threat-modeling.md

Threat Model Analysis for fuellabs/fuels-rs

Threat: Weak Key Generation (within fuels-rs or related utilities)

• Description: If fuels-rs itself, or utilities provided alongside it for key management, employs weak or predictable methods for generating private keys, an attacker could potentially compromise these keys. This could occur if the random number generation is flawed, or if a deterministic key generation scheme is used with insufficient entropy. An attacker could use cryptanalysis or brute-force techniques to recover private keys generated using these weak methods.
  • Impact: Complete compromise of user accounts and assets controlled by the compromised keys, unauthorized transactions, and potential identity theft.
  • Affected fuels-rs Component: Key generation functions within fuels-rs (if any are directly exposed and vulnerable), or related utilities for key management distributed with or recommended by fuels-rs.
  • Risk Severity: Critical
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Use Secure Key Generation Libraries within fuels-rs: Ensure fuels-rs and related utilities rely on well-vetted and established cryptographic libraries for key generation (e.g., libraries from the Rust ecosystem known for strong cryptography).
    • Entropy Audits: Audit the entropy sources used by fuels-rs and related utilities for key generation to ensure sufficient randomness.
    • Avoid Custom Cryptographic Implementations: Minimize or eliminate custom cryptographic implementations within fuels-rs for key generation, relying instead on established and audited libraries.
    • Regular Security Audits of fuels-rs: Conduct regular security audits of the fuels-rs codebase, specifically focusing on key generation and cryptographic functions.

Threat: Signature Forgery or Manipulation (within fuels-rs signing process)

• Description: Vulnerabilities in the transaction signing process within fuels-rs or its underlying cryptographic libraries could allow for signature forgery or manipulation. An attacker exploiting such a vulnerability could create seemingly valid transactions on behalf of legitimate users without possessing their private keys. This could involve flaws in the signing algorithm implementation, incorrect use of cryptographic primitives, or vulnerabilities in dependency libraries.
  • Impact: Unauthorized transactions leading to loss of funds, manipulation of smart contract state, and severe reputational damage for applications relying on fuels-rs.
  • Affected fuels-rs Component: Transaction signing modules within fuels-rs, cryptographic libraries used for signing (e.g., ed25519-dalek or similar if used by fuels-rs).
  • Risk Severity: Critical
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Rigorous Testing of Signing Process: Implement rigorous unit and integration tests specifically for the transaction signing process within fuels-rs, including testing against known attack vectors.
    • Dependency Audits (Cryptographic Libraries): Regularly audit the cryptographic libraries used by fuels-rs for known vulnerabilities and ensure they are up-to-date.
    • Code Reviews by Cryptography Experts: Have the transaction signing code within fuels-rs reviewed by cryptography experts to identify potential flaws in implementation or design.
    • Use Standard Cryptographic Libraries Correctly: Ensure fuels-rs correctly utilizes standard and well-vetted cryptographic libraries for signing, adhering to best practices and avoiding common pitfalls.
    • Report Suspected Vulnerabilities: Encourage and facilitate responsible disclosure of any suspected vulnerabilities in fuels-rs's signing process.

Threat: Dependency Vulnerabilities (in fuels-rs dependencies)

• Description: fuels-rs relies on external Rust crates as dependencies. These dependencies might contain security vulnerabilities. If vulnerabilities are discovered in these dependencies, and fuels-rs uses the vulnerable versions, applications using fuels-rs could indirectly become vulnerable. An attacker could exploit known vulnerabilities in fuels-rs's dependencies to compromise applications using the library.
  • Impact: Wide range of potential impacts depending on the nature of the dependency vulnerability, including remote code execution, data breaches, denial of service, and privilege escalation in applications using fuels-rs.
  • Affected fuels-rs Component: Indirectly affects fuels-rs and applications using it. The vulnerability resides in fuels-rs's dependencies, but fuels-rs is the vector through which the vulnerability is introduced to applications.
  • Risk Severity: High to Critical (depending on the severity of the dependency vulnerability)
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Automated Dependency Scanning: Implement automated dependency scanning as part of the fuels-rs development and release process using tools like cargo audit or similar vulnerability scanners.
    • Proactive Dependency Updates: Proactively monitor for and update fuels-rs's dependencies to the latest versions, especially when security patches are released.
    • Dependency Pinning and Reproducible Builds: Use dependency pinning (e.g., Cargo.lock) to ensure consistent and reproducible builds and to facilitate vulnerability tracking.
    • Vulnerability Monitoring and Alerts: Set up vulnerability monitoring and alerts for fuels-rs's dependencies to be notified of newly discovered vulnerabilities promptly.
    • Supply Chain Security Practices: Adopt broader supply chain security practices for fuels-rs development, including verifying dependency integrity and provenance.

Threat: Memory Safety Issues in fuels-rs (Rust Specific)

• Description: While Rust is designed for memory safety, unsafe code blocks or bugs in the fuels-rs codebase itself could introduce memory safety vulnerabilities (e.g., buffer overflows, use-after-free, double-free). Exploiting these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to corrupt memory, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution, denial of service, or information disclosure.
  • Impact: Denial of service, remote code execution, information disclosure, unpredictable application behavior, and potential for complete system compromise in severe cases.
  • Affected fuels-rs Component: Core modules of fuels-rs codebase, especially those involving unsafe code blocks, complex data structures, or interactions with external systems.
  • Risk Severity: High to Critical (Critical if remote code execution is reliably achievable, High for DoS or memory corruption without immediate code execution)
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    • Minimize unsafe Code Usage: Minimize the use of unsafe code blocks in fuels-rs and rigorously audit any necessary unsafe code for memory safety issues.
    • Fuzzing and Property-Based Testing: Employ extensive fuzzing and property-based testing techniques to automatically discover memory safety vulnerabilities in fuels-rs.
    • Static Analysis Tools: Utilize static analysis tools (e.g., Clippy, Miri) to detect potential memory safety issues and coding errors in fuels-rs.
    • Memory Sanitizers in Testing: Run tests with memory sanitizers (e.g., AddressSanitizer, MemorySanitizer) to detect memory errors during testing.
    • Code Reviews Focused on Memory Safety: Conduct thorough code reviews with a strong focus on memory safety, especially for code dealing with pointers, memory allocation, and unsafe operations.
    • Rust Best Practices: Adhere to Rust's best practices for memory safety and secure coding throughout the fuels-rs development process.