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attack-surface.md

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Attack Surface Analysis for tryghost/ghost

Attack Surface: Admin Panel (/ghost/) Access

  • Description: The primary interface for managing a Ghost blog, requiring authentication. This is a core Ghost component.
  • How Ghost Contributes: Provides the /ghost/ endpoint and all associated authentication and authorization logic. Vulnerabilities here are directly within Ghost's code.
  • Example: An attacker exploits a vulnerability in Ghost's session management to hijack an authenticated admin session.
  • Impact: Complete site compromise, content manipulation, data theft, defacement.
  • Risk Severity: Critical.
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Strong, Unique Passwords: Enforce strong password policies within Ghost's configuration.
    • Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Implement and require 2FA for all admin accounts within Ghost.
    • Rate Limiting: Ghost's built-in rate limiting must be properly configured and actively monitored.
    • Account Lockout: Ensure Ghost's account lockout mechanism is enabled and configured appropriately.
    • Regular Security Audits: Review Ghost's logs for suspicious login activity. Audit Ghost's authentication and authorization code.

Attack Surface: Theme Vulnerabilities (Ghost-Uploaded Themes)

  • Description: Custom themes uploaded through Ghost can introduce code execution vulnerabilities.
  • How Ghost Contributes: Ghost's theme upload and activation mechanism is the direct attack vector. The vulnerability lies in how Ghost handles and executes theme code.
  • Example: An attacker uploads a malicious theme containing a backdoor that allows them to execute arbitrary code via Ghost's theme engine.
  • Impact: Complete server compromise, data theft, website defacement, malware distribution.
  • Risk Severity: Critical.
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Theme Validation (Server-Side): Implement server-side theme validation within Ghost before allowing uploads. This must include static code analysis and potentially sandboxed execution within Ghost's environment.
    • Code Review (of Ghost's Theme Handling): Thoroughly review Ghost's code responsible for handling theme uploads, activation, and execution.
    • Least Privilege (for Ghost Process): Run the Ghost process with the absolute minimum necessary privileges to limit the impact of a compromised theme.

Attack Surface: API Exploitation (Admin API)

  • Description: Ghost's Admin API provides programmatic access to administrative functions. This is a core Ghost component.
  • How Ghost Contributes: The Admin API is entirely within Ghost's codebase. Vulnerabilities here are direct flaws in Ghost's API implementation.
  • Example: An attacker discovers an authentication bypass vulnerability in Ghost's Admin API, allowing them to create new administrator accounts without credentials.
  • Impact: Complete site compromise.
  • Risk Severity: Critical.
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Strong Authentication (for API): Require strong, unique API keys or JWTs for all Admin API endpoints within Ghost.
    • Authorization Checks (within Ghost): Implement robust, fine-grained authorization checks within Ghost's API code to ensure users can only access resources they are permitted to.
    • Input Validation (within Ghost's API): Strictly validate all input to all Admin API endpoints within Ghost to prevent injection attacks.
    • Rate Limiting (for API): Implement and enforce strict rate limiting on Ghost's Admin API to prevent abuse.
    • Regular API Security Audits (of Ghost's Code): Conduct regular security assessments of Ghost's Admin API code, including penetration testing.

Attack Surface: File Upload Vulnerabilities (Images - Ghost's Handling)

  • Description: Exploiting weaknesses in how Ghost itself handles image uploads.
  • How Ghost Contributes: Ghost's image upload and processing logic is the direct attack vector. The vulnerability lies in Ghost's code.
  • Example: An attacker uploads a specially crafted image that exploits a vulnerability in Ghost's image processing library, leading to code execution within the Ghost process.
  • Impact: Code execution, server compromise, data theft.
  • Risk Severity: High.
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Strict File Type Validation (within Ghost): Implement content-based file type validation within Ghost's upload handling code.
    • File Renaming (by Ghost): Ghost should rename uploaded files to prevent attackers from controlling the file path or extension.
    • Store Files Outside Web Root (Configured in Ghost): Configure Ghost to store uploaded files in a directory not directly accessible via the web server.
    • Image Processing Security (within Ghost): Use secure image processing libraries within Ghost and keep them updated. Consider sandboxing image processing within the Ghost environment.
    • Regular Security Audits (of Ghost's Code): Review Ghost's file upload and image processing code regularly.

Attack Surface: Outdated Ghost Version

  • Description: Running an outdated version of Ghost exposes the site to known vulnerabilities within Ghost itself.
  • How Ghost Contributes: The vulnerability exists directly within older versions of Ghost's code.
  • Example: An attacker exploits a known vulnerability in an older version of Ghost's core to gain administrative access.
  • Impact: Varies depending on the vulnerability, but can range from information disclosure to complete site compromise.
  • Risk Severity: High to Critical (depending on the vulnerability).
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Regular Updates: Keep Ghost updated to the latest stable version. This is the primary mitigation.
    • Vulnerability Scanning (of Ghost): Use vulnerability scanners specifically targeting Ghost to identify outdated installations.
    • Monitor Security Advisories: Subscribe to security mailing lists and advisories specifically for Ghost.

Attack Surface: Code Injection via "Code Injection" Feature (Ghost's Feature)

  • Description: Misuse of Ghost's built-in code injection feature.
  • How Ghost Contributes: This feature is a direct part of Ghost's functionality.
  • Example: An attacker with admin access injects malicious JavaScript via Ghost's code injection feature.
  • Impact: Client-side attacks (XSS), session hijacking.
  • Risk Severity: High.
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Restrict Access (within Ghost): Limit access to Ghost's code injection feature to highly trusted administrators.
    • Input Sanitization (within Ghost): Ghost must sanitize any code entered into the code injection fields.
    • Content Security Policy (CSP) (Configured in Ghost): Configure Ghost to use a strict CSP to limit script execution.
    • Regular Audits (of Ghost's Configuration): Regularly review the code injected via Ghost's feature.