sec-design.md

BUSINESS POSTURE

• Business Priorities and Goals
  • Provide a robust and flexible library for generating fake data in Ruby.
  • Support developers in creating realistic and comprehensive test data.
  • Maintain an active and helpful open-source community around the library.
  • Ensure the library is easy to use, well-documented, and extensible.
  • Continuously improve the library with new data types and features based on community needs.
• Business Risks
  • Risk of decreased adoption if the library becomes unreliable or difficult to use.
  • Risk of community dissatisfaction if feature requests and bug reports are not addressed.
  • Risk of security vulnerabilities in the library code that could be exploited by malicious actors if used in unexpected contexts.
  • Risk of supply chain compromise if dependencies are vulnerable or the build process is insecure.
  • Risk of reputational damage if the library is perceived as low quality or insecure.

SECURITY POSTURE

• Existing Security Controls
  • security control: Code hosted on GitHub, leveraging GitHub's security features for repository management and access control. (Implemented: GitHub repository settings)
  • security control: Open-source project with community review, increasing code visibility and potential for identifying vulnerabilities. (Implemented: Open Source nature of the project)
  • security control: Dependency management using Bundler and Gemfile.lock to ensure consistent and reproducible builds. (Implemented: Gemfile and Bundler)
  • security control: Automated testing suite to ensure code quality and prevent regressions. (Implemented: GitHub Actions workflows running tests)
• Accepted Risks
  • accepted risk: Reliance on community contributions for security vulnerability identification and patching, which may have delays.
  • accepted risk: Potential vulnerabilities in dependencies that are not immediately patched.
  • accepted risk: Risk of unintentional security issues introduced by contributors.
• Recommended Security Controls
  • recommended security control: Implement automated Dependency Scanning to identify known vulnerabilities in dependencies.
  • recommended security control: Integrate Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools into the CI/CD pipeline to identify potential security flaws in the code.
  • recommended security control: Establish a clear process for reporting and handling security vulnerabilities, including a security policy and contact information.
  • recommended security control: Regularly review and update dependencies to their latest secure versions.
  • recommended security control: Consider signing releases to ensure authenticity and integrity of distributed gems.
• Security Requirements
  • Authentication: Not directly applicable to a library. Authentication is relevant for systems that use Faker, but not Faker itself.
  • Authorization: Not directly applicable to a library. Authorization is relevant for systems that use Faker, but not Faker itself. Access control to the GitHub repository is managed by GitHub.
  • Input Validation: Faker should validate inputs such as locale codes and format strings to prevent unexpected behavior or errors. This is important to ensure the library functions correctly and predictably.
  • Cryptography: Faker itself is not intended for cryptographic purposes. However, if Faker is used to generate data that resembles sensitive information (e.g., credit card numbers, social security numbers), it is crucial to emphasize that this data is fake and should not be used in real-world security contexts. Faker should not implement any cryptographic functionality.

DESIGN

• C4 CONTEXT

  flowchart LR
    subgraph "Faker Library Context"
      center("Faker Ruby Gem")
    end
  
    Developer -->|"Uses Faker to generate test data"| center
    TestFramework -->|"Uses Faker to generate test data"| center
    RubyGems -->|"Distributes Faker gem"| center
  
    style center fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
  

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  • C4 Context Elements
    • • Name: Developer
        • Type: Person
        • Description: Software developers who use the Faker library in their Ruby projects for generating fake data.
        • Responsibilities: Integrate Faker into their development and testing workflows to create realistic data for various purposes.
        • Security controls: Developers are responsible for securely using Faker within their applications and not misinterpreting fake data as real data.
    • • Name: TestFramework
        • Type: Software System
        • Description: Automated testing frameworks (e.g., RSpec, Minitest) that integrate with Faker to generate data for automated tests.
        • Responsibilities: Utilize Faker to create dynamic and varied test data to improve test coverage and realism.
        • Security controls: Test frameworks inherit the security posture of the applications they are testing. Faker usage within tests should not introduce new security vulnerabilities.
    • • Name: RubyGems
        • Type: Software System
        • Description: The Ruby package repository and distribution system. RubyGems hosts and distributes the Faker gem.
        • Responsibilities: Provide a platform for distributing the Faker gem to Ruby developers. Ensure the integrity and availability of packages hosted on RubyGems.org.
        • Security controls: RubyGems implements security controls for package uploads and distribution, including authentication and checksums.
    • • Name: Faker Ruby Gem
        • Type: Software System
        • Description: The Faker Ruby library itself, responsible for generating fake data based on various providers and configurations.
        • Responsibilities: Generate realistic and varied fake data according to user requests. Maintain data integrity and avoid introducing vulnerabilities.
        • Security controls: Implements input validation for locale and format strings. Relies on secure development practices and dependency management.

• C4 CONTAINER

  flowchart LR
    subgraph "Faker Library Containers"
      FakerCore("Faker Core Library")
      DataProviders("Data Providers")
      LocaleSupport("Locale Support")
    end
  
    Developer -->|"Uses Faker API"| FakerCore
    FakerCore -->|"Uses data from"| DataProviders
    FakerCore -->|"Uses locale data from"| LocaleSupport
  
    style FakerCore fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
  

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  • C4 Container Elements
    • • Name: Faker Core Library
        • Type: Container - Ruby Library (Code)
        • Description: The main Ruby code of the Faker library. It provides the API for generating fake data and orchestrates the data generation process.
        • Responsibilities: Expose a user-friendly API. Manage data providers and locale support. Implement core data generation logic.
        • Security controls: Input validation, secure coding practices, dependency management.
    • • Name: Data Providers
        • Type: Container - Ruby Modules (Data)
        • Description: Modules within Faker that provide specific sets of fake data (e.g., names, addresses, phone numbers, company names).
        • Responsibilities: Store and provide diverse and realistic fake data. Be extensible to allow adding new data types.
        • Security controls: Data providers themselves are mostly data, but the code that accesses and processes this data in the Core Library needs to be secure.
    • • Name: Locale Support
        • Type: Container - Ruby Modules (Data & Code)
        • Description: Modules that handle localization, allowing Faker to generate data in different languages and cultural formats.
        • Responsibilities: Provide locale-specific data and formatting rules. Allow users to specify locales for data generation.
        • Security controls: Input validation for locale codes to prevent unexpected behavior.

• DEPLOYMENT

  flowchart LR
    subgraph "Development Environment"
      DeveloperMachine("Developer Machine")
    end
    subgraph "CI/CD Environment"
      CIEnvironment("CI/CD Server")
    end
    subgraph "RubyGems Infrastructure"
      RubyGemsServer("RubyGems Server")
    end
  
    DeveloperMachine -->|"Develops and tests Faker"| CIEnvironment
    CIEnvironment -->|"Builds, tests, and publishes"| RubyGemsServer
    RubyGemsServer -->|"Distributes Faker gem to"| DeveloperMachine
  
    style RubyGemsServer fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
  

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  • Deployment Elements
    • • Name: Developer Machine
        • Type: Infrastructure - Developer's Local Computer
        • Description: The local development environment of a Faker library contributor. Used for coding, testing, and potentially building the gem locally.
        • Responsibilities: Development, local testing, and contribution to the Faker project.
        • Security controls: Developer machine security is the responsibility of the developer. Secure coding practices are essential.
    • • Name: CI/CD Server
        • Type: Infrastructure - GitHub Actions (Example)
        • Description: A Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery environment, likely GitHub Actions, used to automate the build, test, and release process of the Faker gem.
        • Responsibilities: Automated building, testing, static analysis, and publishing of the Faker gem.
        • Security controls: Secure configuration of CI/CD pipelines, secret management for publishing credentials, and potentially security scanning tools integrated into the pipeline.
    • • Name: RubyGems Server
        • Type: Infrastructure - RubyGems.org Infrastructure
        • Description: The servers and infrastructure that host the RubyGems package repository (rubygems.org).
        • Responsibilities: Hosting and distributing Ruby gems, including Faker. Ensuring availability and integrity of gems.
        • Security controls: RubyGems.org implements its own security controls for infrastructure, package management, and user authentication.

• BUILD

  flowchart LR
    subgraph "Build Process"
      Developer["Developer Machine"]
      GitHubRepo["GitHub Repository"]
      GitHubActions["GitHub Actions CI"]
      TestStage["Test Suite"]
      SASTStage["SAST Scanner"]
      DependencyCheck["Dependency Check"]
      GemBuildStage["Gem Build"]
      RubyGemsPublish["RubyGems Publish"]
      ArtifactStore["Artifact Storage (RubyGems)"]
    end
  
    Developer -->|"Code Commit"| GitHubRepo
    GitHubRepo -->|"Webhook Trigger"| GitHubActions
    GitHubActions --> TestStage
    TestStage --> SASTStage
    SASTStage --> DependencyCheck
    DependencyCheck --> GemBuildStage
    GemBuildStage --> RubyGemsPublish
    RubyGemsPublish --> ArtifactStore
  
    style RubyGemsPublish fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
  

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  • Build Elements
    • • Name: Developer Machine
        • Type: Development Environment
        • Description: Developer's local machine where code changes are made and initially tested.
        • Responsibilities: Writing code, running local tests, and committing changes.
        • Security controls: Secure coding practices, local development environment security.
    • • Name: GitHub Repository
        • Type: Code Repository
        • Description: The central Git repository hosted on GitHub, storing the Faker library's source code.
        • Responsibilities: Version control, code collaboration, and triggering CI/CD pipelines.
        • Security controls: GitHub's access control, branch protection, and security features.
    • • Name: GitHub Actions CI
        • Type: CI/CD System
        • Description: GitHub Actions workflows configured to automate the build, test, and release process.
        • Responsibilities: Automated build, test execution, security checks, and gem publishing.
        • Security controls: Secure workflow definitions, secret management, and access control to CI/CD configurations.
    • • Name: Test Suite
        • Type: Automated Testing
        • Description: A suite of automated tests (unit, integration, etc.) to verify the functionality of the Faker library.
        • Responsibilities: Ensure code quality, prevent regressions, and verify functionality.
        • Security controls: Tests should cover security-relevant aspects of the library, such as input validation.
    • • Name: SAST Scanner
        • Type: Security Tool - Static Application Security Testing
        • Description: A SAST tool integrated into the CI/CD pipeline to automatically scan the codebase for potential security vulnerabilities.
        • Responsibilities: Identify potential security flaws in the code before release.
        • Security controls: Configuration and maintenance of the SAST tool, review and remediation of findings.
    • • Name: Dependency Check
        • Type: Security Tool - Dependency Scanning
        • Description: A tool to scan project dependencies for known vulnerabilities.
        • Responsibilities: Identify vulnerable dependencies and alert maintainers to update them.
        • Security controls: Configuration and maintenance of the dependency scanning tool, updating dependencies as needed.
    • • Name: Gem Build
        • Type: Build Process
        • Description: The stage where the Ruby gem package is built from the source code.
        • Responsibilities: Package the code and assets into a distributable gem file.
        • Security controls: Ensure the build process is secure and reproducible, preventing tampering.
    • • Name: RubyGems Publish
        • Type: Release Process
        • Description: The stage where the built gem is published to RubyGems.org, making it available to users.
        • Responsibilities: Securely publish the gem to RubyGems.org.
        • Security controls: Secure credentials management for publishing, gem signing (optional).
    • • Name: Artifact Storage (RubyGems)
        • Type: Package Repository
        • Description: RubyGems.org's storage infrastructure where published gems are stored and served to users.
        • Responsibilities: Securely store and distribute gem packages.
        • Security controls: RubyGems.org's infrastructure security controls.

RISK ASSESSMENT

• Critical Business Processes
  • For Faker library itself: Maintaining the integrity and availability of the Faker Ruby gem on RubyGems.org. Ensuring the library remains useful and reliable for developers.
  • For users of Faker: Development and testing processes that rely on realistic fake data generated by Faker.
• Data Sensitivity
  • Code: The Faker library's source code is publicly available on GitHub. The integrity of the code is important to prevent malicious modifications.
  • Fake Data: The data generated by Faker is intentionally fake and not sensitive. However, it's important to ensure that users understand it is fake and do not misuse it as real, sensitive data.
  • Dependencies: Dependencies of Faker are external open-source libraries. Vulnerabilities in dependencies could pose a risk.
  • Build Artifacts (Gem): The built gem package is a distributable artifact. Its integrity is important to prevent supply chain attacks.

QUESTIONS & ASSUMPTIONS

• Questions
  • Are there any specific security concerns related to the usage of Faker in particular contexts (e.g., generating data for applications that handle sensitive information, even if the data is fake)?
  • Are there any specific compliance requirements that the Faker library needs to adhere to (unlikely for a fake data generation library, but worth confirming)?
  • Is there a formal security incident response plan in place for the Faker project?
• Assumptions
  • Assumption: The primary goal of Faker is to provide a useful tool for developers, not to handle or secure real-world sensitive data.
  • Assumption: Standard open-source development practices are followed, including community contributions and public code review.
  • Assumption: Security is considered important for the project, but resources are likely limited to community contributions and volunteer efforts.
  • Assumption: The target audience for this design document is concerned with the general security posture of the Faker library and its potential risks, rather than specific application-level security concerns when using Faker.