Description: An attacker could inject malicious commands into the system by providing unsanitized input to console command arguments or options. They might craft input that, when processed by the application, gets interpreted as shell commands or code to be executed by the system. This is often achieved by exploiting insufficient input validation within the console command logic.
Impact: Remote Code Execution (RCE), full system compromise, data exfiltration, unauthorized access to sensitive resources, denial of service.
Affected Component: Input component (handling arguments and options), Command logic (where input is processed and used).
Risk Severity: Critical
Mitigation Strategies:
- Strictly validate and sanitize all user input received by console commands using whitelists, regular expressions, and input type validation.
- Avoid directly using user input in shell commands or system calls. Utilize parameterized commands or functions to separate code from data.
- Implement input encoding and escaping where necessary to prevent interpretation of special characters.
- Apply the principle of least privilege to the user account running console commands.
Threat: Unauthorized Command Execution
Description: An attacker gains access to execute console commands without proper authorization. This could happen if console commands are exposed through a web interface without authentication, or if server access is compromised and console commands are accessible without proper access controls. The attacker could then execute commands they are not supposed to, potentially gaining access to sensitive data or system functionalities.
Impact: Data breaches, system compromise, privilege escalation, unauthorized modification of data or system state, denial of service.
Affected Component: Application's access control layer (if any for console commands), potentially the Command class itself if authorization logic is implemented there.
Risk Severity: High
Mitigation Strategies:
- Restrict access to console commands to authorized users only. Implement strong authentication mechanisms (e.g., SSH key-based access, dedicated admin panels with robust authentication).
- Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to manage permissions for different console commands, ensuring users only have access to commands they need.
- If exposing console commands via a web interface (generally discouraged), implement very strong authentication and authorization checks at the web layer, separate from the console application itself.
- Regularly audit access controls for console command execution.
Description: An attacker exploits a vulnerability in a privileged console command or weak access control to gain higher privileges within the system. They might use a command designed for administrative tasks to perform actions beyond their intended authorization level, potentially gaining root or administrator access.
Impact: Full system compromise, root access, data breaches, long-term persistence, complete control over the application and server.
Affected Component: Specific privileged Command classes, potentially the application's authorization logic, underlying system permissions.
Risk Severity: Critical
Mitigation Strategies:
- Carefully review and audit all console commands that perform privileged operations. Minimize the number of privileged commands.
- Apply the principle of least privilege: Run privileged commands with the minimum necessary permissions and only when absolutely required. Use dedicated service accounts with limited privileges for running console applications.
- Implement robust logging and monitoring for privileged console command execution to detect and respond to suspicious activity.
- Consider using separate accounts or roles for privileged operations, limiting exposure in case of compromise.
- Regularly perform security audits and penetration testing on privileged console commands.
Description: Console access can provide a direct path to configuration files or environment variables used by the application. An attacker with console access could read these files or environment variables and retrieve sensitive configuration data, such as database passwords, API keys, or other secrets.
Impact: Exposure of sensitive credentials, system compromise, data breaches, unauthorized access to external services.
Affected Component: Environment access (operating system level), potentially application's configuration loading mechanism.
Risk Severity: High
Mitigation Strategies:
- Store sensitive configuration information securely. Use environment variables, dedicated secrets management systems (like HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager), or encrypted configuration files. Avoid storing secrets directly in code or easily accessible configuration files.
- Restrict file system access from the console environment to only necessary files and directories using operating system level permissions.
- Implement proper file permissions and access controls on configuration files to prevent unauthorized reading.
- Regularly review and rotate sensitive credentials.