Attack Surface: Unauthorized Data Access
Description: Attackers gain access to embeddings and metadata stored within Chroma that they should not be able to see. Chroma Contribution: Chroma is the data store and access point; its internal access control mechanisms (or lack thereof) are directly responsible. Example: An attacker exploits a misconfigured Chroma API endpoint or a vulnerability in Chroma's authentication to query the database and retrieve sensitive embeddings. Impact: Data breach, privacy violation, regulatory non-compliance, reputational damage. Risk Severity: Critical (if sensitive data is involved) or High (for less sensitive data). Mitigation Strategies: * Implement strong authentication within Chroma (e.g., API keys with limited scope, robust user management if supported). * Enforce granular authorization within Chroma (e.g., collection-level permissions, if available). If Chroma lacks fine-grained controls, this must be enforced at the application layer before interacting with Chroma. * Regularly audit Chroma's access logs and configurations.
Attack Surface: Denial of Service (Resource Exhaustion) - Targeting Chroma
Description: Attackers flood Chroma itself with requests or large data insertions, making the Chroma service unavailable. Chroma Contribution: Chroma's query processing and data storage mechanisms are the direct targets. Its internal handling of resource limits is crucial. Example: An attacker sends thousands of queries per second directly to the Chroma API, overwhelming the Chroma server and causing it to crash or become unresponsive. Impact: Chroma service disruption, loss of availability for all applications using that Chroma instance. Risk Severity: High Mitigation Strategies: * Configure Chroma's internal rate limiting and resource quotas (if supported). If not supported natively, implement these limits at the application layer before requests reach Chroma. * Monitor Chroma's server resource usage (CPU, memory, storage, network) and set alerts for anomalies. * If using a Chroma deployment that supports it, scale horizontally to distribute the load. * Implement robust error handling within Chroma (and the application layer) to prevent crashes due to malformed requests.
Attack Surface: Code Injection/RCE (within Chroma)
Description: Attackers exploit vulnerabilities in Chroma's code or its direct dependencies to execute arbitrary code on the server running Chroma. Chroma Contribution: This is entirely dependent on vulnerabilities within Chroma itself or libraries directly bundled with or required by Chroma. Example: An attacker discovers a vulnerability in Chroma's query parsing logic and crafts a malicious API request that exploits this vulnerability to gain shell access to the server running Chroma. Impact: Complete server compromise of the Chroma instance, data theft, data manipulation, potential lateral movement (if the server has network access). Risk Severity: Critical Mitigation Strategies: * Keep Chroma itself up-to-date with the latest security patches. This is paramount. * Use software composition analysis (SCA) tools to identify and track vulnerabilities in Chroma and its direct dependencies. * Regularly conduct security audits and penetration testing specifically targeting the Chroma deployment. * Run Chroma in a sandboxed or containerized environment to limit the impact of a successful exploit on the host system. This does not prevent compromise of Chroma itself, but limits the blast radius.