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attack-surface.md

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Attack Surface Analysis for matthewyork/datetools

Attack Surface: Unvalidated Date/Time String Parsing

Description: The application accepts date/time strings from untrusted sources without proper validation, allowing potentially malicious or malformed strings to be processed by datetools's parsing functions. This is the primary attack vector directly related to datetools.

  • How datetools Contributes: datetools's parsing functions (parseDate, parseDateTime, etc.) are the direct point of vulnerability. The library's internal parsing logic is what's being exploited.
  • Example:
    • An attacker submits a date string like "9999999999999999-99-99" or a string with an extremely long sequence of repeated characters, aiming for resource exhaustion (DoS).
    • An attacker provides a date string with an unexpected format, such as "2024-13-32" (invalid month and day), hoping to trigger unexpected behavior within datetools and, consequently, the application.
    • An attacker attempts to exploit a known (or unknown) vulnerability in datetools's parsing logic related to specific locales or date/time formats.
  • Impact:
    • Denial of Service (DoS): Excessive CPU/memory consumption during parsing within datetools, making the application unresponsive. This is the most likely and highest impact scenario.
    • Unexpected Application Behavior: Incorrect date/time values returned by datetools are used in subsequent application logic, leading to errors, data corruption, or potential security bypasses.
  • Risk Severity: High (DoS is a significant and direct threat; incorrect parsing can have cascading effects on the application).
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Strict Input Validation: Implement rigorous validation before passing any string to datetools. Use a strict whitelist of allowed formats (e.g., YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS). Reject all input that doesn't conform. This is the most important mitigation.
    • Length Limits: Enforce reasonable length limits on date/time strings to prevent excessively long inputs from causing resource exhaustion within datetools.
    • Fuzz Testing: Regularly fuzz datetools's parsing functions directly with a wide range of invalid, unexpected, and boundary-case inputs. This is crucial for identifying vulnerabilities within the library itself.
    • Sanitize Input: Before passing input to datetools, sanitize by removing or escaping potentially harmful characters.