Attack Surface Analysis for spf13/cobra

Attack Surface: Command Parsing Vulnerabilities

Description: Weaknesses in Cobra's core command parsing logic that could allow attackers to manipulate or bypass intended command structures.
Cobra Contribution: Cobra's primary function is command parsing. Vulnerabilities here are inherent to Cobra's design and implementation.
Example: An attacker crafts a command like mycli command1 --flag="value" ; malicious_command. If Cobra incorrectly handles special characters in command names or flag values, it might execute the injected malicious_command.
Impact: Command injection, unauthorized command execution, potential for arbitrary code execution depending on application privileges and injected commands.
Risk Severity: High to Critical
Mitigation Strategies:
- Keep Cobra Updated: Regularly update Cobra to the latest version to benefit from bug fixes and security patches in command parsing.
- Security Audits: Conduct security audits and penetration testing specifically focusing on command parsing, especially with complex command structures.

Attack Surface: Flag Parsing Vulnerabilities

Description: Vulnerabilities in how Cobra parses and handles flags (options), potentially allowing injection or manipulation of flag values.
Cobra Contribution: Cobra is responsible for flag parsing. Flaws in this process are directly attributable to Cobra.
Example: An attacker provides a flag like --file-path="../sensitive/data.txt". If Cobra's parsing doesn't prevent or sanitize path traversal characters, and the application uses this unsanitized path, it leads to a vulnerability.
Impact: Path traversal, flag injection leading to unintended application behavior, potential for information disclosure or privilege escalation.
Risk Severity: High
Mitigation Strategies:
- Keep Cobra Updated: Ensure Cobra is up-to-date to patch any flag parsing vulnerabilities.
- Input Validation and Sanitization (Application Level): Critically, always validate and sanitize flag values after Cobra parsing within the application logic. Specifically for file paths, use secure path handling functions.
- Flag Whitelisting (Application Level): Define and whitelist expected flags and reject unknown flags to prevent flag injection attacks at the application level.

Attack Surface: Custom Completion Function Vulnerabilities

Description: Security weaknesses in custom shell completion functions, which are a feature provided by Cobra.
Cobra Contribution: Cobra provides the mechanism for custom completion functions. Insecurely written functions directly leverage Cobra's completion feature to introduce vulnerabilities.
Example: A completion function executes an external command based on user input without sanitization. A malicious input during completion could lead to command injection executed during the completion process itself.
Impact: Arbitrary code execution on the user's machine during command completion, information disclosure if completion functions access sensitive data insecurely.
Risk Severity: High
Mitigation Strategies:
- Secure Completion Function Design: Design completion functions to be simple and safe. Avoid external command execution or complex logic within them.
- Input Sanitization in Completion Functions: If external data is used, rigorously sanitize any data used in shell commands or displayed to the user within completion functions.
- Code Review and Testing: Thoroughly review and test custom completion functions for potential vulnerabilities.