Firmware exploits/ME exploits for application server accepted

THREAT110 · Accepted: The team has decided to live with this risk. · Defined in catalog.py:1916

Risk: High impact × Low likelihood = 6 medium
After mitigations: High impact × Low likelihood = 6 medium (unchanged)

App or mon server are compromised at the BIOS/UEFI/Firmware level. An attacker could have already compromised during shipment or used this method for malware persistence

Threat actors: Nation State / Law Enforcement

Mitigations

No mitigations in place.

Possible further mitigations

Free software BIOS e.g. coreboot MITIG128 proposed

Residual risk

Candidate for further mitigation efforts.

Where it applies

Applies to 1 component in 1 scenario.

Application Server (host) Application Server

Physical and host layer · Application Server (host)

digraph tm {
    graph [
        fontname = Arial;
        fontsize = 14;
    ]
    node [
        fontname = Arial;
        fontsize = 14;
    ]
    edge [
        fontname = Arial;
        fontsize = 12;
    ]
    nodesep = 1;

    subgraph cluster_boundary_Application_Server {
        graph [
            fontsize = 10;
            fontcolor = black;
            style = dashed;
            color = firebrick2;
            label = <<i>Application Server</i>>;
        ]

        component_Application_Server__host__Application_Server [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Application\nServer (host)";
            URL = "component_Application_Server__host_.html";
            tooltip = "Application Server (host)";
            margin = 0.02;

            style = "filled";

            fillcolor = "#c0392b";

            fontcolor = "white";

            class = "highlighted";
        ]

        component_SecureDrop_Application_Application_Server [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "SecureDrop\nApplication";
            URL = "component_SecureDrop_Application.html";
            tooltip = "SecureDrop Application";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

    }

    subgraph cluster_boundary_Monitoring_Server {
        graph [
            fontsize = 10;
            fontcolor = black;
            style = dashed;
            color = firebrick2;
            label = <<i>Monitoring Server</i>>;
        ]

        component_Monitoring_Server__host__Monitoring_Server [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Monitoring\nServer (host)";
            URL = "component_Monitoring_Server__host_.html";
            tooltip = "Monitoring Server (host)";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

        component_OSSEC_server_Monitoring_Server [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "OSSEC server";
            URL = "component_OSSEC_server.html";
            tooltip = "OSSEC server";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

    }

    subgraph cluster_boundary_SecureDrop_Area {
        graph [
            fontsize = 10;
            fontcolor = black;
            style = dashed;
            color = firebrick2;
            label = <<i>SecureDrop Area</i>>;
        ]

        component_SecureDrop_server_room_SecureDrop_Area [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "SecureDrop\nserver room";
            URL = "component_SecureDrop_server_room.html";
            tooltip = "SecureDrop server room";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

    }

    component_SecureDrop_Application_Application_Server -> component_Application_Server__host__Application_Server [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "1. Services on app\nhost";    ]
    component_OSSEC_server_Monitoring_Server -> component_Monitoring_Server__host__Monitoring_Server [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "2. Services on mon\nhost";    ]
    component_Application_Server__host__Application_Server -> component_SecureDrop_server_room_SecureDrop_Area [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "3. Hosts in server\nroom";    ]
}

Notes

Further mitigations: Either free software bios (e.g. Coreboot) and validate the integrity of the BIOS. However, there is currently no coreboot support for SecureDrop supported/recommented hardware (https://docs.securedrop.org/en/stable/hardware.html). (MITIG128). Automated test for mitigation: No.

How this threat is matched

Listed for these components. A boundary covers every component inside it.