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Threat Model Analysis for elastic/elasticsearch

Threat: Unauthorized Data Access

  • Threat: Unauthorized Data Access
    • Description: An attacker bypasses Elasticsearch's authentication and authorization mechanisms to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data. This could be achieved by exploiting misconfigurations in Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), vulnerabilities in Elasticsearch's security features, or by directly accessing unsecured Elasticsearch APIs if exposed.
    • Impact: Confidentiality breach, exposure of sensitive data, regulatory non-compliance, reputational damage.
    • Affected Elasticsearch Component: Security features (Authentication, Authorization, RBAC), REST API, Indices, Data Nodes.
    • Risk Severity: Critical
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Enable and enforce Elasticsearch Security features.
      • Implement strong Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) with the principle of least privilege.
      • Utilize field-level and document-level security to restrict access to sensitive data.
      • Enforce strong authentication methods and regularly audit access control configurations.
      • Encrypt data at rest and in transit.

Threat: Data Injection and Modification via Elasticsearch APIs

  • Threat: Data Injection and Modification via Elasticsearch APIs
    • Description: An attacker directly exploits exposed and insufficiently protected Elasticsearch APIs to inject malicious data into indices or modify existing data. This bypasses application-level input validation and directly targets Elasticsearch's data ingestion pathways.
    • Impact: Data integrity compromise, data poisoning, application malfunction due to corrupted data, potential for denial of service if injected data causes performance issues within Elasticsearch.
    • Affected Elasticsearch Component: REST API, Ingest Pipelines, Indices, Data Nodes.
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Secure Elasticsearch APIs and restrict direct access from untrusted networks.
      • Utilize Elasticsearch Ingest Pipelines for data validation and transformation as a defense-in-depth measure.
      • Apply the principle of least privilege to application users and services interacting with Elasticsearch APIs, limiting write and update permissions.
      • Monitor Elasticsearch logs for suspicious API activity and data modifications.

Threat: Denial of Service (DoS) through Resource Exhaustion

  • Threat: Denial of Service (DoS) through Resource Exhaustion
    • Description: An attacker sends crafted or excessive requests directly to Elasticsearch, designed to overwhelm its resources (CPU, memory, network, disk I/O). This could involve complex queries, large bulk requests, or exploiting query parsing or execution inefficiencies within Elasticsearch itself.
    • Impact: Elasticsearch cluster becomes unresponsive or crashes, leading to service disruption and application downtime.
    • Affected Elasticsearch Component: Query Engine, REST API, Data Nodes, Coordinating Nodes.
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Implement rate limiting and request throttling at the application level or using a reverse proxy in front of Elasticsearch.
      • Optimize queries and indexing operations to minimize resource consumption within Elasticsearch.
      • Configure Elasticsearch circuit breakers to prevent resource exhaustion from runaway queries.
      • Monitor Elasticsearch cluster performance and resource utilization to detect anomalies.
      • Implement proper capacity planning and resource allocation for the cluster.

Threat: Weak or Missing Authentication

  • Threat: Weak or Missing Authentication
    • Description: Elasticsearch is deployed without enabling security features or uses weak authentication methods. An attacker can easily gain complete unauthorized access to the Elasticsearch cluster and all its data and functionalities.
    • Impact: Complete compromise of the Elasticsearch cluster, unauthorized data access, data manipulation, data deletion, denial of service, and potential for lateral movement within the network.
    • Affected Elasticsearch Component: Security features (Authentication), REST API, all Elasticsearch components.
    • Risk Severity: Critical
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Always enable Elasticsearch Security features.
      • Enforce strong authentication methods (API keys, username/password with strong password policies, integration with external identity providers).
      • Disable default credentials and change any pre-configured passwords immediately.
      • Enforce HTTPS for all communication to protect credentials in transit.
      • Regularly rotate API keys and passwords.

Threat: Script Injection and Execution

  • Threat: Script Injection and Execution
    • Description: An attacker injects malicious scripts (e.g., Painless scripts) into Elasticsearch queries or stored scripts. If scripting is enabled and not properly secured, these scripts can be executed directly within the Elasticsearch engine, potentially leading to remote code execution on Elasticsearch nodes.
    • Impact: Remote code execution on Elasticsearch nodes, allowing the attacker to gain control of the server, access sensitive data, modify data, or cause denial of service directly within the Elasticsearch environment.
    • Affected Elasticsearch Component: Scripting Engine (Painless, etc.), Query Engine, REST API, Script APIs.
    • Risk Severity: Critical
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Disable scripting features if they are not required.
      • If scripting is necessary, restrict access to scripting functionalities through RBAC.
      • Implement strict input validation and sanitization for any user-provided input used in scripts (though this is less effective against direct API access).
      • Carefully review and audit any custom scripts before deployment.
      • Utilize Elasticsearch's script security settings to restrict script capabilities and access (e.g., script sandboxing, whitelisting).

Threat: Vulnerable or Malicious Plugins

  • Threat: Vulnerable or Malicious Plugins
    • Description: An attacker exploits vulnerabilities in installed Elasticsearch plugins or installs malicious plugins. Vulnerable plugins can provide entry points for attackers to compromise the Elasticsearch cluster directly through plugin functionalities. Malicious plugins could be designed to execute arbitrary code within Elasticsearch, steal data, or cause denial of service.
    • Impact: Remote code execution within Elasticsearch, data breaches, data manipulation, denial of service, cluster instability, and potential for persistent backdoors within the Elasticsearch environment.
    • Affected Elasticsearch Component: Plugins subsystem, all Elasticsearch components depending on the plugin.
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Only install plugins from trusted and official sources (Elastic official plugins or verified community plugins).
      • Regularly update plugins to the latest versions to patch known vulnerabilities.
      • Perform security assessments and vulnerability scanning of installed plugins.
      • Minimize the number of plugins installed and only use necessary plugins.
      • Utilize Elasticsearch's security features to control plugin installation and usage (plugin whitelisting).

Threat: Misconfiguration of Security Settings

  • Threat: Misconfiguration of Security Settings
    • Description: Administrators incorrectly configure Elasticsearch security settings, leading to weaknesses in authentication, authorization, network security, or other security controls. This misconfiguration directly weakens Elasticsearch's security posture and increases vulnerability to various attacks.
    • Impact: Exposure to various threats listed above (unauthorized access, data breaches, denial of service), depending on the specific misconfiguration. A broad weakening of Elasticsearch's security, making exploitation easier.
    • Affected Elasticsearch Component: Security features (Configuration), Network settings, RBAC configuration, all Elasticsearch components.
    • Risk Severity: High
    • Mitigation Strategies:
      • Follow security hardening guidelines and best practices specifically for Elasticsearch configuration.
      • Regularly review and audit Elasticsearch configuration settings, ideally using automated tools.
      • Use configuration management tools to ensure consistent and secure configurations across the cluster.
      • Implement network segmentation to isolate Elasticsearch from untrusted networks.
      • Disable unnecessary features and plugins to reduce the attack surface.
      • Use security scanning tools specifically designed to identify Elasticsearch misconfigurations.