the Milvus deployment to identify and address vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them.
      • Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP): Consider using RASP technology to provide runtime protection against exploits (if compatible with Milvus and its environment). This is a more advanced mitigation.

Threat: Data Poisoning via Malicious Vector Insertion (Direct Milvus)

  • Threat: Data Poisoning via Malicious Vector Insertion (Direct Milvus)

    • Description: An attacker with write access to Milvus inserts carefully crafted "poison" vectors directly into Milvus to degrade the accuracy or performance of similarity searches. The attacker bypasses any application-level validation by directly interacting with the Milvus API.
    • Impact: Reduced accuracy and reliability of similarity searches. This could lead to incorrect results, flawed decision-making, or denial of service if the poisoned vectors cause excessive resource consumption. The impact is directly on the quality of Milvus's search results.
    • Milvus Component Affected:
      • DataCoord: Handles data insertion and persistence.
      • IndexCoord: Builds and manages indexes, which are affected by poisoned data.
      • QueryCoord: Performs similarity searches, which are directly impacted by poisoned data.
      • Proxy: Accepts the insert requests.
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Strict Access Control (Milvus): Implement very strict access control within Milvus, limiting write access to the absolute minimum number of trusted users and applications. Use RBAC (if available) to enforce fine-grained permissions.
      • Data Provenance Tracking (Milvus): If Milvus supports it, enable features to track the origin and history of each vector to help identify and trace back poisoned data.
      • Anomaly Detection (Milvus-Specific): If Milvus offers anomaly detection capabilities for incoming data, enable and configure them to identify unusual vectors that might be malicious.
      • Regular Auditing (Milvus Logs): Regularly audit Milvus logs for suspicious insert operations, looking for patterns or anomalies that might indicate a poisoning attack.

Threat: Denial of Service via Resource Exhaustion (Direct Milvus)

  • Threat: Denial of Service via Resource Exhaustion (Direct Milvus)

    • Description: An attacker sends a large number of complex or computationally expensive queries directly to the Milvus service, exhausting server resources (CPU, memory, network bandwidth, disk I/O) and making the service unavailable to legitimate users. The attacker targets Milvus's query processing capabilities directly.
    • Impact: Milvus service becomes unavailable, disrupting applications that rely on it. The impact is a direct denial of service to Milvus.
    • Milvus Component Affected:
      • QueryCoord: Handles query processing and is the primary target of resource exhaustion attacks.
      • Proxy: Receives and forwards queries.
      • Worker nodes: Perform the actual similarity search computations.
      • Potentially any component involved in query processing.
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Rate Limiting and Throttling (Milvus/Proxy): Implement rate limiting and throttling at the Milvus Proxy level or within Milvus itself (if supported) to restrict the number of requests from a single client or IP address.
      • Resource Quotas (Milvus): Configure resource quotas (CPU, memory, etc.) within Milvus for users, roles, or collections to prevent any single entity from monopolizing resources.
      • Query Complexity Limits (Milvus): Set limits on the complexity of allowed queries within Milvus (e.g., maximum number of vectors in a search, maximum distance threshold, maximum number of results).
      • Load Balancing (Milvus Cluster): Deploy Milvus in a clustered configuration with load balancing to distribute traffic across multiple instances, increasing resilience to DoS attacks.
      • Monitoring and Alerting (Milvus Metrics): Implement robust monitoring of Milvus resource usage (CPU, memory, network, etc.) and set up alerts for unusual activity that might indicate a DoS attack.

Threat: Data Loss due to Misconfiguration or Lack of Backups (Direct Milvus Impact)

  • Threat: Data Loss due to Misconfiguration or Lack of Backups (Direct Milvus Impact)

    • Description: Data stored in Milvus is permanently lost due to incorrect configuration of the underlying storage (e.g., MinIO, S3) used by Milvus, accidental deletion within Milvus, hardware failure, or software bugs within Milvus, without adequate backups or replication configured for Milvus.
    • Impact: Permanent loss of vector data and metadata managed by Milvus. This can have severe consequences for applications that rely on Milvus for vector search.
    • Milvus Component Affected:
      • DataCoord: Manages data persistence.
      • Underlying storage system (e.g., MinIO, S3, shared storage) as configured for Milvus.
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Data Replication (Milvus): Use Milvus's built-in replication features (if available) to ensure data redundancy within the Milvus deployment.
      • Regular Backups (Milvus Data): Implement a robust backup and recovery strategy, including regular backups of the Milvus data and configuration to a separate, secure location. This is distinct from application-level backups.
      • Disaster Recovery Plan (Milvus): Develop a disaster recovery plan that outlines procedures for restoring Milvus service in the event of a major outage.
      • Configuration Management (Milvus): Use infrastructure-as-code (IaC) to manage the configuration of Milvus and its storage system, ensuring consistency and repeatability.
      • Testing Backups (Milvus): Regularly test the backup and restore procedures specifically for Milvus to ensure they are working correctly.

Threat: Insider Threat - Malicious Data Exfiltration or Modification (Direct Milvus Access)

  • Threat: Insider Threat - Malicious Data Exfiltration or Modification (Direct Milvus Access)

    • Description: A malicious or negligent insider with legitimate access to the Milvus deployment exfiltrates data, modifies data, or disrupts service by directly interacting with Milvus.
    • Impact: Data breach, data corruption, or service disruption, depending on the insider's actions and access level within Milvus.
    • Milvus Component Affected: Potentially any component, depending on the insider's access level within Milvus.
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Least Privilege Principle (Milvus RBAC): Grant users and applications only the minimum necessary permissions within Milvus. Use Milvus's RBAC (if available) extensively.
      • Monitoring and Auditing (Milvus Logs): Implement robust monitoring and auditing of Milvus access logs to detect and respond to suspicious activity. Focus on actions performed within Milvus.
      • Separation of Duties (Milvus Roles): Implement separation of duties within Milvus roles to prevent any single individual from having complete control over the system.
      • Regular Security Awareness Training: Provide regular security awareness training to all personnel with access to Milvus, emphasizing the importance of data security and the consequences of malicious actions.