Objective: To cause a denial-of-service (DoS) or achieve arbitrary code execution (ACE) in an application utilizing the crossbeam library by exploiting its concurrency primitives.
+-------------------------------------------------+
| Compromise Application Using Crossbeam (DoS/ACE) |
+-------------------------------------------------+
|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
+------------------------+ +------------------------+
| Denial of Service (DoS) | | Arbitrary Code Execution (ACE) |
+------------------------+ +------------------------+ [CRITICAL]
| |
+--------+--------+--------+ +--------+
| | | Resource| | Memory |
| | |Exhaustion| |Corruption|
| | | [HIGH-RISK]| | (Other) |
+--------+--------+--------+ +--------+
| | | |
| +-----+-----+ | | +-----+-----+
| |Incorrect| | | |Race |
| |Channel | | | |Condi- |
| |Usage | | | |tions |
| [HIGH-RISK]| | | [HIGH-RISK]
| +---------+ | | +-------+
| | | |
| | +-----+-----+ |
| | |Incorrect| |
| | |Buffer | |
| | |Sizing | |
| | [HIGH-RISK]| |
| | +---------+ |
| | | |
| +-----+-----+ | |
| | Cross- | | |
| | beam | | |
| | Channel | | |
| | Logic | | |
| | Error | | |
| [HIGH-RISK]| | |
| +---------+ | |
| | | |
| | +-----+-----+ |
| | |Applica-| |
| | |tion | |
| | |Logic | |
| | |Error | |
| | +---------+ |
| | | |
Attack Tree Path: 1. Denial of Service (DoS)
* **1.1 Resource Exhaustion [HIGH-RISK]**
* **Description:** The attacker exploits the application's use of Crossbeam to consume excessive system resources (memory, threads, file descriptors, etc.), leading to a denial of service.
* **Sub-Vectors:**
* **1.1.a Incorrect Buffer Sizing [HIGH-RISK]:**
* **Description:** The application uses Crossbeam channels or queues with inappropriately sized buffers. An attacker might be able to send a large number of messages, filling up a bounded channel and blocking senders, or cause excessive memory allocation with an unbounded channel.
* **Likelihood:** Medium
* **Impact:** High
* **Effort:** Low to Medium
* **Skill Level:** Intermediate
* **Detection Difficulty:** Medium
* **1.1.b Crossbeam Channel Logic Error [HIGH-RISK] -> Application Logic Error:**
* **Description:** The application logic, while interacting with Crossbeam channels, contains errors that lead to resource exhaustion. For example, continuously creating new channels without closing them, or spawning an unbounded number of threads that interact with channels.
* **Likelihood:** Low to Medium
* **Impact:** High
* **Effort:** Medium
* **Skill Level:** Intermediate
* **Detection Difficulty:** Medium
* **1.2 Deadlock -> Incorrect Channel Usage [HIGH-RISK]:**
* **Description:** The attacker crafts input or manipulates the application's state in a way that causes a deadlock when using Crossbeam channels. This occurs due to incorrect usage patterns within the application logic, such as improper locking order or circular dependencies between channels.
* **Likelihood:** Low to Medium
* **Impact:** High
* **Effort:** Medium
* **Skill Level:** Intermediate
* **Detection Difficulty:** Medium
* **1.3 Livelock -> Incorrect Channel Usage [HIGH-RISK]:**
* **Description:** Similar to a deadlock, but instead of threads being completely blocked, they are continuously reacting to each other's state changes in a way that prevents any of them from making progress. This is caused by flawed application logic when using Crossbeam channels.
* **Likelihood:** Low to Medium
* **Impact:** High
* **Effort:** Medium
* **Skill Level:** Intermediate
* **Detection Difficulty:** Hard
Attack Tree Path: 2. Arbitrary Code Execution (ACE) [CRITICAL]
* **2.1 Memory Corruption (Other) -> Race Conditions [HIGH-RISK]**
* **Description:** The attacker exploits a race condition in the application's use of Crossbeam to cause memory corruption. This is *not* a race condition *within* Crossbeam itself, but rather a race condition in the application code that uses Crossbeam, where multiple threads access and modify shared data without proper synchronization. This could lead to writing to arbitrary memory locations, potentially allowing for code execution.
* **Likelihood:** Low
* **Impact:** Critical
* **Effort:** High
* **Skill Level:** Advanced
* **Detection Difficulty:** Hard