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Mitigation Strategies Analysis for influxdata/influxdb

Mitigation Strategy: Enable Authentication

  • Description:
    1. Edit the InfluxDB configuration file (typically influxdb.conf).
    2. Locate the [http] section.
    3. Set the auth-enabled parameter to true.
    4. Restart the InfluxDB service for the changes to take effect.
    5. Create administrative users and other necessary users with appropriate permissions using the influx CLI or InfluxDB UI.
    6. Configure your application to authenticate with InfluxDB using the created user credentials (username and password) when connecting.
  • List of Threats Mitigated:
    • Unauthorized Access (High Severity) - Prevents unauthorized individuals or systems from accessing and manipulating InfluxDB data.
  • Impact:
    • Unauthorized Access: High reduction. This strategy is fundamental and drastically reduces the risk of unauthorized access.
  • Currently Implemented: Yes, enabled in the production and staging InfluxDB instances. Configuration is managed through infrastructure-as-code (Terraform) in terraform/influxdb/influxdb.tf.
  • Missing Implementation: Authentication is currently disabled in the local development InfluxDB environment. This should be addressed by providing a secure default configuration for local development as well.

Mitigation Strategy: Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

  • Description:
    1. After enabling authentication, define specific roles within InfluxDB that correspond to different levels of access needed by users and applications.
    2. Utilize InfluxDB's RBAC features (users, roles, permissions) to create roles such as read-only, write-only, read-write, and admin.
    3. Grant each user or application only the minimum necessary permissions required for their function using InfluxDB's permission system.
    4. Regularly review and audit user roles and permissions within InfluxDB to ensure they remain appropriate.
  • List of Threats Mitigated:
    • Privilege Escalation (Medium to High Severity) - Limits the potential damage from compromised accounts by restricting their capabilities within InfluxDB.
    • Data Breach due to Over-Permissive Access (Medium Severity) - Reduces the risk of data breaches by limiting who can access and modify data within InfluxDB.
  • Impact:
    • Privilege Escalation: Medium to High reduction. Significantly reduces the impact of compromised accounts within InfluxDB.
    • Data Breach due to Over-Permissive Access: Medium reduction. Limits the scope of potential data breaches within InfluxDB.
  • Currently Implemented: Partially implemented. RBAC is configured in production and staging environments, with separate roles for applications and administrators. Roles are defined in ansible/influxdb/roles.yml.
  • Missing Implementation: Granular permissions are not fully defined for all applications within InfluxDB. A review and refinement of application-specific roles is needed to enforce stricter least privilege within InfluxDB.

Mitigation Strategy: Use Parameterized Queries

  • Description:
    1. When constructing InfluxDB queries in your application code, avoid string concatenation to include user-supplied input directly into the query string.
    2. Utilize the parameterized query features provided by your InfluxDB client library (e.g., for Python, use the params argument in the InfluxDB client).
    3. Pass user inputs as parameters to the query instead of embedding them directly. The client library will handle proper escaping and quoting for InfluxDB queries.
  • List of Threats Mitigated:
    • InfluxDB Query Injection (High Severity) - Prevents attackers from manipulating query structure by injecting malicious code through user inputs, specifically targeting InfluxDB queries.
  • Impact:
    • InfluxDB Query Injection: High reduction. Effectively eliminates the risk of query injection vulnerabilities in InfluxDB queries.
  • Currently Implemented: Yes, parameterized queries are used in the primary data ingestion and querying modules of the application when interacting with InfluxDB. Code examples are in app/data_ingestion.py and app/query_module.py.
  • Missing Implementation: Legacy parts of the application and some less frequently used scripts might still be using string concatenation for InfluxDB query construction. A code audit is needed to refactor these instances to use parameterized queries consistently for InfluxDB interactions.

Mitigation Strategy: Resource Limits and Quotas

  • Description:
    1. Utilize InfluxDB's configuration options to set resource limits and quotas for users, databases, and queries.
    2. Limit query execution time within InfluxDB to prevent long-running queries from consuming excessive resources.
    3. Set limits on memory usage per query or per user within InfluxDB to prevent memory exhaustion.
    4. Implement cardinality limits within InfluxDB to control the number of unique series.
    5. Monitor InfluxDB resource usage and adjust limits as needed based on performance and security considerations within InfluxDB.
  • List of Threats Mitigated:
    • Denial of Service (DoS) - Prevents malicious or poorly optimized queries from consuming excessive InfluxDB resources.
    • Resource Exhaustion (Medium Severity) - Protects InfluxDB from resource exhaustion due to runaway queries or excessive data ingestion.
  • Impact:
    • Denial of Service: High reduction. Significantly reduces the risk of DoS attacks targeting InfluxDB resources.
    • Resource Exhaustion: Medium reduction. Prevents resource exhaustion within InfluxDB.
  • Currently Implemented: Partially implemented. Query timeouts are configured in the application. Basic resource limits are set in InfluxDB configuration.
  • Missing Implementation: More comprehensive resource limits and quotas need to be implemented within InfluxDB, including memory limits, cardinality limits, and user-specific quotas. Monitoring of InfluxDB resource usage and automated adjustments of limits are also needed.

Mitigation Strategy: Proper Indexing and Query Optimization

  • Description:
    1. Design InfluxDB schema and measurements with efficient indexing in mind, leveraging InfluxDB's indexing capabilities.
    2. Optimize InfluxDB queries to ensure they are efficient and minimize resource consumption within InfluxDB.
    3. Avoid full table scans or overly broad queries in InfluxDB that can strain resources.
    4. Regularly review and optimize slow or resource-intensive InfluxDB queries. Use InfluxDB's query profiling tools.
  • List of Threats Mitigated:
    • Denial of Service (Self-Inflicted) - Prevents accidental DoS caused by poorly optimized InfluxDB queries.
    • Performance Degradation (Self-Inflicted) - Maintains stable InfluxDB performance by ensuring efficient query execution.
  • Impact:
    • Denial of Service: Medium reduction of self-inflicted DoS on InfluxDB.
    • Performance Degradation: High reduction of performance issues caused by inefficient InfluxDB queries.
  • Currently Implemented: Partially implemented. Developers are generally aware of InfluxDB query optimization best practices. Basic indexing is in place in InfluxDB schema.
  • Missing Implementation: Formal InfluxDB query optimization guidelines and training for developers are needed. Regular InfluxDB query performance reviews and optimization efforts are not consistently performed.

Mitigation Strategy: Keep InfluxDB Up-to-Date

  • Description:
    1. Establish a process for regularly updating InfluxDB to the latest stable version.
    2. Subscribe to InfluxData's security advisories and release notes to stay informed about InfluxDB security updates and patches.
    3. Test InfluxDB updates in a staging environment before deploying them to production.
    4. Automate the InfluxDB update process where possible to ensure timely patching.
  • List of Threats Mitigated:
    • Exploitation of Known Vulnerabilities (High Severity) - Prevents attackers from exploiting publicly known security vulnerabilities in older versions of InfluxDB.
  • Impact:
    • Exploitation of Known Vulnerabilities: High reduction. Essential for patching known security flaws in InfluxDB.
  • Currently Implemented: Partially implemented. InfluxDB instances are updated periodically, but the process is not fully automated. We subscribe to InfluxData's release notes.
  • Missing Implementation: Automated InfluxDB update process is needed. More proactive monitoring of security advisories and faster patching cycles for InfluxDB should be implemented.

Mitigation Strategy: Secure InfluxDB Configuration

  • Description:
    1. Review and harden InfluxDB's configuration settings based on security best practices and InfluxData's security documentation.
    2. Disable unnecessary features or services within InfluxDB that are not required for your application to reduce the attack surface of InfluxDB itself.
    3. Configure secure defaults for InfluxDB settings.
    4. Regularly review and audit InfluxDB configuration to ensure it remains secure and aligned with best practices for InfluxDB.
    5. Use configuration management tools (e.g., Ansible) to enforce consistent and secure InfluxDB configurations.
  • List of Threats Mitigated:
    • Misconfiguration Vulnerabilities (Variable Severity) - Prevents vulnerabilities arising from insecure default configurations or misconfigurations of InfluxDB settings.
    • Reduced Attack Surface (Medium Severity) - Disabling unnecessary InfluxDB features reduces the potential attack surface.
  • Impact:
    • Misconfiguration Vulnerabilities: Variable reduction, but overall Medium to High impact by preventing common InfluxDB configuration errors.
    • Reduced Attack Surface: Medium reduction. Limits potential attack vectors on InfluxDB itself.
  • Currently Implemented: Partially implemented. Basic secure configuration settings are applied using Ansible. Configuration is managed in ansible/influxdb/config.yml.
  • Missing Implementation: A comprehensive security hardening checklist for InfluxDB configuration needs to be developed and implemented. Regular InfluxDB configuration audits and automated configuration drift detection are not yet in place.

Mitigation Strategy: Regular Backups

  • Description:
    1. Implement a robust backup strategy for your InfluxDB data.
    2. Schedule regular backups (e.g., daily, hourly) using InfluxDB's built-in backup tools or other appropriate methods for InfluxDB.
    3. Use InfluxDB's built-in backup tools or other appropriate backup methods.
    4. Test InfluxDB backup and restore procedures regularly to ensure they are effective and efficient for InfluxDB.
    5. Automate the InfluxDB backup process to ensure backups are consistently performed.
  • List of Threats Mitigated:
    • Data Loss due to System Failure (High Severity) - Protects against InfluxDB data loss in case of system disruptions.
    • Data Loss due to Security Incidents (High Severity) - Enables InfluxDB data recovery after security incidents.
    • Data Corruption (High Severity) - Allows restoration of InfluxDB to a clean state in case of data corruption.
  • Impact:
    • Data Loss due to System Failure: High reduction. Essential for InfluxDB data durability.
    • Data Loss due to Security Incidents: High reduction. Critical for InfluxDB incident recovery.
    • Data Corruption: High reduction. Enables recovery from InfluxDB data corruption scenarios.
  • Currently Implemented: Yes, daily backups of InfluxDB are performed using InfluxDB's influxd backup command. Backup scripts are scheduled using cron jobs on the InfluxDB server. Backup scripts are in ansible/influxdb/backup_script.sh.
  • Missing Implementation: Backup frequency could be increased to hourly for critical InfluxDB data. Automated backup verification and restore testing for InfluxDB are not yet implemented.

Mitigation Strategy: Limit Data Retention Policies

  • Description:
    1. Define data retention policies for your InfluxDB data based on business requirements and data privacy regulations.
    2. Configure InfluxDB retention policies to automatically delete or downsample older data that is no longer needed within InfluxDB.
    3. Regularly review and adjust InfluxDB retention policies to ensure they are aligned with current needs and compliance requirements.
  • List of Threats Mitigated:
    • Data Breach Exposure Window (Medium Severity) - Reduces the time window during which sensitive data is actively stored in InfluxDB.
    • Compliance Violations (Variable Severity) - Helps comply with data privacy regulations by limiting data retention periods within InfluxDB.
  • Impact:
    • Data Breach Exposure Window: Medium reduction. Limits the potential impact of breaches involving historical InfluxDB data.
    • Compliance Violations: Variable reduction, but High impact for achieving regulatory compliance related to InfluxDB data.
  • Currently Implemented: Yes, basic retention policies are configured in InfluxDB for different databases. Retention policies are defined in ansible/influxdb/retention_policies.yml.
  • Missing Implementation: InfluxDB retention policies need to be reviewed and refined to ensure they are optimally aligned with data privacy requirements and business needs. Automated archiving of older InfluxDB data is not yet implemented.