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attack-surface.md

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Attack Surface Analysis for railsadminteam/rails_admin

Attack Surface: Authentication Bypass

  • Description: Gaining unauthorized access to the rails_admin dashboard without valid credentials.
  • How rails_admin Contributes: rails_admin provides a centralized administrative interface, which, if unprotected, becomes a single point of entry for attackers. This is the defining characteristic of the risk related to rails_admin.
  • Example: An attacker discovers the /admin route and, due to missing authentication configuration, gains full access to the dashboard.
  • Impact: Complete control over the application's data and potentially the server itself.
  • Risk Severity: Critical
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Implement Robust Authentication: Use a strong authentication mechanism like Devise, ensuring it's correctly integrated with rails_admin using config.authenticate_with.
    • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Enforce MFA for all rails_admin users.
    • Rate Limiting & Account Lockout: Implement measures to prevent brute-force attacks against the rails_admin login.
    • Regular Security Audits: Review authentication configurations.

Attack Surface: Authorization Bypass

  • Description: An authenticated user (or unauthenticated, if authentication is bypassed) accessing rails_admin features or data they are not authorized to access.
  • How rails_admin Contributes: rails_admin's core functionality is to provide granular access control. Misconfiguration within rails_admin's authorization setup is the direct cause of this vulnerability.
  • Example: A user with "editor" role can access and delete user accounts due to an improperly configured authorization rule within rails_admin's integration with CanCanCan or Pundit.
  • Impact: Data breaches, unauthorized data modification/deletion, privilege escalation.
  • Risk Severity: Critical
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Implement Robust Authorization: Use CanCanCan or Pundit, meticulously defining access rules for each model and action within rails_admin using config.authorize_with.
    • Principle of Least Privilege: Grant users only the minimum necessary permissions.
    • Regular Audits: Regularly review and test authorization rules specifically within the context of rails_admin.
    • Test-Driven Development (TDD): Write tests to verify authorization logic for rails_admin access.

Attack Surface: Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) (within rails_admin)

  • Description: Injecting malicious JavaScript code into the rails_admin interface itself.
  • How rails_admin Contributes: Vulnerabilities within rails_admin's code (especially custom actions/fields) or in unpatched versions of the gem are the direct source of this risk.
  • Example: An attacker exploits a vulnerability in a custom rails_admin action to inject a script that steals session cookies.
  • Impact: Session hijacking, defacement, redirection, data theft – all within the context of other rails_admin users.
  • Risk Severity: High
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Keep rails_admin Updated: This is paramount. Regular updates patch vulnerabilities within the gem itself.
    • Input Sanitization & Output Encoding: Meticulously sanitize input and encode output in custom rails_admin actions and fields. Avoid html_safe.
    • Content Security Policy (CSP): Can help mitigate, but the primary focus should be on patching and secure coding within rails_admin customizations.

Attack Surface: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) (within rails_admin)

  • Description: Tricking an authenticated rails_admin user into performing unintended actions.
  • How rails_admin Contributes: The risk arises from custom actions within rails_admin that bypass or misconfigure Rails' built-in CSRF protection. It's a vulnerability within the rails_admin context.
  • Example: An attacker crafts a link that, when clicked by a logged-in rails_admin user, triggers a request to a custom rails_admin action that deletes data, exploiting a missing CSRF token.
  • Impact: Unauthorized data modification/deletion, account compromise – all through actions performed within rails_admin.
  • Risk Severity: High
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Ensure CSRF Protection: Verify that all rails_admin actions, especially custom ones, correctly use Rails' CSRF protection. Do not disable it.
    • Test Custom Actions: Thoroughly test custom rails_admin actions for CSRF vulnerabilities.

Attack Surface: Unpatched rails_admin Gem

  • Description: Running an outdated version of the rails_admin gem with known vulnerabilities.
  • How rails_admin Contributes: This is a direct vulnerability of using the rails_admin gem itself. The gem is the attack surface.
  • Example: An attacker exploits a known vulnerability in an older version of rails_admin to gain access.
  • Impact: Varies, but can range from information disclosure to complete compromise through the rails_admin interface.
  • Risk Severity: High to Critical (depending on the vulnerability)
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Regular Updates: Update the rails_admin gem to the latest stable release. This is the primary mitigation.
    • Dependency Monitoring: Use tools like Bundler-audit or Dependabot.
    • Security Advisories: Monitor security advisories related to rails_admin.

Attack Surface: Insecure File Uploads (via associated gems, within the rails_admin context)

  • Description: Exploiting vulnerabilities in file upload handling initiated through the rails_admin interface.
  • How rails_admin Contributes: While the vulnerability is often in the underlying file upload library, rails_admin provides the interface through which the exploit occurs. The attack is performed through rails_admin.
  • Example: An attacker, using the rails_admin file upload interface, uploads a malicious script disguised as an image.
  • Impact: Remote code execution, server compromise – all stemming from an action performed within rails_admin.
  • Risk Severity: Critical
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Strict File Type Validation: Validate file types based on content, not extensions, within the context of the rails_admin upload process.
    • Secure Storage: Store uploaded files securely, ideally outside the web root.
    • Filename Sanitization: Sanitize filenames to prevent directory traversal, as part of the rails_admin upload handling.
    • File Upload Library Updates: Keep the file upload library updated.
    • Anti-Virus Scanning: Consider scanning files uploaded through rails_admin.
    • Limit File Size: Enforce reasonable limits of uploaded files within the rails_admin context.