attack-surface.md

Attack Surface Analysis for thoughtbot/factory_bot

Attack Surface: Data Leakage via Test Data

• Description: Unintentional exposure of highly sensitive data generated or used by factory_bot factories, primarily due to inadequate security measures in test environments or mishandling of test data.
• How factory_bot contributes: factory_bot factories are used to create data for testing. If factories are configured to generate or utilize realistic or sensitive data (e.g., highly sensitive PII, financial data, real-looking credentials) and test environments lack robust security, this data becomes a leakage risk.
• Example: A Patient factory, used in a healthcare application test suite, generates realistic-looking patient records including synthetic but plausible Social Security Numbers and medical condition details. Backups of the test database, containing this factory-generated data, are stored on a weakly secured shared drive accessible to unauthorized personnel. This leaked data, while synthetic, could be misused for identity theft or cause reputational damage if perceived as real patient information.
• Impact: Severe compromise of user privacy, significant reputational damage, potential legal and regulatory penalties (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA violations if the data is perceived as real or closely resembles real data), and loss of customer trust.
• Risk Severity: High
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Strictly Use Synthetic and Anonymized Data: Configure factory_bot factories to generate completely synthetic, anonymized, and non-realistic data, especially for sensitive fields. Avoid any resemblance to real sensitive data. Utilize libraries like Faker effectively to generate truly meaningless test data for sensitive attributes.
  • Implement Production-Level Security for Test Environments: Secure test databases and environments with security measures comparable to production, including strong access control, encryption at rest and in transit, and regular security audits.
  • Securely Manage Test Data Backups and Exports: Treat test data backups and exports with the highest level of security, employing encryption, strict access controls, and secure storage locations. Implement data retention policies to minimize the lifespan of test data backups.
  • Data Minimization in Factories: Design factories to generate only the minimum necessary data for testing purposes, avoiding the creation of unnecessary or overly detailed records that could increase the risk of leakage.
  • Regular Security Audits of Test Environments and Data Handling: Conduct regular security audits specifically focused on test environments and data handling practices, including the data generated by factory_bot factories.

Attack Surface: Misuse of Factories in Non-Test Environments (Developer Error Leading to Backdoors)

• Description: Accidental or intentional exposure and misuse of factory_bot factory code or its underlying logic in non-test environments (staging, production), creating unintended backdoors that bypass normal application security controls.
• How factory_bot contributes: factory_bot provides a convenient way to create application objects. If factory definitions or the ability to execute factory-like creation logic is inadvertently or maliciously exposed in non-test environments, it can be exploited to create arbitrary data, including privileged accounts or manipulate sensitive information, bypassing standard application workflows and security checks.
• Example: Due to a configuration error or malicious code injection, a debugging endpoint in a production application inadvertently exposes the ability to execute factory_bot factory definitions. An attacker discovers this endpoint and uses it to create a new administrative user account via a AdminUser factory, bypassing the normal user registration and authentication processes, gaining unauthorized administrative access to the production system.
• Impact: Complete bypass of application security controls, creation of backdoors for persistent access, unauthorized data manipulation or deletion, potential for full system compromise, and severe damage to data integrity and confidentiality.
• Risk Severity: Critical
• Mitigation Strategies:
  • Strict Separation of Test and Production Code: Enforce absolute separation between test code (including factory_bot factories) and production code through rigorous project structure, build processes, and deployment pipelines. Ensure test code is never deployed to non-test environments.
  • Robust Code Review and Static Analysis: Implement thorough code reviews and utilize static analysis tools to proactively detect and prevent any accidental inclusion of test-specific code, especially factory_bot related code, in production deployments.
  • Principle of Least Privilege and Secure Access Controls: Even if factory-like code were somehow present in non-test environments (which should be prevented), ensure it is not accessible or executable without strong authentication and authorization. Implement strict role-based access control to limit who can access and execute any code in non-test environments.
  • Runtime Environment Security Hardening: Harden runtime environments (staging, production) to prevent execution of arbitrary code or access to development-related libraries and functionalities. Disable or remove any debugging or development-related endpoints in production.
  • Regular Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Scanning: Conduct regular penetration testing and vulnerability scanning of all environments, including staging and production, to identify and remediate any potential exposures of development or testing functionalities, including accidental factory code exposure.