attack-surface.md

Attack Surface Analysis for betamaxteam/betamax

Attack Surface: Insecure Tape Storage Location

• Description: Betamax tapes are stored as files, and if the storage location is not properly secured, unauthorized access can occur.
• Betamax Contribution: Betamax's core functionality relies on storing tapes in a file system location, making the security of this location a direct concern for Betamax users.
• Example: Tapes are stored in a world-readable directory on a shared server. An attacker gains access to these tapes by simply browsing the file system.
• Impact: Exposure of sensitive data contained within tapes (API keys, passwords, personal data, internal API details). Potential for tape tampering if write access is also gained.
• Risk Severity: High
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Store tapes in directories with restricted access permissions, ensuring only authorized users and processes can read and write.
  • Avoid storing tapes within publicly accessible web server directories.
  • Consider storing tapes in encrypted file systems or dedicated secure storage solutions.

Attack Surface: Accidental Inclusion of Sensitive Data in Tapes

• Description: Developers may unintentionally record sensitive information within HTTP requests or responses stored in Betamax tapes.
• Betamax Contribution: Betamax's default behavior is to record HTTP interactions verbatim, including headers, bodies, and URLs, which can inadvertently capture sensitive data.
• Example: An API request includes an API key in the Authorization header, or a response contains user passwords. These are recorded in the tape and become vulnerable if the tape is compromised.
• Impact: Data breach and exposure of sensitive credentials or personal information. Potential for identity theft, unauthorized access, and further attacks using leaked credentials.
• Risk Severity: Critical
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Implement robust request and response filtering in Betamax configuration to redact or remove sensitive data before recording.
  • Regularly review tapes to identify and manually remove any accidentally recorded sensitive data.
  • Educate developers about the risks of recording sensitive data and best practices for data sanitization in testing.
  • Consider using environment variables or configuration files to manage sensitive data separately from test code and tapes.

Attack Surface: Tape Injection/Tampering

• Description: If an attacker gains write access to the tape storage location, they can modify existing tapes or inject malicious ones.
• Betamax Contribution: Betamax relies on the integrity of tape files for replaying interactions. If tapes are tampered with, Betamax will replay the modified, potentially malicious, content.
• Example: An attacker gains write access to the tape directory and modifies a tape to inject a malicious response that bypasses authentication checks. When the application replays this tape, it behaves unexpectedly and insecurely.
• Impact: Application malfunction, security bypasses, injection of malicious content, manipulation of application behavior during testing or potentially in production if tapes are accidentally used there.
• Risk Severity: High
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Secure tape storage locations with strict write access controls, limiting write access to only authorized processes and users.
  • Implement integrity checks for tapes (e.g., checksums or digital signatures) to detect tampering.
  • Regularly monitor tape storage locations for unauthorized modifications.
  • If possible, use read-only tape storage in environments where tape integrity is critical.