Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
309 lines (282 loc) · 20.3 KB

sec-design.md

File metadata and controls

309 lines (282 loc) · 20.3 KB

BUSINESS POSTURE

  • Business Priorities and Goals:
    • Provide a command-line tool for efficiently creating online books from Markdown files.
    • Offer a simple and user-friendly experience for authors to generate documentation.
    • Enable easy sharing and publishing of technical documentation and other book-like content on the web.
    • Support customization and theming of generated books to match different branding and style requirements.
    • Foster an open-source community around documentation tooling and best practices.
  • Business Risks:
    • Risk of vulnerabilities in the mdbook tool leading to compromised generated documentation or user systems.
    • Risk of data integrity issues in generated books due to parsing or processing errors.
    • Risk of availability issues if the tool becomes unreliable or difficult to maintain.
    • Risk of negative reputation if the tool is perceived as insecure or poorly maintained.
    • Risk of losing user trust if security incidents occur related to the tool or generated documentation.

SECURITY POSTURE

  • Existing Security Controls:
    • security control: Memory safety provided by the Rust programming language, reducing the risk of common memory-related vulnerabilities. Implemented in: mdbook codebase.
    • security control: Version control and code review process on GitHub, helping to identify and mitigate potential security issues during development. Implemented in: GitHub repository workflow.
    • security control: Issue tracking on GitHub for reporting and addressing bugs and security vulnerabilities. Implemented in: GitHub issue tracker.
    • security control: Open-source nature of the project allows for community review and contribution to security improvements. Implemented in: Open GitHub repository.
  • Accepted Risks:
    • accepted risk: Reliance on community contributions for security patches and updates, which may have variable response times.
    • accepted risk: Potential for vulnerabilities to be discovered in dependencies used by mdbook.
    • accepted risk: Risk of user misconfiguration or misuse of mdbook leading to insecurely generated or deployed documentation.
  • Recommended Security Controls:
    • security control: Implement automated dependency scanning to identify and address vulnerabilities in third-party libraries.
    • security control: Integrate static analysis security testing (SAST) tools into the build process to detect potential code-level vulnerabilities.
    • security control: Establish a clear process for reporting and handling security vulnerabilities, including a security policy and contact information.
    • security control: Provide security guidelines and best practices for users on how to securely use mdbook and deploy generated documentation.
  • Security Requirements:
    • Authentication: Not directly applicable to the core functionality of mdbook as it is a static site generator. Authentication would be relevant for systems hosting the generated books, which is outside the scope of mdbook itself.
    • Authorization: Access control to the mdbook repository on GitHub is managed through GitHub's permissions system. Authorization within generated books is not a feature of mdbook.
    • Input Validation: Robust input validation is crucial for Markdown parsing to prevent vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting (XSS) if user-provided Markdown is rendered dynamically (though mdbook generates static HTML). Input validation should be implemented in: Markdown parsing logic within mdbook codebase.
    • Cryptography: Cryptography is not a core requirement for mdbook in its current form. However, it could be considered for future features like supporting encrypted books or secure updates.

DESIGN

C4 CONTEXT

flowchart LR
    subgraph "Documentation Authors"
        A[Users]
    end
    B[mdBook CLI]
    C[GitHub Repository]
    D[Web Browsers]
    E[Web Servers]

    A --> B
    B --> C: Reads Configuration and Content
    B --> E: Generates Book Files
    E --> D: Serves Book
    style B fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
Loading
  • Elements of Context Diagram:
      • Name: Documentation Authors
      • Type: Person
      • Description: Users who write and create documentation using Markdown and mdbook.
      • Responsibilities: Create Markdown content, configure mdbook settings, run mdbook to generate books.
      • Security controls: Responsible for securing their local development environment and credentials used to access the GitHub repository if contributing to mdbook development.
      • Name: mdBook CLI
      • Type: Software System
      • Description: The mdbook command-line tool, written in Rust, that processes Markdown files and generates static HTML book output.
      • Responsibilities: Read Markdown content and configuration, parse Markdown, generate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files for the book, provide a local preview server.
      • Security controls: Input validation of Markdown content, secure handling of file system operations, protection against vulnerabilities in dependencies.
      • Name: GitHub Repository
      • Type: Software System
      • Description: The GitHub repository hosting the mdbook source code, issue tracker, and version control.
      • Responsibilities: Store mdbook source code, manage contributions, track issues and feature requests, facilitate collaboration among developers.
      • Security controls: GitHub's access control mechanisms, code review processes, vulnerability scanning provided by GitHub.
      • Name: Web Browsers
      • Type: Software System
      • Description: Web browsers used by readers to access and view the generated HTML books hosted on web servers.
      • Responsibilities: Render HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to display the book content to users.
      • Security controls: Browser security features to protect users from malicious content, HTTPS support for secure communication with web servers.
      • Name: Web Servers
      • Type: Software System
      • Description: Web servers that host the generated HTML book files, making them accessible to readers via web browsers.
      • Responsibilities: Serve static HTML files, handle HTTP requests, manage access to the book content.
      • Security controls: Server configuration security, HTTPS encryption, access control to book content, protection against web server vulnerabilities.

C4 CONTAINER

flowchart LR
    subgraph "Documentation Authors"
        A[Users]
    end
    subgraph "mdBook CLI"
        B[CLI Application]
        C[Markdown Parser]
        D[HTML Generator]
        E[Theme Engine]
        F[Local Preview Server]
    end
    G[File System]

    A --> B: Executes commands
    B --> C: Parses Markdown
    B --> D: Generates HTML
    B --> E: Applies Themes
    B --> F: Starts preview server
    B --> G: Reads/Writes files
    C --> G: Reads Markdown files
    D --> G: Writes HTML files
    E --> G: Reads theme files
    F --> D: Serves generated HTML
    style B fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
Loading
  • Elements of Container Diagram:
      • Name: CLI Application
      • Type: Application
      • Description: The main mdbook command-line interface, written in Rust, responsible for orchestrating the book generation process.
      • Responsibilities: Command-line argument parsing, configuration loading, invoking Markdown parsing, HTML generation, theme application, and local preview server.
      • Security controls: Input validation of command-line arguments and configuration files, secure handling of file paths and operations, error handling to prevent information leakage.
      • Name: Markdown Parser
      • Type: Library
      • Description: A library responsible for parsing Markdown syntax and converting it into an intermediate representation suitable for HTML generation.
      • Responsibilities: Parse Markdown text according to specifications, handle different Markdown elements, ensure correct interpretation of Markdown syntax.
      • Security controls: Input validation to prevent injection attacks or denial-of-service through maliciously crafted Markdown, protection against parsing vulnerabilities.
      • Name: HTML Generator
      • Type: Library
      • Description: A library that takes the intermediate representation from the Markdown parser and generates HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files for the book.
      • Responsibilities: Convert parsed Markdown into HTML structure, generate CSS for styling, include necessary JavaScript for book functionality, handle theme integration.
      • Security controls: Output encoding to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in generated HTML, secure handling of user-provided content within HTML generation.
      • Name: Theme Engine
      • Type: Library
      • Description: A component responsible for applying themes to the generated book, allowing customization of the book's appearance.
      • Responsibilities: Load and process theme files (CSS, templates, assets), apply theme styles to the generated HTML, allow users to customize themes.
      • Security controls: Secure loading and processing of theme files, prevention of directory traversal or arbitrary file inclusion vulnerabilities when handling theme assets.
      • Name: Local Preview Server
      • Type: Application
      • Description: A lightweight web server embedded within mdbook to provide a local preview of the generated book during development.
      • Responsibilities: Serve generated HTML files locally, provide live reloading during development, allow users to preview the book in a web browser before publishing.
      • Security controls: Minimize attack surface of the preview server, ensure it only serves local content and is not exposed externally, protection against common web server vulnerabilities.
      • Name: File System
      • Type: Infrastructure
      • Description: The local file system where mdbook reads input Markdown files, configuration, theme files, and writes the generated book output.
      • Responsibilities: Store input and output files, provide access to files for mdbook components.
      • Security controls: File system permissions to protect input files and generated output, secure temporary file handling, protection against file system manipulation vulnerabilities within mdbook.

DEPLOYMENT

  • Deployment Options:

    • Option 1: User's Local Machine - Users run mdbook on their local machines to generate books, primarily for development and preview purposes.
    • Option 2: Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) - mdbook is integrated into a CI/CD pipeline to automatically generate books upon code changes and deploy them to a web server.
    • Option 3: Static Site Hosting - Generated book files are uploaded to static site hosting services like GitHub Pages, Netlify, or AWS S3 for public access.

  • Detailed Deployment Description (Option 3: Static Site Hosting):

    • Users generate the book locally using mdbook CLI.
    • The generated output directory (e.g., book/) containing HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and assets is created.
    • Users upload the contents of the output directory to a static site hosting service.
    • The static site hosting service serves the files over HTTP/HTTPS, making the book accessible via a web URL.
flowchart LR
    subgraph "User's Machine"
        A[mdBook CLI]
    end
    B[Static Site Hosting Service]
    C[Web Browsers]

    A --> B: Uploads Book Files
    B --> C: Serves Book
    style B fill:#ccf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
Loading
  • Elements of Deployment Diagram:
      • Name: mdBook CLI (User's Machine)
      • Type: Software
      • Description: Instance of the mdbook CLI application running on a user's local machine, used to generate the book files.
      • Responsibilities: Generate book files from Markdown content.
      • Security controls: Relies on the security of the user's local machine.
      • Name: Static Site Hosting Service
      • Type: Infrastructure Service
      • Description: A service like GitHub Pages, Netlify, or AWS S3 that hosts static website files and serves them over the internet.
      • Responsibilities: Store and serve static book files, handle HTTP/HTTPS requests, provide a public URL for accessing the book.
      • Security controls: Service provider's security controls for infrastructure, data storage, and network access, HTTPS encryption, access controls for managing hosted files.
      • Name: Web Browsers
      • Type: Software
      • Description: Web browsers used by readers to access and view the hosted book.
      • Responsibilities: Render HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to display the book content.
      • Security controls: Browser security features, HTTPS support.

BUILD

  • Build Process Description:
    • Developers write Rust code and Markdown documentation.
    • Code is pushed to the GitHub repository.
    • GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline is triggered on push or pull request.
    • CI pipeline performs:
      • Code linting and formatting checks.
      • Static analysis security testing (SAST). (Recommended, currently might not be explicitly present)
      • Dependency vulnerability scanning. (Recommended, currently might not be explicitly present)
      • Unit and integration tests.
      • Build the mdbook Rust binary using cargo build --release.
      • Create release artifacts (e.g., binaries for different platforms, archives).
      • Publish release artifacts to GitHub Releases or package registries.
flowchart LR
    A[Developer] --> B[GitHub Repository]: Push Code
    B --> C[GitHub Actions CI]: Triggered
    subgraph GitHub Actions CI
        D[Code Linting/Formatting]
        E[SAST (Recommended)]
        F[Dependency Scan (Recommended)]
        G[Unit/Integration Tests]
        H[Cargo Build]
        I[Create Release Artifacts]
        J[Publish Artifacts]
    end
    C --> D
    D --> E
    E --> F
    F --> G
    G --> H
    H --> I
    I --> J
    J --> K[GitHub Releases/Package Registries]
    style C fill:#cce,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
Loading
  • Elements of Build Diagram:
      • Name: Developer
      • Type: Person
      • Description: Software developers contributing to the mdbook project.
      • Responsibilities: Write code, fix bugs, implement features, write tests, submit code changes via pull requests.
      • Security controls: Secure development environment, code review participation, adherence to secure coding practices.
      • Name: GitHub Repository
      • Type: Software System
      • Description: GitHub repository hosting the mdbook source code and triggering the CI/CD pipeline.
      • Responsibilities: Store source code, manage version control, trigger CI/CD workflows.
      • Security controls: GitHub's access control, branch protection rules, audit logs.
      • Name: GitHub Actions CI
      • Type: CI/CD System
      • Description: GitHub Actions workflows configured to automate the build, test, and release process for mdbook.
      • Responsibilities: Automate build steps, run tests, perform security checks, create release artifacts, publish releases.
      • Security controls: Secure workflow definitions, secrets management for credentials, isolation of build environments, logging and monitoring of build processes.
      • Name: Code Linting/Formatting
      • Type: Build Step
      • Description: Automated checks to enforce code style and identify potential code quality issues.
      • Responsibilities: Improve code consistency and readability, detect potential bugs or style violations.
      • Security controls: Helps in maintaining a consistent and reviewable codebase, indirectly contributes to security by improving code quality.
      • Name: SAST (Recommended)
      • Type: Build Step
      • Description: Static Application Security Testing tools to analyze code for potential security vulnerabilities without executing it.
      • Responsibilities: Identify potential code-level vulnerabilities like injection flaws, buffer overflows, etc.
      • Security controls: Proactively identify and address security vulnerabilities early in the development lifecycle.
      • Name: Dependency Scan (Recommended)
      • Type: Build Step
      • Description: Tools to scan project dependencies for known security vulnerabilities.
      • Responsibilities: Identify vulnerable dependencies and alert developers to update or mitigate them.
      • Security controls: Reduce the risk of using vulnerable third-party libraries.
      • Name: Unit/Integration Tests
      • Type: Build Step
      • Description: Automated tests to verify the functionality and correctness of the code.
      • Responsibilities: Ensure code works as expected, prevent regressions, improve code reliability.
      • Security controls: Indirectly contributes to security by improving code quality and reducing bugs.
      • Name: Cargo Build
      • Type: Build Step
      • Description: Rust's build system cargo used to compile the mdbook source code into an executable binary.
      • Responsibilities: Compile Rust code, manage dependencies, create executable binaries.
      • Security controls: Relies on the security of the Rust toolchain and cargo build system.
      • Name: Create Release Artifacts
      • Type: Build Step
      • Description: Packaging the built binaries and other release assets into distributable formats (e.g., archives, platform-specific packages).
      • Responsibilities: Prepare release packages for distribution to users.
      • Security controls: Ensure integrity of release artifacts, potentially signing artifacts for authenticity.
      • Name: Publish Artifacts
      • Type: Build Step
      • Description: Uploading release artifacts to GitHub Releases or package registries for distribution.
      • Responsibilities: Make release artifacts available to users for download and installation.
      • Security controls: Secure publishing process, access control to release channels, integrity of published artifacts.
      • Name: GitHub Releases/Package Registries
      • Type: Distribution Platform
      • Description: Platforms like GitHub Releases or crates.io where mdbook release artifacts are hosted for users to download.
      • Responsibilities: Host and distribute mdbook releases.
      • Security controls: Platform security controls, integrity of hosted files, HTTPS delivery.

RISK ASSESSMENT

  • Critical Business Processes:
    • Generation and distribution of documentation using mdbook.
    • Maintaining the integrity and availability of the mdbook tool itself.
    • Building and releasing secure and reliable versions of mdbook.
  • Data Sensitivity:
    • Markdown source files: Low to Medium sensitivity. They are typically text-based documentation, but might contain sensitive information depending on the context.
    • Generated HTML book files: Low to Medium sensitivity. They are the public output of the documentation process.
    • mdbook source code: Medium sensitivity. Protecting the source code is important for maintaining the integrity and security of the tool.
    • Build and release infrastructure: Medium to High sensitivity. Compromise could lead to distribution of malicious versions of mdbook.

QUESTIONS & ASSUMPTIONS

  • Questions:

    • What is the intended audience and use case for the generated documentation? (e.g., internal documentation, public API documentation, etc.) - Assumption: Primarily technical documentation for developers and technical users.
    • Are there any specific compliance requirements or security standards that mdbook or generated documentation needs to adhere to? - Assumption: No specific compliance requirements mentioned, focusing on general security best practices.
    • Are there any plans to add features that would require handling more sensitive data or introduce new security considerations (e.g., user accounts, dynamic content, etc.)? - Assumption: Current focus is on static site generation, no immediate plans for features requiring significant changes to security posture.
    • What is the process for reporting and handling security vulnerabilities in mdbook? - Assumption: Standard GitHub issue reporting process, recommended to establish a more formal security policy.

  • Assumptions:

    • BUSINESS POSTURE: The primary business goal is to provide a useful and reliable tool for documentation generation within the open-source community. Security is important for user trust and tool adoption.
    • SECURITY POSTURE: Current security relies heavily on Rust's memory safety and general open-source development practices. There is room for improvement in automated security checks in the build process and formal security vulnerability handling.
    • DESIGN: The design is focused on a command-line tool that generates static HTML output. Deployment of generated books is the responsibility of the user. The build process is automated using GitHub Actions, but could be enhanced with more security-focused steps.