threat-modeling.md

Threat Model Analysis for steipete/aspects

Threat: Malicious Aspect Injection via Configuration or External Input

Description: An attacker exploits vulnerabilities in how aspect configurations are loaded from external sources (files, databases, user input). By injecting malicious aspect code into these configurations, the attacker can achieve arbitrary code execution within the application's context when the configurations are loaded and aspects are applied.

• Impact:
  • Critical: Full compromise of the application and server.
  • Data Breach: Complete access to, modification, or deletion of sensitive data.
  • System Takeover: Potential for complete control over the application server and underlying infrastructure.
  • Reputation Damage: Severe loss of user trust and significant damage to organizational reputation.
• Affected Component:
  • Aspect Configuration Loading Mechanism
  • Application Initialization Process
• Risk Severity: Critical
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Strict Input Validation: Implement rigorous validation and sanitization of all external input used for aspect configurations. Use whitelisting and schema validation to enforce allowed configurations.
  • Secure Configuration Storage: Store aspect configurations in a secure manner, utilizing encryption and robust access control mechanisms to prevent unauthorized modification.
  • Principle of Least Privilege: Run the application with the minimum necessary privileges to limit the potential damage from code injection.
  • Code Review and Security Audits: Conduct regular code reviews of aspect configuration loading logic and security audits of aspect configurations themselves to identify and remediate vulnerabilities.
  • Code Signing/Integrity Checks: Implement code signing or integrity checks for configuration files to detect any unauthorized modifications before they are loaded by the application.

Threat: Aspect-Based Modification of Security-Critical Logic

Description: An attacker, through compromising access to aspect definitions or exploiting vulnerabilities in aspect management, modifies existing aspects to weaken or completely bypass security-critical logic. This could involve altering aspects to disable authorization checks, data validation routines, or other security mechanisms within methods they intercept.

• Impact:
  • High: Significant weakening of application security posture, leading to widespread vulnerabilities.
  • Unauthorized Access: Unrestricted access to restricted resources, functionalities, and sensitive data.
  • Data Manipulation: Ability to arbitrarily modify or delete data without proper authorization or auditing.
  • Privilege Escalation: Potential for attackers to escalate their privileges within the application and gain administrative control.
• Affected Component:
  • Aspect Definitions and Management System
  • Security-Critical Methods Intercepted by Aspects
  • Authorization and Authentication Modules
• Risk Severity: High
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Minimize Aspect Scope for Security-Critical Functions: Limit the application of aspects to security-critical functionalities as much as practically possible. Favor alternative, more robust security implementations for core security logic.
  • Thorough Security Testing: Conduct rigorous security testing specifically focused on aspects, including penetration testing and vulnerability assessments to identify potential bypasses or weaknesses introduced by aspect modifications.
  • Regular Security Audits of Aspect Usage: Implement regular security audits specifically examining the usage of aspects and their potential impact on the application's overall security.
  • Principle of Least Surprise in Aspect Design: Design aspects to be as transparent and predictable as possible, minimizing the chance of unintended side effects or security implications when they interact with security logic.
  • Centralized and Immutable Security Logic: Where feasible, implement security-critical logic in a centralized and immutable manner, making it more resistant to modification or bypass through aspects.

Threat: Aspect-Based Interception and Exfiltration of Data

Description: A malicious actor injects or modifies aspects to intercept data processed by methods they are applied to. These malicious aspects are designed to capture sensitive data (e.g., user credentials, personal information, financial details) as it is being processed and exfiltrate it to an external server under the attacker's control, leading to data breaches.

• Impact:
  • High: Major Data Breach and Loss of Confidentiality of sensitive information.
  • Financial Loss: Significant financial damage due to data theft, regulatory fines, and legal repercussions.
  • Reputation Damage: Severe and potentially irreparable damage to the organization's reputation and customer trust.
• Affected Component:
  • Aspect Definitions and Injection/Modification Points
  • Network Communication Capabilities within Aspects
  • Methods Processing Sensitive Data
• Risk Severity: High
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Robust Input Validation and Access Control (Aspect Definitions): Implement strong input validation to prevent injection of malicious aspects and strict access control to limit who can modify aspect definitions.
  • Network Monitoring and Anomaly Detection: Implement network monitoring to detect unusual outbound connections from the application, particularly those originating from aspect-related code, which could indicate data exfiltration.
  • Runtime Integrity Monitoring: Employ runtime integrity monitoring mechanisms to detect unauthorized modifications to application code or aspect definitions, alerting security teams to potential tampering.
  • Principle of Least Privilege (Network Access): Restrict the application's network access to only necessary destinations, limiting the ability of malicious aspects to exfiltrate data to arbitrary external servers.

Threat: Aspect-Based Bypass of Authorization Checks (Elevation of Privilege)

Description: Attackers leverage aspects to circumvent or weaken authorization checks within the application. By manipulating aspects that intercept authorization methods, they can force the application to grant access to resources or functionalities regardless of the user's actual permissions. This leads to unauthorized access and privilege escalation, allowing attackers to perform actions they should not be permitted to.

• Impact:
  • High: Elevation of Privilege, leading to unauthorized access to sensitive functionalities and data.
  • Data Breach: Access to and potential manipulation of data intended for higher privilege levels.
  • System Misconfiguration and Abuse: Potential for attackers to misconfigure the system or abuse elevated privileges for malicious purposes.
• Affected Component:
  • Aspect Definitions related to Authorization
  • Authorization Aspects and their Logic
  • Authorization Modules and Enforcement Points
• Risk Severity: High
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Centralized and Well-Tested Authorization Logic: Implement authorization logic in a centralized, well-tested, and hardened manner, making it more difficult to bypass through aspect manipulation.
  • Immutable Security Logic (where possible): Design security-critical authorization logic to be as immutable and resistant to modification by aspects as technically feasible.
  • Regular Security Audits Focused on Authorization Aspects: Conduct regular security audits specifically focused on aspects related to authorization and access control, ensuring they are not being misused or bypassed.
  • Principle of Least Privilege (Aspect Modification Access): Restrict access to modify aspect definitions, especially those related to security and authorization, to only highly trusted administrators and enforce strict change management processes.