Okay, let's create a design document for the Cachet project, focusing on aspects relevant for threat modeling.
Cachet is an open-source status page system. It allows organizations to communicate service status to their users, reducing support load and improving transparency during incidents.
Priorities and Goals:
- Provide a clear and reliable communication channel for service status.
- Reduce the volume of support requests during incidents.
- Improve user trust and transparency.
- Offer a customizable and extensible platform.
- Maintain a simple and easy-to-use interface.
- Ensure high availability and performance of the status page.
Business Risks:
- Availability: The status page itself becoming unavailable would be highly detrimental, potentially exacerbating user frustration during an actual service outage.
- Integrity: Unauthorized modification of the status page (e.g., displaying false information) could damage the organization's reputation and mislead users.
- Confidentiality: While most status information is public, sensitive data (e.g., internal server names, detailed error messages) could be leaked through misconfiguration or vulnerabilities.
- Reputation: A poorly maintained or insecure status page reflects badly on the organization, undermining the very trust it's meant to build.
- Compliance: Depending on the organization and the services it provides, there might be compliance requirements related to incident reporting and communication.
Existing Security Controls (based on reviewing the repository and documentation):
- security control: Authentication: Cachet uses user accounts and passwords for administrative access. Implementation: Laravel's built-in authentication features.
- security control: Authorization: Cachet has role-based access control (RBAC) to manage permissions for different user roles (e.g., administrator, manager, viewer). Implementation: Laravel's authorization features, likely using policies or gates.
- security control: Input Validation: Cachet uses Laravel's validation rules to validate user input and prevent common vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection. Implementation: Laravel's validation framework.
- security control: CSRF Protection: Cachet utilizes CSRF tokens to protect against cross-site request forgery attacks. Implementation: Laravel's built-in CSRF protection middleware.
- security control: Rate Limiting: Cachet likely implements rate limiting to prevent abuse and brute-force attacks. Implementation: Laravel's rate limiting features.
- security control: Configuration Management: Cachet uses environment variables (.env file) for sensitive configuration settings, keeping them out of the codebase.
- security control: Dependency Management: Cachet uses Composer for dependency management, allowing for tracking and updating of third-party libraries.
- security control: Database Security: Cachet supports multiple database systems (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite) and encourages using secure database configurations.
- security control: Session Management: Cachet uses secure session management practices. Implementation: Laravel's session handling.
Accepted Risks:
- accepted risk: The project relies heavily on the security of the underlying Laravel framework and its dependencies. Vulnerabilities in these components could impact Cachet's security.
- accepted risk: The security of the deployment environment (server, network, etc.) is outside the direct control of the Cachet application itself.
- accepted risk: The effectiveness of security controls depends heavily on proper configuration by the administrator. Misconfiguration could lead to vulnerabilities.
- accepted risk: While Cachet provides basic user roles, more granular permission control might be needed for larger organizations.
Recommended Security Controls:
- Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) to mitigate XSS and data injection attacks.
- Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to enforce HTTPS connections.
- Implement Subresource Integrity (SRI) for included scripts and stylesheets to prevent tampering.
- Regularly audit dependencies for known vulnerabilities using tools like Composer audit or Snyk.
- Consider implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to provide an additional layer of protection against common web attacks.
- Implement robust logging and monitoring to detect and respond to security incidents.
- Provide security hardening guidelines in the documentation, covering topics like server configuration, database security, and network security.
- Implement two-factor authentication (2FA) for administrative accounts.
Security Requirements:
- Authentication:
- All administrative actions must require authentication.
- Strong password policies must be enforced.
- Support for 2FA should be considered.
- Authorization:
- Access to resources and actions must be controlled based on user roles.
- The principle of least privilege should be applied.
- Input Validation:
- All user-supplied input must be validated before being processed or stored.
- Validation rules should be strict and specific to the expected data type.
- Output encoding should be used to prevent XSS.
- Cryptography:
- Sensitive data (e.g., passwords) must be stored securely using strong hashing algorithms.
- HTTPS must be enforced for all communication.
- API keys and other secrets must be managed securely.
graph LR
subgraph Cachet System
Cachet["Cachet Status Page"]
end
User(("User"))
Administrator(("Administrator"))
ThirdPartyService(("Third-Party Service\n(Monitoring, Metrics)"))
EmailService(("Email Service\n(Notifications)"))
User -- "Views status" --> Cachet
Administrator -- "Manages status,\nconfigures system" --> Cachet
ThirdPartyService -- "Provides metrics\nand incident data" --> Cachet
Cachet -- "Sends notifications" --> EmailService
Context Diagram Element List:
-
Element:
- Name: User
- Type: Person
- Description: A person who views the status page to check the status of services.
- Responsibilities: View service status, subscribe to updates.
- Security controls: None (from the perspective of the Cachet system).
-
Element:
- Name: Administrator
- Type: Person
- Description: A person who manages the Cachet instance, configures settings, and updates status information.
- Responsibilities: Manage incidents, components, metrics, users, and system settings.
- Security controls: Authentication, Authorization, Rate Limiting, CSRF Protection.
-
Element:
- Name: Third-Party Service
- Type: External System
- Description: An external service that provides monitoring data or metrics to Cachet, often via an API.
- Responsibilities: Provide real-time or historical data about service status.
- Security controls: API Authentication (e.g., API keys, OAuth), Input Validation.
-
Element:
- Name: Email Service
- Type: External System
- Description: An external service used by Cachet to send email notifications to subscribers.
- Responsibilities: Deliver email messages.
- Security controls: Secure communication (TLS), API Authentication (if applicable).
-
Element:
- Name: Cachet Status Page
- Type: Software System
- Description: The Cachet application itself, providing the status page functionality.
- Responsibilities: Display service status, manage incidents, handle subscriptions, provide an API.
- Security controls: Authentication, Authorization, Input Validation, CSRF Protection, Rate Limiting, Session Management.
graph LR
subgraph Cachet System
WebServer["Web Server\n(Nginx, Apache)"]
CachetApp["Cachet Application\n(Laravel/PHP)"]
Database["Database\n(MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite)"]
Cache["Cache\n(Redis, Memcached)"]
WebServer -- "Handles requests" --> CachetApp
CachetApp -- "Reads/Writes data" --> Database
CachetApp -- "Stores/Retrieves data" --> Cache
end
User(("User"))
Administrator(("Administrator"))
ThirdPartyService(("Third-Party Service\n(Monitoring, Metrics)"))
EmailService(("Email Service\n(Notifications)"))
User -- "Views status" --> WebServer
Administrator -- "Manages status,\nconfigures system" --> WebServer
ThirdPartyService -- "Provides metrics\nand incident data" --> WebServer
CachetApp -- "Sends notifications" --> EmailService
Container Diagram Element List:
-
Element:
- Name: Web Server
- Type: Web Server
- Description: Handles incoming HTTP requests and serves the Cachet application.
- Responsibilities: Serve static content, proxy requests to the Cachet application, handle SSL/TLS termination.
- Security controls: HTTPS configuration, WAF (if applicable), access controls.
-
Element:
- Name: Cachet Application
- Type: Web Application
- Description: The core Cachet application logic, built with Laravel/PHP.
- Responsibilities: Handle user requests, manage data, interact with the database and cache, provide the API.
- Security controls: Authentication, Authorization, Input Validation, CSRF Protection, Rate Limiting, Session Management.
-
Element:
- Name: Database
- Type: Database
- Description: Stores persistent data for Cachet, such as incidents, components, metrics, and users.
- Responsibilities: Store and retrieve data.
- Security controls: Database user authentication, access controls, encryption (if applicable).
-
Element:
- Name: Cache
- Type: Cache
- Description: Stores frequently accessed data to improve performance.
- Responsibilities: Store and retrieve cached data.
- Security controls: Access controls, authentication (if applicable).
-
Element:
- Name: User
- Type: Person
- Description: A person who views the status page to check the status of services.
- Responsibilities: View service status, subscribe to updates.
- Security controls: None (from the perspective of the Cachet system).
-
Element:
- Name: Administrator
- Type: Person
- Description: A person who manages the Cachet instance, configures settings, and updates status information.
- Responsibilities: Manage incidents, components, metrics, users, and system settings.
- Security controls: Authentication, Authorization, Rate Limiting, CSRF Protection.
-
Element:
- Name: Third-Party Service
- Type: External System
- Description: An external service that provides monitoring data or metrics to Cachet, often via an API.
- Responsibilities: Provide real-time or historical data about service status.
- Security controls: API Authentication (e.g., API keys, OAuth), Input Validation.
-
Element:
- Name: Email Service
- Type: External System
- Description: An external service used by Cachet to send email notifications to subscribers.
- Responsibilities: Deliver email messages.
- Security controls: Secure communication (TLS), API Authentication (if applicable).
Possible Deployment Solutions:
- Traditional LAMP/LEMP stack on a single server.
- Docker-based deployment using Docker Compose.
- Cloud-based deployment using services like AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure.
- Kubernetes-based deployment.
Chosen Solution (for detailed description): Docker-based deployment using Docker Compose. This is a common and relatively straightforward approach for deploying Cachet.
graph LR
subgraph Docker Host
subgraph cachet_network
cachet_app["Cachet App Container"]
cachet_db["Database Container\n(MySQL/Postgres)"]
cachet_cache["Cache Container\n(Redis)"]
end
end
Internet(("Internet"))
ReverseProxy["Reverse Proxy\n(Nginx, Traefik)"]
Internet -- "HTTPS" --> ReverseProxy
ReverseProxy -- "HTTP" --> cachet_app
cachet_app -- "" --> cachet_db
cachet_app -- "" --> cachet_cache
Deployment Diagram Element List:
-
Element:
- Name: Docker Host
- Type: Server
- Description: The physical or virtual server that runs the Docker engine.
- Responsibilities: Host and run the Docker containers.
- Security controls: Server hardening, firewall, intrusion detection/prevention system.
-
Element:
- Name: cachet_network
- Type: Network
- Description: Docker network.
- Responsibilities: Connect containers.
- Security controls: Network isolation.
-
Element:
- Name: Cachet App Container
- Type: Docker Container
- Description: The container running the Cachet application code.
- Responsibilities: Execute the application logic.
- Security controls: Minimal base image, non-root user, read-only filesystem (where possible).
-
Element:
- Name: Database Container
- Type: Docker Container
- Description: The container running the database server (MySQL or PostgreSQL).
- Responsibilities: Store and manage persistent data.
- Security controls: Secure configuration, strong passwords, limited network access.
-
Element:
- Name: Cache Container
- Type: Docker Container
- Description: The container running the caching server (Redis).
- Responsibilities: Store and manage cached data.
- Security controls: Secure configuration, strong passwords (if applicable), limited network access.
-
Element:
- Name: Internet
- Type: External
- Description: External network.
- Responsibilities: Provide access to application.
- Security controls: N/A.
-
Element:
- Name: Reverse Proxy
- Type: Software
- Description: Software that provide access to application from external network.
- Responsibilities: Provide access to application.
- Security controls: Firewall, WAF.
Cachet's build process involves several steps, leveraging Composer for dependency management and Laravel's asset compilation tools. While the repository doesn't include a dedicated CI/CD pipeline configuration (like GitHub Actions), a typical build process would look like this:
graph LR
Developer(("Developer"))
SourceCode["Source Code\n(GitHub)"]
Composer["Composer\n(Dependency Management)"]
NodeJS["Node.js/npm\n(Asset Compilation)"]
BuildServer["Build Server\n(CI/CD - e.g., GitHub Actions)"]
Artifacts["Build Artifacts\n(Compiled Code, Assets)"]
Developer -- "Commits code" --> SourceCode
SourceCode -- "Trigger build" --> BuildServer
BuildServer -- "Fetches dependencies" --> Composer
BuildServer -- "Compiles assets" --> NodeJS
BuildServer -- "Packages application" --> Artifacts
Build Process Description:
- Development: Developers write code and commit changes to the GitHub repository.
- Trigger: A commit or pull request triggers the build process (ideally on a CI/CD server).
- Dependency Management: Composer is used to install PHP dependencies.
- Security Control: Composer.lock file ensures consistent dependency versions.
- Security Control: Regular auditing of dependencies for known vulnerabilities (e.g., using Composer audit or Snyk).
- Asset Compilation: Node.js and npm (or Yarn) are used to compile frontend assets (JavaScript, CSS).
- Security Control: Using pinned versions of npm packages.
- Security Control: Auditing npm dependencies for vulnerabilities.
- Testing: Automated tests (unit tests, integration tests) are executed.
- Security Control: Test coverage helps identify potential security flaws.
- Packaging: The application code, dependencies, and compiled assets are packaged into a deployable artifact.
- Artifact Storage: The build artifacts are stored in a repository (e.g., Docker Hub, a private registry).
- Security Control: SAST tools.
- Security Control: SCA tools.
- Security Control: Linters.
Critical Business Processes:
- Incident Communication: The primary business process is communicating service status to users during incidents. Failure of this process leads to user frustration and potential reputational damage.
- Service Monitoring Integration: The ability to integrate with monitoring tools to automatically update status is crucial for timely and accurate information.
- System Administration: Maintaining and updating the Cachet system itself is a critical process to ensure its continued availability and security.
Data Sensitivity:
- Incident Data: Information about service outages, including descriptions, timelines, and updates. Sensitivity: Generally low, but could contain sensitive details if not carefully managed.
- Component Data: Information about the services being monitored. Sensitivity: Generally low.
- Metric Data: Performance metrics and graphs. Sensitivity: Generally low, but could reveal internal infrastructure details.
- User Data: Information about Cachet users (administrators, subscribers). Sensitivity: Potentially high, especially for subscriber email addresses. Requires protection under privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR).
- Configuration Data: System settings, API keys, database credentials. Sensitivity: High. Must be protected from unauthorized access.
Questions:
- Are there any specific compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) that apply to the organization using Cachet?
- What is the expected scale of the deployment (number of users, number of services monitored)?
- What are the existing monitoring and alerting systems in place?
- What is the organization's tolerance for downtime of the status page?
- Are there any specific security policies or guidelines that need to be followed?
- What level of support is available for the underlying infrastructure (server, network)?
Assumptions:
- BUSINESS POSTURE: The organization values transparency and communication with its users.
- BUSINESS POSTURE: The organization has a basic understanding of IT operations and security.
- SECURITY POSTURE: The deployment environment will be reasonably secure (e.g., firewall, basic server hardening).
- SECURITY POSTURE: The administrators will follow best practices for securing the Cachet installation.
- DESIGN: The Docker-based deployment model is suitable for the organization's needs.
- DESIGN: The default security settings in Cachet and Laravel provide a reasonable baseline level of security.
- DESIGN: Third-party integrations will use secure API communication (HTTPS).