toc/projects/nats/security-assessment/doc/threat-modeling.md

Threat Modeling with STRIDE

1. Spoofing

• Threat: Unauthorized entities impersonating legitimate users or services.
• Case: Vulnerability "Adding accounts for just the system account adds auth bypass" (GHSA-fr2g-9hjm-wr23) indicates potential for spoofing threats.
• Mitigation: Implement robust authentication mechanisms, ensuring the use of secure credentials and authentication tokens.

2. Tampering

• Threat: Unauthorized modification of data or configurations.
• Case 1: Issue "Arbitrary file write by JetStream-enabled users" (GHSA-6h3m-36w8-hv68) shows the risk of data tampering.
• Case 2: CVE-2022-26652 describes a vulnerability in NATS nats-server (CVE-2022-26652).
• Mitigation: Implement access controls, integrity checks, and promptly apply security patches to prevent tampering.

3. Repudiation

• Threat: Actors denying their actions, lacking traceability or accountability.
• Case: Issue "fatal error: concurrent map read and map write" (GitHub Issue #4807) highlights the importance of robust logging.
• Mitigation: Implement comprehensive logging and auditing mechanisms to trace user actions and system changes.

4. Information Disclosure

• Threat: Unauthorized access to sensitive information.
• Case: The absence of a detailed security policy could lead to lapses in handling sensitive information securely.
• Mitigation: Establish and enforce a rigorous security policy, encrypt sensitive data, and use TLS for secure communications.

5. Denial of Service (DoS)

• Threat: Disruption of service availability.
• Case 1: Vulnerability "Import loops in account imports, nats-server DoS" (GHSA-gwj5-3vfq-q992) and "Nil dereference in NATS JWT, DoS" (GHSA-hmm9-r2m2-qg9w) indicate DoS risks.
• Case 2: Issue "Increasing memory consumption" (GitHub Issue #4822) could lead to service degradation.
• Mitigation: Implement rate limiting, error handling, resource management, and scalable system design.

6. Elevation of Privilege

• Threat: Unauthorized users gaining elevated access or privileges.
• Case: Vulnerabilities like "Unconstrained account assumption by authenticated clients" (GHSA-g6w6-r76c-28j7) and "Import token permissions checking not enforced" (GHSA-j756-f273-xhp4) show potential for privilege escalation.
• Mitigation: Enforce the principle of least privilege, audit permissions, and segregate duties.

Additional Concerns

• Issues like "TLS missing ciphersuite settings when CLI flags used" (GHSA-jj54-5q2m-q7pj) and "Incorrect handling of credential expiry by NATS Server" (GHSA-2c64-vj8g-vwrq) highlight the need for secure communications and timely credential management.
• Other operational issues include "Messages stop being delivered to a consumer" (GitHub Issue #4736) and "Inconsistent reads for R3 KV" (GitHub Issue #4710).

After analyzing the vulnerabilities and issues in the NATS system using the STRIDE framework, it appears that STRIDE is indeed a useful and effective method for identifying and categorizing potential security threats in NATS.

Threat Modeling with DREAD

Damage Potential

• Assessment: Evaluates the potential impact or harm a successful exploitation of a vulnerability could cause, including data loss, service disruption, financial loss, or reputation harm.
• Context in NATS: High severity vulnerabilities like arbitrary file write could lead to significant data breaches or system compromise, indicating high damage potential.

Reproducibility

• Assessment: Measures how consistently a vulnerability can be exploited. The more reliable the reproduction of the threat, the greater the risk.
• Context in NATS: Some vulnerabilities may require specific conditions or knowledge to exploit, affecting their reproducibility. Less complex and more documented vulnerabilities have higher reproducibility.

Exploitability

• Assessment: Refers to the ease with which an attacker can exploit a vulnerability. Influenced by the need for specialized knowledge, tools, or access privileges.
• Context in NATS: Vulnerabilities like auth bypass might be more easily exploitable compared to those requiring in-depth understanding or access.

Affected Users

• Assessment: Evaluates how many and which users are impacted by the vulnerability. The broader the user base affected, the higher the risk.
• Context in NATS: Considering NATS's role in various applications, a significant vulnerability could affect a wide range of users, especially those heavily reliant on NATS for communication.

Discoverability

• Assessment: Determines how easily a potential attacker can find and understand a vulnerability. Publicly known and documented vulnerabilities are more discoverable.
• Context in NATS: Vulnerabilities that are documented and made public, such as through GitHub security advisories, have higher discoverability, increasing the likelihood of attempted exploits.

Note: We used a cobination of two seperate models for a more comprehensive threat analysis