attack-tree.md

Attack Tree Analysis for chroma-core/chroma

Objective: Gain unauthorized access to application data, disrupt application functionality, or achieve code execution on the application server by exploiting ChromaDB.

Attack Tree Visualization

• Attack Goal: Compromise Application via ChromaDB Exploitation [CRITICAL NODE]
  • Exploit Data Input to ChromaDB [CRITICAL NODE]
    • Resource Exhaustion via Data Overload [CRITICAL NODE]
      • Send Large Volume of Data to ChromaDB
        • Cause Denial of Service (DoS) by Overloading ChromaDB Resources (Memory, Disk, CPU) [HIGH-RISK PATH]
        • Degrade Application Performance by Saturating ChromaDB [HIGH-RISK PATH]
  • Exploit Data Retrieval from ChromaDB [CRITICAL NODE]
    • Query Injection (Vector Injection)
      • Craft Queries to Extract Sensitive Data Unintentionally [HIGH-RISK PATH]
      • Trigger Errors or Unexpected Behavior in ChromaDB via Malformed Queries (Potential DoS or Information Leakage) [HIGH-RISK PATH]
    • Information Leakage via Verbose Errors/Debugging [HIGH-RISK PATH]
      • Trigger Errors in ChromaDB to Expose Internal Paths, Configuration, or Data [HIGH-RISK PATH]
  • Exploit ChromaDB Dependencies [CRITICAL NODE]
    • Vulnerable Dependencies [CRITICAL NODE]
      • Identify and Exploit Known Vulnerabilities in ChromaDB's Dependencies
        • Achieve Code Execution via Vulnerable Dependency [HIGH-RISK PATH]
        • Cause Denial of Service via Vulnerable Dependency [HIGH-RISK PATH]
  • Exploit Insecure ChromaDB Deployment [CRITICAL NODE]
    • Exposed ChromaDB Instance [CRITICAL NODE]
      • Direct Access to ChromaDB API (If Exposed Without Proper Network Security)
        • Perform Unauthorized Operations on ChromaDB Directly [HIGH-RISK PATH]
        • Exfiltrate Data from ChromaDB Directly [HIGH-RISK PATH]
    • Weak Network Security [CRITICAL NODE]
      • Network-Based Attacks on ChromaDB Server (If Deployed Separately)
        • Man-in-the-Middle Attacks (If Communication is Not Properly Secured) [HIGH-RISK PATH]
        • Network Scanning and Exploitation of Underlying OS/Infrastructure [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Attack Tree Path: Attack Goal: Compromise Application via ChromaDB Exploitation [CRITICAL NODE]

Description: The ultimate objective of an attacker targeting an application using ChromaDB. Success means achieving one or more of the sub-goals like data access, disruption, or code execution.

Mitigation Focus: All security measures should ultimately aim to prevent reaching this goal.

Attack Tree Path: Exploit Data Input to ChromaDB [CRITICAL NODE]

Description: Attacks targeting the data ingestion process into ChromaDB. Vulnerabilities here can lead to resource exhaustion or potentially more severe issues if data processing is flawed.

Mitigation Focus: Input validation, rate limiting, resource monitoring.

Attack Tree Path: Resource Exhaustion via Data Overload [CRITICAL NODE]

Description: Overwhelming ChromaDB with data to cause denial of service or performance degradation.

Mitigation Focus: Rate limiting, resource monitoring, resource limits.

Attack Tree Path: Send Large Volume of Data to ChromaDB -> Cause Denial of Service (DoS) by Overloading ChromaDB Resources (Memory, Disk, CPU) [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Threat: Attacker floods ChromaDB with data insertion requests.

Attack: Sending a massive volume of data to exhaust ChromaDB's resources (CPU, memory, disk I/O).

Actionable Insights: Implement rate limiting on data ingestion endpoints, monitor ChromaDB resource usage, configure resource limits for ChromaDB.

Attack Tree Path: Send Large Volume of Data to ChromaDB -> Degrade Application Performance by Saturating ChromaDB [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Threat: Attacker sends enough data to significantly slow down ChromaDB, impacting application performance.

Attack: Sending a large volume of data, not necessarily enough for complete DoS, but sufficient to degrade performance and user experience.

Actionable Insights: Implement rate limiting, monitor performance metrics, optimize ChromaDB configuration for performance.

Attack Tree Path: Exploit Data Retrieval from ChromaDB [CRITICAL NODE]

Description: Attacks targeting the data retrieval process from ChromaDB. This can lead to unauthorized data access or information leakage.

Mitigation Focus: Secure query construction, input validation for queries, robust error handling.

Attack Tree Path: Query Injection (Vector Injection) -> Craft Queries to Extract Sensitive Data Unintentionally [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Threat: Attacker manipulates query parameters to retrieve more data than intended, potentially exposing sensitive information.

Attack: Crafting queries that bypass intended filters or access controls (if any are implemented in the application logic around ChromaDB queries) to retrieve sensitive data.

Actionable Insights: Use parameterized queries, validate and sanitize user inputs used in query parameters, design queries to retrieve only necessary data.

Attack Tree Path: Query Injection (Vector Injection) -> Trigger Errors or Unexpected Behavior in ChromaDB via Malformed Queries (Potential DoS or Information Leakage) [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Threat: Attacker sends malformed queries to cause errors in ChromaDB, potentially leading to DoS or information leakage through error messages.

Attack: Sending intentionally malformed or unexpected queries to trigger errors or crashes in ChromaDB.

Actionable Insights: Implement robust error handling in the application, sanitize query inputs, consider input validation on the query structure itself if possible.

Attack Tree Path: Information Leakage via Verbose Errors/Debugging -> Trigger Errors in ChromaDB to Expose Internal Paths, Configuration, or Data [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Threat: Verbose error messages from ChromaDB or the application's interaction with it leak sensitive internal details.

Attack: Intentionally triggering errors in ChromaDB interactions to observe error messages and extract information like internal paths, configuration details, or potentially data snippets.

Actionable Insights: Implement robust error handling to prevent verbose errors in production, disable debugging modes in production, secure logging practices.

Attack Tree Path: Exploit ChromaDB Dependencies [CRITICAL NODE]

Description: Attacks exploiting vulnerabilities in the libraries and packages that ChromaDB relies upon.

Mitigation Focus: Dependency scanning, dependency updates, dependency pinning.

Attack Tree Path: Vulnerable Dependencies [CRITICAL NODE] -> Identify and Exploit Known Vulnerabilities in ChromaDB's Dependencies -> Achieve Code Execution via Vulnerable Dependency [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Threat: Known vulnerabilities in ChromaDB's dependencies are exploited to gain code execution on the server.

Attack: Identifying and exploiting publicly known vulnerabilities in ChromaDB's dependencies to execute arbitrary code on the server running ChromaDB or the application.

Actionable Insights: Regularly scan ChromaDB's dependencies for vulnerabilities, keep dependencies updated to the latest secure versions, implement a patch management process for dependencies.

Attack Tree Path: Vulnerable Dependencies [CRITICAL NODE] -> Identify and Exploit Known Vulnerabilities in ChromaDB's Dependencies -> Cause Denial of Service via Vulnerable Dependency [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Threat: Known vulnerabilities in ChromaDB's dependencies are exploited to cause denial of service.

Attack: Identifying and exploiting publicly known vulnerabilities in ChromaDB's dependencies to trigger denial of service conditions (e.g., resource exhaustion, crashes).

Actionable Insights: Regularly scan dependencies, update dependencies, implement DoS protection measures at the application and infrastructure level.

Attack Tree Path: Exploit Insecure ChromaDB Deployment [CRITICAL NODE]

Description: Attacks exploiting weaknesses in how ChromaDB is deployed and configured in the network environment.

Mitigation Focus: Network segmentation, firewall rules, secure communication, infrastructure hardening.

Attack Tree Path: Exposed ChromaDB Instance [CRITICAL NODE] -> Direct Access to ChromaDB API (If Exposed Without Proper Network Security) -> Perform Unauthorized Operations on ChromaDB Directly [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Threat: ChromaDB API is directly accessible from the internet without proper network security.

Attack: Directly accessing the exposed ChromaDB API to perform unauthorized operations like data manipulation, deletion, or configuration changes.

Actionable Insights: Deploy ChromaDB in a private network segment, use firewall rules to restrict access, consider using an API gateway or proxy for controlled access.

Attack Tree Path: Exposed ChromaDB Instance [CRITICAL NODE] -> Direct Access to ChromaDB API (If Exposed Without Proper Network Security) -> Exfiltrate Data from ChromaDB Directly [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Threat: ChromaDB API is directly accessible from the internet, allowing data exfiltration.

Attack: Directly accessing the exposed ChromaDB API to query and exfiltrate sensitive data stored in ChromaDB.

Actionable Insights: Network segmentation, firewall rules, access control mechanisms (if available and implemented), data encryption at rest and in transit.

Attack Tree Path: Weak Network Security [CRITICAL NODE] -> Network-Based Attacks on ChromaDB Server (If Deployed Separately) -> Man-in-the-Middle Attacks (If Communication is Not Properly Secured) [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Threat: Communication between the application and ChromaDB is not encrypted, allowing for Man-in-the-Middle attacks.

Attack: Intercepting and potentially manipulating communication between the application and ChromaDB if it's not properly secured (e.g., using unencrypted HTTP).

Actionable Insights: Enforce TLS/SSL for all communication between the application and ChromaDB, ensure proper certificate management.

Attack Tree Path: Weak Network Security [CRITICAL NODE] -> Network-Based Attacks on ChromaDB Server (If Deployed Separately) -> Network Scanning and Exploitation of Underlying OS/Infrastructure [HIGH-RISK PATH]

Threat: Weak network security allows attackers to scan and potentially exploit vulnerabilities in the underlying operating system or infrastructure hosting ChromaDB.

Attack: Performing network scanning to identify open ports and services, and then exploiting vulnerabilities in the OS, network services, or other infrastructure components to gain access to the ChromaDB server or the network.

Actionable Insights: Harden the operating system and infrastructure hosting ChromaDB, keep OS and network services patched, implement intrusion detection and prevention systems, follow security best practices for server and network configuration.