attack-surface.md

Attack Surface Analysis for maybe-finance/maybe

Attack Surface: SQL Injection Vulnerabilities

• Description: Attackers inject malicious SQL code into application inputs, which is then executed by the database. This is directly relevant to maybe if it constructs SQL queries dynamically based on financial data handled by the library without proper sanitization or parameterized queries.
• How Maybe Contributes: If maybe's code itself (not the application using it, but maybe's internal logic) constructs SQL queries based on financial data it processes or stores, and does so insecurely, it directly introduces this vulnerability. For example, if maybe provides functions to filter or search financial data and these functions internally build vulnerable SQL.
• Example: A vulnerability within maybe's data filtering functions allows an attacker to craft a malicious filter that, when processed by maybe, results in an SQL injection attack against the application's database.
• Impact: Complete compromise of the database, including exposure of all sensitive financial data, data integrity loss, potential data deletion, and in severe cases, database server takeover.
• Risk Severity: Critical
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Developer (Maybe Library Developers):
    • Use Parameterized Queries or ORM within Maybe: Internally, maybe must use parameterized queries or an ORM for all database interactions to prevent SQL injection from its own code.
    • Input Validation and Sanitization within Maybe: maybe should validate and sanitize any financial data it receives or processes before using it in database queries.
    • Security Audits of Maybe Code: Regular security audits of maybe's codebase are crucial to identify and eliminate potential SQL injection vulnerabilities within the library itself.
  • Developer (Application Developers using Maybe):
    • Review Maybe's Database Interactions: Understand how maybe interacts with the database and ensure that the application's usage of maybe doesn't inadvertently create SQL injection points.
    • Isolate Maybe's Database Access: If possible, isolate database access performed by maybe to a dedicated database user with minimal privileges to limit the impact of a potential SQL injection within maybe.

Attack Surface: Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerabilities

• Description: Attackers inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users. This is relevant to maybe if it generates or processes financial data that is then rendered in the application's UI without proper encoding.
• How Maybe Contributes: If maybe provides functions to format or display financial data (e.g., transaction summaries, account balances) and these functions do not properly encode the data for safe HTML rendering, it introduces XSS vulnerabilities. This is especially relevant if maybe handles user-provided descriptions or notes.
• Example: maybe's function for displaying transaction details fails to properly encode transaction descriptions. An attacker injects malicious JavaScript into a transaction description, and when the application uses maybe to display this transaction, the script executes in users' browsers.
• Impact: Account takeover, data theft (session cookies, potentially financial data displayed on the page), defacement of the application, phishing attacks targeting users.
• Risk Severity: High
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Developer (Maybe Library Developers):
    • Output Encoding within Maybe: maybe's code responsible for generating output that will be rendered in HTML must always perform proper output encoding to prevent XSS. This should be a default behavior of any data formatting or display functions provided by maybe.
    • Security Reviews of Output Generation: Review maybe's code that generates output for web UIs to ensure proper encoding is consistently applied.
  • Developer (Application Developers using Maybe):
    • Use Maybe's Output Functions Correctly: Ensure that when using maybe's functions to display financial data, the output is correctly handled and rendered in the application's UI, respecting the encoding provided by maybe.
    • Context-Aware Encoding: Understand the context in which maybe's output is being used and apply any additional encoding necessary at the application level if maybe's encoding is insufficient for the specific context.

Attack Surface: Insecure Data Storage (Within Maybe's Scope)

• Description: Sensitive financial data handled or temporarily stored within maybe's internal processes is stored insecurely. This is less about the application's database and more about how maybe itself manages data in memory or temporary files.
• How Maybe Contributes: If maybe is designed to cache or temporarily store sensitive financial data (e.g., during calculations, data processing, or for performance reasons) and does so in an insecure manner (unencrypted in memory, written to insecure temporary files), it introduces a data exposure risk.
• Example: maybe caches decrypted financial data in memory without proper protection. If an attacker gains access to the application's memory (e.g., through a memory dump vulnerability), they could potentially extract this sensitive data.
• Impact: Potential data breach, exposure of sensitive financial information if maybe's internal data storage is compromised.
• Risk Severity: Critical
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Developer (Maybe Library Developers):
    • Minimize Data Caching: Avoid caching sensitive financial data unnecessarily within maybe.
    • Secure In-Memory Data Handling: If caching is required, use secure in-memory data structures and consider encryption for sensitive data even in memory.
    • Secure Temporary File Handling: If temporary files are used, ensure they are created securely with restricted permissions and are deleted promptly after use. Avoid storing sensitive data in temporary files if possible.
    • Memory Sanitization: Consider memory sanitization techniques to clear sensitive data from memory after it is no longer needed.
  • Developer (Application Developers using Maybe):
    • Understand Maybe's Data Handling: Thoroughly understand how maybe handles data internally, including any caching or temporary storage mechanisms, to assess potential risks.
    • Monitor Maybe's Resource Usage: Monitor maybe's resource usage (memory, disk I/O) to detect any unexpected data caching or temporary file creation that might indicate insecure data handling.

Attack Surface: Dependency Vulnerabilities (Direct Dependencies of Maybe)

• Description: maybe itself relies on third-party libraries that may contain known security vulnerabilities. This is specifically about the dependencies of maybe, not the application using maybe.
• How Maybe Contributes: If maybe depends on vulnerable libraries, and these vulnerabilities are exploitable in the context of maybe's functionality, then maybe directly introduces this attack surface to any application using it.
• Example: maybe depends on an outdated version of a JSON parsing library with a known remote code execution vulnerability. If maybe uses this library in a way that processes untrusted JSON input, applications using maybe become vulnerable to RCE.
• Impact: Depending on the vulnerability in maybe's dependencies, impacts can range from XSS and SQL injection to Remote Code Execution (RCE), potentially leading to full system compromise and data breaches in applications using maybe.
• Risk Severity: High to Critical (depending on the vulnerability)
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Developer (Maybe Library Developers):
    • Dependency Scanning for Maybe: Regularly use dependency scanning tools on maybe's codebase to identify vulnerabilities in its dependencies.
    • Regular Dependency Updates for Maybe: Keep maybe's dependencies up-to-date with the latest secure versions.
    • Vulnerability Management for Maybe: Have a process for addressing and patching identified dependency vulnerabilities in maybe promptly and releasing updated versions of the library.
    • Minimize Dependencies: Reduce the number of dependencies maybe relies on to minimize the attack surface from third-party code.
  • Developer (Application Developers using Maybe):
    • Monitor Maybe's Dependencies: Be aware of the dependencies used by maybe and check for known vulnerabilities in those dependencies.
    • Update Maybe Regularly: Keep the maybe library updated to the latest version to benefit from security patches and dependency updates released by the maybe developers.