Threat: Vulnerability in Viper Library
- Description: A security vulnerability is discovered in the Viper library itself (e.g., a buffer overflow, an injection vulnerability, or a logic flaw). An attacker exploits this vulnerability to manipulate the configuration or potentially execute arbitrary code. This is a direct threat to Viper as the vulnerability resides within the library's code.
- Impact:
- Varies depending on the specific vulnerability, but could range from configuration manipulation to arbitrary code execution.
- Viper Component Affected: Potentially any part of the Viper library.
- Risk Severity: Variable (depends on the vulnerability; could be Critical or High).
- Mitigation Strategies:
- Keep Viper updated to the latest version.
- Monitor security advisories and vulnerability databases for information about Viper.
- Use a software composition analysis (SCA) tool to identify known vulnerabilities in dependencies.
- Description: An attacker directly accesses the remote configuration store (e.g., etcd, Consul) because the application is configured through Viper to connect without proper authentication or authorization. The attacker reads or modifies the application's configuration. This directly involves Viper's remote provider functionality.
- Impact:
- Confidentiality breach: Exposure of sensitive configuration data.
- Data manipulation: Modification of configuration settings, potentially leading to denial of service or other attacks.
- Potential for complete system compromise.
- Viper Component Affected: Remote configuration provider integration (e.g.,
viper.AddRemoteProvider(),viper.WatchRemoteConfigOnChannel()). - Risk Severity: Critical.
- Mitigation Strategies:
- Always use strong authentication (e.g., API keys, client certificates) when connecting to remote configuration stores within Viper's configuration.
- Implement authorization mechanisms (e.g., ACLs) to restrict access to specific configuration keys.
- Use TLS/SSL for secure communication with the remote configuration store, configured through Viper.
- Description: An attacker intercepts the network traffic between the application and the remote configuration store, facilitated by Viper's remote configuration features. The attacker modifies the configuration data in transit, injecting malicious settings or stealing sensitive information. This is a direct threat to Viper's remote configuration handling.
- Impact:
- Confidentiality breach: Exposure of sensitive configuration data.
- Data manipulation: Modification of configuration settings.
- Potential for denial of service or other attacks.
- Viper Component Affected: Remote configuration provider integration (e.g.,
viper.AddRemoteProvider(),viper.WatchRemoteConfigOnChannel()). - Risk Severity: High.
- Mitigation Strategies:
- Always use TLS/SSL with proper certificate validation to secure the communication channel, configured within Viper.
- Verify the server's certificate against a trusted certificate authority (CA).
- Consider certificate pinning for enhanced security, configured as part of the Viper setup.
- Description: The application relies on Viper's
SetDefault()function to provide default values for sensitive configuration settings (e.g., API keys, secrets) when no other configuration source provides a value. These defaults might be hardcoded in the application code and inadvertently exposed. This is a direct misuse of Viper's functionality. - Impact:
- Confidentiality breach: Exposure of sensitive information.
- Viper Component Affected:
viper.SetDefault()and the overall configuration loading process. - Risk Severity: High.
- Mitigation Strategies:
- Never use default values for sensitive configuration settings with
viper.SetDefault(). - Require explicit configuration for all sensitive values.
- If a default value must be used for a non-sensitive setting, use a placeholder value (e.g., "REPLACE_ME") and log a warning or error if the default is being used.
- Never use default values for sensitive configuration settings with