Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
54 lines (35 loc) · 4.98 KB

threat-modeling.md

File metadata and controls

54 lines (35 loc) · 4.98 KB

Threat Model Analysis for ibireme/yytext

Threat: Buffer Overflow in Text Parsing

Description: An attacker crafts malicious text input exceeding expected buffer sizes during parsing or layout calculations within yytext. This involves sending extremely long strings or text with specific formatting that triggers buffer overflows in yytext's C/Objective-C code. The attacker aims to overwrite adjacent memory regions.

Impact: Memory corruption, application crash, potential Remote Code Execution (RCE) if the attacker can control the overflowed data to inject and execute malicious code.

Affected yytext component: Core text parsing and layout modules (internal C/Objective-C implementation).

Risk Severity: High to Critical

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Input Validation: Implement strict input validation and sanitization before passing text to yytext. Limit input string length and complexity.
  • Fuzz Testing: Conduct thorough fuzz testing of yytext with a wide range of inputs, including very long strings and edge cases, to identify potential buffer overflows.
  • Static Analysis: Utilize static analysis tools to scan yytext source code for potential buffer overflow vulnerabilities.
  • Memory Sanitizers: Employ AddressSanitizer (ASan) and MemorySanitizer (MSan) during development and testing to detect memory errors, including buffer overflows, early.
  • Code Review: Perform detailed code reviews of yytext source code, focusing on buffer handling and string manipulation functions.
  • Library Updates: Keep yytext library updated to the latest version to benefit from bug fixes and security patches addressing buffer overflow issues.

Threat: Use-After-Free Vulnerability

Description: An attacker triggers a scenario where yytext attempts to access memory that has already been deallocated. This could be achieved by manipulating object lifecycles or data structures within yytext through specific API calls or input sequences. The attacker aims to exploit the use of freed memory for malicious purposes.

Impact: Memory corruption, application crash, potential Remote Code Execution (RCE) if the attacker can manipulate the freed memory region to inject and execute code.

Affected yytext component: Memory management routines within yytext's object handling and data structures (internal implementation).

Risk Severity: High to Critical

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Code Review: Conduct thorough code reviews of yytext source code, focusing on object lifecycle management and memory allocation/deallocation patterns.
  • Static Analysis: Utilize static analysis tools to detect potential use-after-free vulnerabilities in yytext.
  • Memory Sanitizers: Employ AddressSanitizer (ASan) during development and testing to detect use-after-free errors.
  • Modern Memory Management: Ensure yytext utilizes modern Objective-C memory management practices (ARC where applicable and used correctly) to minimize manual memory management errors.
  • Library Updates: Keep yytext library updated to the latest version to benefit from bug fixes and memory management improvements addressing use-after-free issues.

Threat: Denial of Service (DoS) via Complex Text Input

Description: An attacker sends specially crafted, excessively complex text input to the application using yytext. This input is designed to consume excessive CPU or memory resources during processing by yytext, leading to performance degradation or application unresponsiveness. The attacker aims to exhaust application resources and make it unavailable to legitimate users.

Impact: Application becomes slow, unresponsive, or crashes, leading to denial of service for legitimate users.

Affected yytext component: Text processing and layout algorithms within yytext (specifically those handling complex text structures or resource-intensive operations).

Risk Severity: High

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Input Validation and Limits: Implement input validation and sanitization to limit the size and complexity of text input processed by yytext. Set maximum string lengths and complexity thresholds.
  • Resource Limits: Implement resource limits within the application to constrain the resources consumed by yytext operations (e.g., CPU time limits, memory usage limits).
  • Rate Limiting/Throttling: If text input originates from external sources, implement rate limiting or throttling to prevent excessive requests that could lead to DoS.
  • Performance Monitoring: Monitor application performance and resource usage when processing text with yytext to identify potential DoS vulnerabilities and performance bottlenecks.
  • Optimize Text Processing: Investigate and optimize yytext usage and application code to improve text processing efficiency and reduce resource consumption.