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BUSINESS POSTURE

The hyperium/hyper project is a foundational HTTP library written in Rust. Its primary business priority is to provide a robust, performant, and secure HTTP implementation for the Rust ecosystem. This library serves as a building block for numerous applications and services that require HTTP networking capabilities.

Business goals for the hyperium/hyper project include:

  • Reliability: Ensuring the library functions correctly and consistently across various platforms and network conditions.
  • Performance: Providing a high-performance HTTP implementation that minimizes latency and maximizes throughput.
  • Security: Maintaining a secure codebase that is resistant to common HTTP vulnerabilities and protects users from potential attacks.
  • Usability: Offering a well-documented and easy-to-use API that simplifies HTTP client and server development in Rust.
  • Community Support: Fostering a strong community around the project to encourage contributions, bug reports, and feature requests.
  • Long-term Maintainability: Designing the library for long-term maintainability and evolution to adapt to changing HTTP standards and Rust language features.

Most important business risks that need to be addressed:

  • Security Vulnerabilities: Vulnerabilities in hyper could have a wide-reaching impact on the Rust ecosystem, affecting numerous applications and services that depend on it. This is the most critical risk.
  • Performance Regressions: Performance issues can negatively impact applications built on top of hyper, leading to slower response times and reduced user experience.
  • API Instability: Breaking changes to the API can disrupt users and require significant code modifications in downstream projects.
  • Lack of Maintenance: Insufficient maintenance and bug fixes can lead to security vulnerabilities remaining unpatched and the library becoming less reliable over time.
  • Community Fragmentation: A fractured or inactive community can hinder the project's growth and long-term sustainability.

SECURITY POSTURE

Existing security controls:

  • security control: Memory safety provided by Rust language, mitigating many common classes of vulnerabilities like buffer overflows and use-after-free. Implemented by Rust compiler and language design.
  • security control: Use of TLS libraries (like rustls or openssl) for secure communication. Implemented within hyper's TLS features.
  • security control: Regular code reviews by maintainers and community contributors. Implemented as part of the development process on GitHub.
  • security control: Public vulnerability reporting process via GitHub issues and security advisories. Documented in the project's security policy (if available) or general contribution guidelines.
  • security control: Testing framework including unit and integration tests. Implemented using Rust's built-in testing framework and potentially external crates.

Accepted risks:

  • accepted risk: Dependencies on external crates might introduce vulnerabilities. Accepted due to the necessity of using libraries for functionalities like TLS and HTTP parsing. Risk mitigated by dependency review and updates.
  • accepted risk: Complexities of HTTP protocol and evolving standards might lead to implementation errors and potential vulnerabilities. Accepted as inherent to the nature of implementing a complex protocol. Mitigated by thorough testing and adherence to standards.

Recommended security controls:

  • security control: Implement automated Static Application Security Testing (SAST) in the CI/CD pipeline to detect potential vulnerabilities early in the development process.
  • security control: Integrate Dependency Check tools in the CI/CD pipeline to automatically scan dependencies for known vulnerabilities.
  • security control: Conduct regular security audits by external security experts to identify and address potential weaknesses in the codebase and design.
  • security control: Implement Fuzzing to discover unexpected behavior and potential vulnerabilities by providing invalid or malformed inputs.
  • security control: Formalize a security incident response plan to handle and mitigate security vulnerabilities effectively when they are discovered.

Security requirements:

  • Authentication: Not directly applicable to the hyper library itself, as it's a building block. Authentication is typically handled by applications built using hyper. However, hyper should provide mechanisms to support authentication schemes (e.g., handling authentication headers).
  • Authorization: Similar to authentication, authorization is primarily the responsibility of applications using hyper. hyper should provide mechanisms to enforce authorization decisions made by the application (e.g., handling authorization headers, access control based on request paths).
  • Input Validation: Critical for hyper. The library must rigorously validate all inputs, including HTTP headers, request methods, URLs, and body data, to prevent injection attacks, buffer overflows, and other input-related vulnerabilities. Input validation should be implemented throughout the request processing pipeline.
  • Cryptography: Essential for secure communication over HTTPS. hyper relies on TLS libraries for cryptographic operations. Security requirements include:
    • Using strong and up-to-date cryptographic algorithms and protocols.
    • Properly handling TLS configuration and certificate validation.
    • Protecting cryptographic keys and secrets if any are managed by hyper (though typically key management is external).
    • Avoiding cryptographic vulnerabilities like side-channel attacks in cryptographic operations (though this is largely the responsibility of the underlying TLS libraries).

DESIGN

C4 CONTEXT

flowchart LR
    subgraph Internet
        A[<<Ext System>>\nWeb Browser]
        B[<<Ext System>>\nMobile App]
        C[<<Ext System>>\nOther Services]
    end
    D[<<System>>\nHyper HTTP Library]
    E[<<Ext System>>\nOperating System]
    F[<<Ext System>>\nNetwork Infrastructure]
    G[<<Ext System>>\nTLS Libraries\n(e.g., rustls, openssl)]
    H[<<Person>>\nRust Developer]

    H --> D
    A --> D
    B --> D
    C --> D
    D --> E
    D --> F
    D --> G
    style D fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
Loading

Elements of context diagram:

  • Name: Web Browser

    • Type: External System
    • Description: Web browsers used by end-users to access applications built using hyper as an HTTP client or server.
    • Responsibilities: Initiating HTTP requests to servers built with hyper, rendering responses received from hyper servers.
    • Security controls: Browser security features (e.g., sandboxing, Content Security Policy), user-managed security settings.

  • Name: Mobile App

    • Type: External System
    • Description: Mobile applications that use hyper as an HTTP client to communicate with backend services.
    • Responsibilities: Making HTTP requests to backend servers, processing data received via HTTP.
    • Security controls: Application-level security measures, operating system security features, network security controls on mobile devices.

  • Name: Other Services

    • Type: External System
    • Description: Other services or applications that might interact with systems built using hyper, either as clients or servers. This could include APIs, microservices, or other backend systems.
    • Responsibilities: Interacting with hyper-based systems via HTTP, exchanging data and commands.
    • Security controls: API security measures (e.g., authentication, authorization), service-level security controls.

  • Name: Hyper HTTP Library

    • Type: System
    • Description: The hyperium/hyper HTTP library, providing core HTTP client and server functionalities.
    • Responsibilities: Handling HTTP protocol logic, managing connections, parsing requests and responses, implementing HTTP features (e.g., headers, methods, body handling), providing API for developers to build HTTP clients and servers.
    • Security controls: Input validation, memory safety (Rust), TLS integration, secure coding practices, vulnerability management process.

  • Name: Operating System

    • Type: External System
    • Description: The operating system on which applications using hyper are running. Provides system-level resources and functionalities.
    • Responsibilities: Providing network stack, file system access, process management, memory management for applications using hyper.
    • Security controls: Operating system security features (e.g., access control, process isolation, kernel security), system updates and patching.

  • Name: Network Infrastructure

    • Type: External System
    • Description: The underlying network infrastructure (routers, switches, firewalls, etc.) that facilitates communication between systems using hyper.
    • Responsibilities: Routing network traffic, providing network connectivity, enforcing network security policies.
    • Security controls: Firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, network segmentation, network monitoring.

  • Name: TLS Libraries (e.g., rustls, openssl)

    • Type: External System
    • Description: Cryptographic libraries used by hyper to implement TLS/SSL for secure HTTP communication (HTTPS).
    • Responsibilities: Providing cryptographic algorithms, handling TLS handshake, encrypting and decrypting data transmitted over HTTPS.
    • Security controls: Cryptographic algorithm implementations, secure key management (within the TLS library), resistance to known cryptographic vulnerabilities.

  • Name: Rust Developer

    • Type: Person
    • Description: Developers who use the hyper library to build HTTP clients and servers in Rust.
    • Responsibilities: Utilizing hyper API to create HTTP applications, configuring and deploying applications, ensuring secure usage of hyper in their applications.
    • Security controls: Secure coding practices, understanding of HTTP security principles, responsible dependency management.

C4 CONTAINER

flowchart LR
    subgraph Hyper HTTP Library [Hyper HTTP Library]
        direction TB
        A[<<Container: Rust Crate>>\nCore HTTP Abstractions]
        B[<<Container: Rust Crate>>\nHTTP Client]
        C[<<Container: Rust Crate>>\nHTTP Server]
        D[<<Container: Rust Crate>>\nConnection Management]
        E[<<Container: Rust Crate>>\nTLS Integration]
        F[<<Container: Rust Crate>>\nHTTP/1.1 Implementation]
        G[<<Container: Rust Crate>>\nHTTP/2 Implementation]
        H[<<Container: Rust Crate>>\nWebSockets Support]
    end
    I[<<Ext System>>\nOperating System]
    J[<<Ext System>>\nTLS Libraries\n(e.g., rustls, openssl)]

    B --> A
    C --> A
    D --> A
    E --> A
    F --> A
    G --> A
    H --> A
    B --> D
    C --> D
    D --> I
    E --> J
    F --> D
    G --> D
    H --> D

    style Hyper HTTP Library fill:#ccf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
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Elements of container diagram:

  • Name: Core HTTP Abstractions

    • Type: Rust Crate (Container)
    • Description: Provides fundamental data structures and traits for representing HTTP concepts like requests, responses, headers, bodies, and services. Forms the foundation for other components.
    • Responsibilities: Defining core HTTP interfaces, handling basic HTTP parsing and serialization, providing common utilities.
    • Security controls: Input validation for core HTTP structures, memory safety (Rust), secure coding practices.

  • Name: HTTP Client

    • Type: Rust Crate (Container)
    • Description: Implements HTTP client functionality, allowing applications to send HTTP requests to servers.
    • Responsibilities: Building and sending HTTP requests, handling responses, managing client-side connections, implementing client-specific features (e.g., redirects, timeouts).
    • Security controls: Input validation for request parameters, secure handling of credentials (if any), protection against client-side vulnerabilities (e.g., request smuggling), TLS for HTTPS.

  • Name: HTTP Server

    • Type: Rust Crate (Container)
    • Description: Implements HTTP server functionality, enabling applications to receive and process HTTP requests from clients.
    • Responsibilities: Listening for incoming connections, parsing requests, routing requests to handlers, generating and sending responses, managing server-side connections.
    • Security controls: Input validation for request data, protection against server-side vulnerabilities (e.g., injection attacks, denial of service), secure handling of sensitive data, TLS for HTTPS.

  • Name: Connection Management

    • Type: Rust Crate (Container)
    • Description: Manages network connections for both client and server sides, including connection pooling, keep-alive handling, and connection upgrades (e.g., WebSockets).
    • Responsibilities: Establishing and maintaining network connections, handling connection lifecycle, optimizing connection reuse, managing concurrency.
    • Security controls: Protection against connection-related attacks (e.g., connection exhaustion, denial of service), secure handling of connection state.

  • Name: TLS Integration

    • Type: Rust Crate (Container)
    • Description: Provides integration with TLS libraries (like rustls or openssl) to enable HTTPS support.
    • Responsibilities: Handling TLS handshake, encrypting and decrypting HTTP traffic, managing TLS sessions, providing configuration options for TLS.
    • Security controls: Secure TLS configuration, proper certificate validation, use of strong cryptographic algorithms, integration with secure TLS libraries.

  • Name: HTTP/1.1 Implementation

    • Type: Rust Crate (Container)
    • Description: Implements the HTTP/1.1 protocol specification.
    • Responsibilities: Parsing and generating HTTP/1.1 messages, handling HTTP/1.1 specific features (e.g., chunked transfer encoding, keep-alive).
    • Security controls: Adherence to HTTP/1.1 standards, input validation specific to HTTP/1.1, mitigation of HTTP/1.1 related vulnerabilities.

  • Name: HTTP/2 Implementation

    • Type: Rust Crate (Container)
    • Description: Implements the HTTP/2 protocol specification.
    • Responsibilities: Parsing and generating HTTP/2 frames, handling HTTP/2 specific features (e.g., multiplexing, header compression, server push).
    • Security controls: Adherence to HTTP/2 standards, input validation specific to HTTP/2, mitigation of HTTP/2 related vulnerabilities (e.g., HPACK vulnerabilities).

  • Name: WebSockets Support

    • Type: Rust Crate (Container)
    • Description: Provides support for the WebSockets protocol, enabling bidirectional communication over a single TCP connection.
    • Responsibilities: Handling WebSocket handshake, managing WebSocket connections, sending and receiving WebSocket messages, implementing WebSocket features (e.g., framing, extensions).
    • Security controls: Input validation for WebSocket messages, protection against WebSocket-specific vulnerabilities (e.g., cross-site WebSocket hijacking), secure WebSocket handshake process.

DEPLOYMENT

hyper is a library, not a standalone application. It is deployed as part of applications built by Rust developers. The deployment architecture of hyper itself is not directly applicable in the same way as a deployable application. However, we can describe how applications using hyper are typically deployed.

Deployment Architecture for Applications using Hyper (Example - Cloud Deployment):

flowchart LR
    subgraph Cloud Provider [Cloud Environment]
        direction TB
        subgraph Load Balancer Layer
            A[<<Cloud Service>>\nLoad Balancer]
        end
        subgraph Application Layer
            B[<<Cloud Service>>\nCompute Instance\n(Running Hyper App)]
            C[<<Cloud Service>>\nCompute Instance\n(Running Hyper App)]
            D[<<Cloud Service>>\nCompute Instance\n(Running Hyper App)]
        end
        subgraph Database Layer
            E[<<Cloud Service>>\nDatabase Service]
        end
    end
    F[<<Internet>>\nInternet]

    F --> A
    A --> B
    A --> C
    A --> D
    B --> E
    C --> E
    D --> E

    style Cloud Provider fill:#eef,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
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Elements of deployment diagram:

  • Name: Load Balancer

    • Type: Cloud Service
    • Description: A cloud-based load balancer distributing incoming traffic across multiple instances of the application.
    • Responsibilities: Distributing traffic, handling SSL termination (optional), providing high availability and scalability.
    • Security controls: DDoS protection, SSL/TLS configuration, access control lists, web application firewall (WAF) integration.

  • Name: Compute Instance (Running Hyper App)

    • Type: Cloud Service
    • Description: Virtual machines or containers in the cloud environment where applications built using hyper are deployed and running.
    • Responsibilities: Executing application code, handling HTTP requests and responses using hyper, interacting with other services (e.g., databases).
    • Security controls: Instance-level firewalls, security groups, operating system hardening, application-level security measures, regular security patching.

  • Name: Database Service

    • Type: Cloud Service
    • Description: A managed database service used by the application to store and retrieve data.
    • Responsibilities: Storing application data, providing data persistence, handling database queries.
    • Security controls: Database access control, encryption at rest and in transit, database auditing, regular backups, vulnerability management for the database service.

  • Name: Internet

    • Type: Internet
    • Description: The public internet from where users access the application.
    • Responsibilities: Providing connectivity for users to access the application.
    • Security controls: General internet security measures, user-side security practices.

BUILD

Build Process for hyper Library:

flowchart LR
    A[Developer\n(Code Changes)] --> B(Version Control\n(GitHub))
    B --> C{CI System\n(GitHub Actions)}
    C --> D[Build Environment\n(Rust Toolchain)]
    D --> E[Code Compilation\n& Testing]
    E --> F{Security Checks\n(Linters, SAST, Dependency Check)}
    F -- Pass --> G[Build Artifacts\n(Rust Crates Package)]
    F -- Fail --> H[Build Failure Notification]
    G --> I[Package Registry\n(crates.io)]

    style CI System fill:#aaf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    style Security Checks fill:#aaf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
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Elements of build diagram:

  • Name: Developer (Code Changes)

    • Type: Person
    • Description: A software developer making changes to the hyper codebase.
    • Responsibilities: Writing code, fixing bugs, implementing new features, adhering to coding standards, running local tests.
    • Security controls: Secure development practices, code review, developer training on security.

  • Name: Version Control (GitHub)

    • Type: System
    • Description: GitHub repository hosting the hyper source code and managing version control.
    • Responsibilities: Storing code, tracking changes, managing branches and releases, facilitating collaboration.
    • Security controls: Access control to the repository, branch protection rules, audit logs, two-factor authentication for developers.

  • Name: CI System (GitHub Actions)

    • Type: System
    • Description: Continuous Integration system (likely GitHub Actions) that automates the build, test, and security check process.
    • Responsibilities: Triggering builds on code changes, orchestrating build steps, running tests, performing security checks, generating build artifacts, publishing packages.
    • Security controls: Secure CI/CD pipeline configuration, access control to CI system, secrets management for CI credentials, build isolation, audit logs.

  • Name: Build Environment (Rust Toolchain)

    • Type: System
    • Description: The environment where the code is compiled and tested, including the Rust compiler, build tools (Cargo), and necessary dependencies.
    • Responsibilities: Compiling Rust code, linking libraries, running tests, providing a consistent and reproducible build environment.
    • Security controls: Secure build environment configuration, dependency management, toolchain integrity, isolation of build processes.

  • Name: Code Compilation & Testing

    • Type: Process
    • Description: The steps of compiling the Rust code and running automated tests to ensure code quality and functionality.
    • Responsibilities: Converting source code to executable code, verifying code correctness, detecting regressions, ensuring code meets quality standards.
    • Security controls: Unit tests, integration tests, code coverage analysis, test-driven development practices.

  • Name: Security Checks (Linters, SAST, Dependency Check)

    • Type: Process
    • Description: Automated security checks performed during the build process to identify potential vulnerabilities. Includes linters, Static Application Security Testing (SAST), and dependency vulnerability scanning.
    • Responsibilities: Detecting code style issues, identifying potential security flaws in code, scanning dependencies for known vulnerabilities, enforcing security policies.
    • Security controls: SAST tools, dependency vulnerability scanners, linter configurations, security policy enforcement, automated reporting of security findings.

  • Name: Build Artifacts (Rust Crates Package)

    • Type: Data
    • Description: The packaged output of the build process, typically a Rust crate package ready for publishing to a package registry.
    • Responsibilities: Containing compiled code, metadata, and necessary files for distribution and usage of the library.
    • Security controls: Integrity checks of build artifacts, signing of packages (optional), secure storage of artifacts before publishing.

  • Name: Package Registry (crates.io)

    • Type: System
    • Description: The Rust package registry (crates.io) where hyper crates are published for public consumption.
    • Responsibilities: Hosting and distributing Rust crates, providing a central repository for Rust libraries, managing crate versions and dependencies.
    • Security controls: Package integrity verification, malware scanning (crates.io platform security), access control for publishing, secure communication (HTTPS).

RISK ASSESSMENT

Critical business process we are trying to protect:

  • Providing a secure and reliable HTTP library for the Rust ecosystem. This is critical because many applications and services depend on hyper for their networking functionality. A vulnerability or instability in hyper can have widespread consequences.

Data we are trying to protect and their sensitivity:

  • Integrity of the hyper codebase: High sensitivity. Compromising the codebase could lead to malicious code being distributed to a large number of users.
  • Confidentiality of potential vulnerability information: High sensitivity. Premature disclosure of vulnerabilities could be exploited by attackers before patches are available.
  • Availability of the hyper library: Medium sensitivity. While not directly causing data breaches, unavailability of the library would disrupt development and potentially impact applications relying on it.

QUESTIONS & ASSUMPTIONS

Questions:

  • What is the current vulnerability management process for hyper? Is there a documented security policy?
  • Are there any existing SAST or dependency scanning tools integrated into the CI/CD pipeline?
  • Are regular security audits conducted for the hyper project?
  • What is the process for handling security incidents and releasing security patches?
  • What are the performance testing and benchmarking practices for hyper, and how are performance regressions prevented?

Assumptions:

  • BUSINESS POSTURE: The primary business goal is to provide a secure, reliable, and performant HTTP library for the Rust ecosystem. Security is a top priority.
  • SECURITY POSTURE: The project benefits from Rust's memory safety. Basic security practices like code review and testing are in place. There is room for improvement in automated security checks and formal security processes.
  • DESIGN: The design is modular and component-based, reflecting the structure of an HTTP library. The C4 diagrams accurately represent the high-level architecture and dependencies. The deployment model focuses on how applications using hyper are deployed, as hyper itself is a library. The build process is automated using CI and includes basic quality checks.