mitigations.md

Mitigation Strategies Analysis for typicode/json-server

Mitigation Strategy: Restrict Usage to Development and Testing Environments

Description:

1. Define Intended Use: Clearly establish that json-server is solely for local development and testing. It should never be deployed to staging or production environments.
2. Local Installation: Install json-server as a development dependency (devDependencies in package.json). This ensures it's not included in production builds.
3. Development Scripts Only: Use json-server only in development-specific scripts (e.g., npm run dev, yarn start:dev). Ensure these scripts are not used in production deployment processes.
4. Environment Checks (Optional): Within your application's code or build scripts, add checks to explicitly prevent starting or using json-server if the environment is detected as staging or production. Threats Mitigated:

• Unauthorized Access (High Severity): json-server lacks built-in security. Production deployment exposes data without authentication.
• Data Modification/Deletion (High Severity): Unprotected production json-server allows anyone to modify or delete data.
• Data Exposure (Medium Severity): Exposing data through an unsecured json-server is a data breach risk.
• Denial of Service (Low to Medium Severity): Publicly accessible json-server is vulnerable to simple DoS attacks. Impact:
• Unauthorized Access: High Risk Reduction - Eliminates risk in production by preventing deployment.
• Data Modification/Deletion: High Risk Reduction - Eliminates risk in production by preventing deployment.
• Data Exposure: High Risk Reduction - Prevents public exposure in production.
• Denial of Service: Medium Risk Reduction - Prevents public exposure, reducing DoS risk from public internet. Currently Implemented:
• Local Installation: Likely implemented - json-server is probably a devDependency. Missing Implementation:
• Environment Checks: Potentially missing - Explicit environment checks to prevent accidental production usage might not be in place.
• Strict Policy Enforcement: Policy might exist, but consistent enforcement across development teams might be lacking.

Mitigation Strategy: Limit Functionality - Restrict Write Operations (Simulated Read-Only)

Description:

1. Custom Middleware (json-server): Create custom middleware function in json-server (using --middlewares flag or programmatic API).
2. Intercept Write Methods: Within the middleware, intercept requests with HTTP methods POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE.
3. Reject Write Requests: For intercepted write requests, return a 403 Forbidden or 405 Method Not Allowed response.
4. Allow Read Requests: Allow GET and HEAD requests to pass through normally to json-server's default handlers.
5. Alternative - Application-Side Restriction: If your application is the only client interacting with json-server, implement the restriction on the application side by simply not sending POST, PUT, PATCH, or DELETE requests. Threats Mitigated:

• Data Modification/Deletion (High Severity): Prevents accidental or unintended data modification or deletion through json-server's API. Impact:
• Data Modification/Deletion: High Risk Reduction - Eliminates the risk of data modification/deletion via json-server endpoints. Currently Implemented:
• Potentially Missing: Read-only mode is likely not implemented as it requires custom middleware and is not a default json-server feature. Missing Implementation:
• Shared Development/Testing Environments: Consider implementing simulated read-only mode in shared environments to protect data integrity during development.

Mitigation Strategy: Limit Functionality - CORS Configuration

Description:

1. Identify Allowed Origins: Determine the specific origins (domains, protocols, ports) that should be permitted to access json-server. For local development, this is usually http://localhost:3000 (or your development application's origin).
2. Configure CORS Options: Use json-server's --middlewares flag and a CORS middleware (like cors npm package) or configure CORS programmatically if using json-server as a module.
3. Specify Allowed Origins (Strictly): In the CORS configuration, set the origin option to a specific array of allowed origins. Avoid using wildcard (*) origins.
4. Restrict Methods and Headers (Optional): Further refine CORS by specifying allowed HTTP methods (methods) and headers (allowedHeaders) if needed, although origin restriction is the most critical. Threats Mitigated:

• Unauthorized Access (Medium Severity - Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Prevention): CORS helps prevent CSRF attacks from malicious websites by limiting allowed origins.
• Data Exposure (Low Severity - Prevents unintended access from untrusted origins): CORS restricts API access to explicitly allowed origins. Impact:
• Unauthorized Access (CSRF): Medium Risk Reduction - Reduces CSRF risk from untrusted websites.
• Data Exposure: Low Risk Reduction - Provides basic defense against unintended access from untrusted origins. Currently Implemented:
• Potentially Partially Implemented: json-server might use default permissive CORS (allowing all origins in development), which is insecure. Missing Implementation:
• Development and Testing Environments: Configure CORS more restrictively, even in development. Specify exact development application origins instead of wildcards. Important for testing across different domains/ports.