attack-tree.md

Attack Tree Analysis for ibireme/yytext

Objective: Compromise Application Using YYText

Attack Tree Visualization

High-Risk Attack Sub-Tree: Compromise Application Using YYText (Focused on High-Risk Paths & Critical Nodes)

Root Goal: Compromise Application Using YYText (Critical Node: Root Goal - High Impact)

+--- 1. Exploit Parsing/Rendering Vulnerabilities (Critical Node: Parsing/Rendering - Core Functionality, High Exposure)
|    +--- 1.1. Trigger Buffer Overflow (High-Risk Path, Critical Node: Buffer Overflow - High Impact, Medium Likelihood)
|    |    +--- 1.1.1. Provide Overly Long Text Input (High-Risk Path)

+--- 2. Exploit Memory Management Vulnerabilities (High-Risk Path, Critical Node: Memory Management - Fundamental, High Impact)
|    +--- 2.1. Trigger Heap Overflow (High-Risk Path, Critical Node: Heap Overflow - High Impact, Medium Likelihood)
|    |    +--- 2.1.1. Provide Input that Causes Excessive Heap Allocation in Rendering (High-Risk Path)
|    +--- 2.2. Trigger Use-After-Free (High-Risk Path, Critical Node: Use-After-Free - High Impact, Medium Likelihood)
|    |    +--- 2.2.1. Provide Input that Exploits Object Lifecycle Management Bugs in YYText (High-Risk Path)

+--- 4. Exploit Input Validation Weaknesses (High-Risk Path, Critical Node: Input Validation - Foundational Security Control)
|    +--- 4.1. Bypass Input Sanitization (High-Risk Path, Critical Node: Sanitization Bypass - Enables other attacks)
|    |    +--- 4.1.1. Craft Input that Circumvents Sanitization Mechanisms (High-Risk Path)
|    +--- 4.2. Exploit Lack of Input Length Limits (High-Risk Path, Critical Node: Lack of Input Length Limits - Simple but Effective DoS/Overflow)
|    |    +--- 4.2.1. Provide Extremely Long Input Strings (High-Risk Path)

+--- 1.4. Trigger Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) (High-Risk Path if Regex is used, Critical Node: ReDoS - DoS Impact, Medium Likelihood if Regex is complex)
|    +--- 1.4.1. Provide Crafted Input to Trigger Exponential Regex Backtracking (High-Risk Path if Regex is used)

Attack Tree Path: Root Goal: Compromise Application Using YYText (Critical Node - High Impact)

• Attack Vector: This is the overarching goal. Success means the attacker achieves unauthorized control or disruption of the application using YYText as the entry point.
• Why High-Risk: Compromise of an application can lead to severe consequences, including data breaches, financial loss, reputational damage, and harm to users.

Attack Tree Path: Exploit Parsing/Rendering Vulnerabilities (Critical Node - Core Functionality, High Exposure)

• Attack Vector: Targeting weaknesses in how YYText processes and displays text. This is a primary attack surface because YYText's core function is parsing and rendering potentially untrusted text input.
• Why High-Risk: Parsing and rendering are complex processes, often involving intricate logic and interactions with system APIs. Vulnerabilities in this area can be easily triggered by malicious input and can lead to memory corruption or DoS.

Attack Tree Path: Trigger Buffer Overflow (High-Risk Path & Critical Node - High Impact, Medium Likelihood)

• Attack Vector: Exploiting a buffer overflow vulnerability in YYText's parsing or rendering code. This involves providing input that exceeds the allocated buffer size, overwriting adjacent memory regions.

• Why High-Risk: Buffer overflows are classic vulnerabilities that can lead to arbitrary code execution. By carefully crafting the overflowing input, an attacker can overwrite critical data or inject and execute malicious code.

  • 3.1. Provide Overly Long Text Input (High-Risk Path):
    • Attack Vector: The attacker provides an extremely long string of text as input to YYText, exceeding the expected buffer size in a vulnerable function.
    • Why High-Risk: Relatively simple to execute. If YYText (or the application using it) lacks proper input length validation, this attack can be easily launched.

Attack Tree Path: Exploit Memory Management Vulnerabilities (High-Risk Path & Critical Node - Fundamental, High Impact)

• Attack Vector: Targeting flaws in how YYText manages memory, specifically heap allocation and object lifecycle. Memory management vulnerabilities are common in languages like C, C++, and Objective-C, which YYText is likely built upon or interacts with.

• Why High-Risk: Memory management vulnerabilities like heap overflows and use-after-free can lead to memory corruption, arbitrary code execution, and application crashes. Exploiting these can be complex but highly rewarding for attackers.

  • 4.1. Trigger Heap Overflow (High-Risk Path & Critical Node - High Impact, Medium Likelihood):

    • Attack Vector: Providing input that causes YYText to allocate more memory on the heap than intended, leading to an overflow of the heap buffer. This can overwrite adjacent heap metadata or data.

    • Why High-Risk: Heap overflows are exploitable for code execution. Attackers can manipulate heap metadata to gain control of program execution flow.

    • 4.1.1. Provide Input that Causes Excessive Heap Allocation in Rendering (High-Risk Path):

      • Attack Vector: Crafting text input with specific attributes or structures that trigger excessive memory allocation during the rendering process within YYText.
      • Why High-Risk: Exploits the rendering logic, which is often complex and might have hidden memory allocation patterns that can be manipulated.

  • 4.2. Trigger Use-After-Free (High-Risk Path & Critical Node - High Impact, Medium Likelihood):

    • Attack Vector: Exploiting a use-after-free vulnerability where YYText attempts to access memory that has already been freed. This can happen due to incorrect object lifecycle management or race conditions.

    • Why High-Risk: Use-after-free vulnerabilities are highly exploitable for code execution. If an attacker can control the freed memory region, they can potentially overwrite it with malicious data and gain control when YYText attempts to access it.

    • 4.2.1. Provide Input that Exploits Object Lifecycle Management Bugs in YYText (High-Risk Path):

      • Attack Vector: Crafting input that triggers a specific sequence of operations in YYText, leading to an object being freed prematurely and then accessed later.
      • Why High-Risk: Requires deeper understanding of YYText's internal object management, but successful exploitation is very impactful.

Attack Tree Path: Exploit Input Validation Weaknesses (High-Risk Path & Critical Node - Foundational Security Control)

• Attack Vector: Targeting weaknesses in how YYText or the application validates and sanitizes input text and attributes. Input validation is a fundamental security control, and its absence or weakness can open doors to various other vulnerabilities.

• Why High-Risk: Weak input validation is a common root cause of many vulnerabilities. If input is not properly validated, attackers can inject malicious payloads that trigger other vulnerabilities or directly manipulate application behavior.

  • 5.1. Bypass Input Sanitization (High-Risk Path & Critical Node - Enables other attacks):

    • Attack Vector: Crafting input that circumvents any sanitization mechanisms implemented by YYText or the application. This could involve using encoding tricks, special characters, or exploiting flaws in the sanitization logic.

    • Why High-Risk: Successful sanitization bypass allows attackers to inject malicious data that would otherwise be blocked, enabling exploitation of other vulnerabilities like buffer overflows or attribute injection.

    • 5.1.1. Craft Input that Circumvents Sanitization Mechanisms (High-Risk Path):

      • Attack Vector: Analyzing the sanitization logic and devising input that is not recognized as malicious and passes through the sanitization filters, but is still processed in a vulnerable way by YYText later.
      • Why High-Risk: Requires understanding of sanitization techniques and potential weaknesses, but bypass can be very effective.

  • 5.2. Exploit Lack of Input Length Limits (High-Risk Path & Critical Node - Simple but Effective DoS/Overflow):

    • Attack Vector: Providing extremely long input strings to YYText when there are no enforced limits on input length.

    • Why High-Risk: Simple to exploit and can lead to both Denial of Service (memory exhaustion) and Buffer Overflow vulnerabilities.

    • 5.2.1. Provide Extremely Long Input Strings (High-Risk Path):

      • Attack Vector: Sending a very large text string as input to a YYText function that does not properly handle or limit input length.
      • Why High-Risk: Trivial to execute, requires minimal skill, and can have significant impact if length limits are not in place.

Attack Tree Path: Trigger Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) (High-Risk Path if Regex is used, Critical Node - DoS Impact, Medium Likelihood if Regex is complex)

• Attack Vector: If YYText uses regular expressions for parsing or attribute handling, an attacker can craft input that causes the regex engine to enter a state of exponential backtracking, leading to excessive CPU consumption and Denial of Service.

• Why High-Risk (if Regex used): ReDoS attacks can be launched with relatively simple crafted input and can easily bring down an application by exhausting server resources.

  • 6.1. Provide Crafted Input to Trigger Exponential Regex Backtracking (High-Risk Path if Regex is used):
    • Attack Vector: Analyzing the regular expressions used by YYText and crafting input strings that match the vulnerable regex patterns, causing exponential backtracking.
    • Why High-Risk (if Regex used): Requires knowledge of ReDoS patterns and regex syntax, but once identified, exploitation is straightforward.