mitigations.md

Mitigation Strategies Analysis for httpie/cli

Mitigation Strategy: Use Environment Variables for Sensitive Data (CLI Interaction)

• Description:

  1. Identify Sensitive Data: Determine all sensitive information used in httpie commands, such as API keys, tokens, passwords, and potentially sensitive request bodies.
  2. Define Environment Variables: For each piece of sensitive data, create a corresponding environment variable. Use descriptive names (e.g., MY_API_KEY, DATABASE_PASSWORD).
  3. Set Environment Variables: Set the environment variables in your current shell session or your shell's configuration file (e.g., .bashrc, .zshrc, .bash_profile) for persistent use. For temporary use, set them directly in the shell before running httpie.
     • Example (Bash): export MY_API_KEY="your_actual_api_key"
  4. Modify httpie Commands: Replace hardcoded sensitive values in your httpie commands with the corresponding environment variables.
     • Example: http POST example.com/api/resource Authorization:"Bearer $MY_API_KEY"
  5. Test: Verify that the commands work correctly with the environment variables.

• Threats Mitigated:

  • Sensitive Data Exposure in Shell History (Severity: High): Prevents secrets from being stored in plain text in shell history files.
  • Accidental Disclosure of Secrets (Severity: High): Reduces the risk of accidentally sharing secrets through screenshots, screen sharing, or copy-pasting commands.
  • Credential Theft (Severity: High): If a system is compromised, secrets stored in environment variables are slightly less directly exposed than those hardcoded in scripts or history.

• Impact:

  • Sensitive Data Exposure in Shell History: Risk significantly reduced (almost eliminated if implemented correctly).
  • Accidental Disclosure of Secrets: Risk significantly reduced.
  • Credential Theft: Risk reduced, although environment variables can still be accessed by processes running with the same user privileges.

• Currently Implemented:

  • Partially implemented. Environment variables are used for some API keys in the integration_tests.sh script, but not consistently across all scripts and documentation.

• Missing Implementation:

  • Missing in example_usage.sh script, where API keys are hardcoded.
  • Missing in documentation examples, which should be updated to demonstrate the use of environment variables.
  • Missing in some developer workflows; developers may be hardcoding secrets in their local shells.

Mitigation Strategy: Utilize httpie Sessions (CLI Interaction)

• Description:

  1. Identify Recurring Parameters: Determine which headers, authentication details, and other parameters are frequently used across multiple httpie requests.
  2. Create a Session File: Use the --session flag with httpie on the command line to create a named session file. This file will store the specified parameters.
     • Example: http --session=my-project-session POST example.com/api/login Authorization:"Bearer $INITIAL_TOKEN"
  3. Store Sensitive Data in the Session: Include authentication headers, cookies, and other persistent data in the initial command that creates the session.
  4. Use the Session in Subsequent Requests: Use the --session=my-project-session flag (or -S my-project-session) in subsequent httpie commands to automatically include the stored parameters.
     • Example: http --session=my-project-session GET example.com/api/data
  5. Session Naming: Use descriptive session names to easily identify their purpose when using the command line.

• Threats Mitigated:

  • Sensitive Data Exposure in Shell History (Severity: High): Keeps sensitive headers and authentication details out of the shell history.
  • Accidental Disclosure of Secrets (Severity: High): Reduces the risk of accidentally sharing secrets.
  • Repetitive Typing of Credentials (Severity: Low): Improves developer efficiency and reduces the chance of typos.

• Impact:

  • Sensitive Data Exposure in Shell History: Risk significantly reduced.
  • Accidental Disclosure of Secrets: Risk significantly reduced.
  • Repetitive Typing of Credentials: Risk eliminated.

• Currently Implemented:

  • Not implemented. No session files are currently used in the project.

• Missing Implementation:

  • Missing entirely. The project should adopt sessions for all API interactions that require authentication or persistent headers. This should be documented and enforced in development guidelines.

Mitigation Strategy: Implement --check-status (or -c) (CLI Interaction)

• Description:

  1. Identify Critical Operations: Determine which httpie commands perform actions that could have significant consequences if they fail (e.g., DELETE, PUT, PATCH).
  2. Add --check-status: Include the --check-status (or -c) flag in these critical httpie commands typed on the command line.
     • Example: http --check-status DELETE example.com/api/resource/123

• Threats Mitigated:

  • Accidental Data Modification/Deletion (Severity: Medium): Helps prevent unintended changes if the API returns an error (e.g., 404 Not Found, 400 Bad Request).
  • Silent Failures (Severity: Medium): Ensures that errors are not ignored, allowing for proper error handling and logging.

• Impact:

  • Accidental Data Modification/Deletion: Risk reduced, but not eliminated (it only checks the HTTP status code, not the actual response body).
  • Silent Failures: Risk significantly reduced.

• Currently Implemented:

  • Not implemented. httpie commands are not consistently checked for their status codes.

• Missing Implementation:

  • Missing in all scripts and command-line usage. Should be added to all critical operations (especially DELETE, PUT, PATCH).

Mitigation Strategy: Confirmation Prompts (Wrapper Script - CLI Interaction)

• Description:

  1. Create a Wrapper Script: Write a shell script (e.g., myhttp.sh) that wraps the httpie command. This script will be used on the command line instead of httpie directly.
  2. Identify Destructive Verbs: Within the script, identify HTTP verbs that are considered destructive (e.g., DELETE, PUT, PATCH).
  3. Implement Confirmation Logic: For these verbs, add logic to prompt the user for confirmation before executing the httpie command.
     • Example (Bash):

       myhttp() {
         if [[ "$1" == "DELETE" || "$1" == "PUT" || "$1" == "PATCH" ]]; then
           read -r -p "Are you sure you want to proceed with $1 to $2? [y/N] " response
           if [[ "$response" =~ ^([yY][eE][sS]|[yY])$ ]]; then
             http "$@"
           else
             echo "Operation cancelled."
           fi
         else
           http "$@"
         fi
       }

  4. Handle User Input: Process the user's response (e.g., "y" or "n"). If the user confirms, execute the httpie command. Otherwise, cancel the operation.
  5. Pass Arguments: Ensure the wrapper script correctly passes all arguments to the underlying httpie command.
  6. Source or Alias: Source the wrapper script in your shell configuration file (e.g., .bashrc) or create an alias to make it easily accessible from the command line.
     • Example (Bash): alias myhttp=~/path/to/myhttp.sh

• Threats Mitigated:

  • Accidental Data Modification/Deletion (Severity: High): Provides a final safeguard against unintended destructive actions.
  • Typos in Commands (Severity: Medium): Gives the user a chance to review the command before execution.

• Impact:

  • Accidental Data Modification/Deletion: Risk significantly reduced.
  • Typos in Commands: Risk reduced.

• Currently Implemented:

  • Not implemented. No wrapper script with confirmation prompts exists.

• Missing Implementation:

  • Missing entirely. A wrapper script should be created and documented for all developers to use.

Mitigation Strategy: Avoid --verify=no (or --insecure) (CLI Interaction)

• Description:

  1. Review Existing Usage: When using httpie on the command line, consciously avoid using --verify=no or --insecure.
  2. Use --verify=<path/to/cert> (if needed): If you must use a custom CA certificate or a self-signed certificate for command-line testing, use the --verify option with the path to the certificate file.
     • Example: http --verify=/path/to/my-ca.pem GET https://example.com
  3. Understand the Risks: Be fully aware of the security implications of disabling certificate verification before even considering it.

• Threats Mitigated:

  • Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks (Severity: High): Ensures that httpie verifies the server's SSL/TLS certificate, preventing MITM attacks.

• Impact:

  • Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks: Risk significantly reduced (almost eliminated if certificate verification is enabled and properly configured).

• Currently Implemented:

  • Mostly implemented. --verify=no is not used in the main codebase, but it might be used in ad-hoc testing or by developers.

• Missing Implementation:

  • Missing explicit documentation and automated checks to prevent the use of --verify=no in production. Developer guidelines should explicitly forbid its use except in controlled testing environments.