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Attack Surface Analysis for realm/jazzy

Attack Surface: Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) via Comment Injection

  • Description: Malicious JavaScript code injected into source code comments is rendered in the generated documentation without proper sanitization by Jazzy, leading to XSS attacks when users view the documentation.
  • Jazzy Contribution: Jazzy parses comments from Swift and Objective-C code and incorporates their content into the generated HTML documentation. Jazzy's failure to properly sanitize or escape comment content before including it in the HTML output is the direct contribution to this attack surface.
  • Example: A developer unknowingly includes a comment containing malicious JavaScript, such as /// <script>alert('XSS Vulnerability!')</script>, in their Swift code. When Jazzy generates documentation, this script is included verbatim in the HTML. When a user views the documentation page, the script executes in their browser, potentially leading to session hijacking, cookie theft, or redirection to malicious websites.
  • Impact: User compromise, unauthorized actions on behalf of the user, data theft, website defacement, redirection to malicious sites.
  • Risk Severity: High
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Jazzy Development (Primary Mitigation): Jazzy must implement robust and default HTML escaping and sanitization for all comment content before including it in the generated documentation. This should be a core security feature of Jazzy.
    • Developer Practices (Secondary Layer):
      • Educate developers about the risks of XSS in documentation comments, even if Jazzy should sanitize.
      • Implement code review processes to identify and remove potentially malicious or unsanitized content in comments as a defense-in-depth measure.
      • Utilize linters or static analysis tools that can detect potential XSS patterns in comments, although reliance should not be solely on these tools given Jazzy's responsibility.
    • Content Security Policy (CSP) (Defense-in-Depth): Implement a strict Content Security Policy in the generated documentation. This can act as a further mitigation layer by restricting the execution of inline scripts and controlling the sources from which scripts can be loaded, even if sanitization in Jazzy is bypassed.

Attack Surface: Configuration File Manipulation (.jazzy.yaml) for Malicious Asset Injection

  • Description: An attacker gains unauthorized write access to the .jazzy.yaml configuration file and modifies it to inject malicious assets (like JavaScript or CSS) into the generated documentation, leading to client-side attacks.
  • Jazzy Contribution: Jazzy relies on the .jazzy.yaml file for configuration, including options to include custom headers, stylesheets, or JavaScript. Jazzy's design of using a configuration file that, if compromised, can directly influence the generated output and inject arbitrary content is the direct contribution to this attack surface.
  • Example: An attacker compromises a developer's machine or gains access to the code repository and modifies .jazzy.yaml to include a malicious JavaScript file hosted on an attacker-controlled server using the custom_head configuration option. When Jazzy generates documentation, this malicious script is included in every page. Users viewing the documentation will then execute this attacker-controlled script in their browsers, enabling XSS attacks, credential harvesting, or other malicious activities.
  • Impact: Website compromise, widespread user compromise if documentation is widely accessed, potential for persistent XSS attacks affecting all documentation users.
  • Risk Severity: High
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Access Control (Primary Mitigation): Strictly control access to the .jazzy.yaml file. It should only be modifiable by authorized personnel and protected by appropriate file system permissions and repository access controls.
    • Configuration Validation (Jazzy Enhancement): Jazzy could be enhanced to include validation of certain configuration options, particularly those related to external resource inclusion. For example, Jazzy could warn or prevent the inclusion of external JavaScript or CSS from arbitrary domains without explicit user confirmation or whitelisting.
    • Immutable Infrastructure (Best Practice): In CI/CD pipelines, ideally, the .jazzy.yaml configuration should be treated as immutable and part of the build process. This reduces the window for unauthorized modification in a live or development environment.
    • Regular Audits (Detection): Periodically audit the .jazzy.yaml file for any unexpected or unauthorized changes to detect potential compromise.