Malicious input vulnerability in Journalist interface mitigated

THREAT8 · Mitigated: Controls in place bring the risk down to an acceptable level. · Defined in catalog.py:151

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

Failure to adequately validate content coming from journalists may result in injection vulnerabilities in the Journalist interface (SQL injection, XSS, CSRF) and result in an attacker being able to execute arbitrary commands on the server or in a Source's browser.

Threat actors: Any

Mitigations

Mitigation	Status
X-XSS-protection, CSP set to self MITIG71	implemented
SQLAlchemy as an ORM MITIG68	implemented
Use of Flask/Jinja for templating escaping MITIG64	implemented
HidServAuth token on journalist interface MITIG3	implemented

Possible further mitigations

Verify all attributes are quoted as per http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/0.12/security/ MITIG80 proposed
Use WAF MITIG78 proposed

Where it applies

Applies to 1 component in 2 scenarios.

Journalist Interface Application Server

Journalist triage · Journalist Interface

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_Encrypted_submission_store_Application_Server [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Encrypted\nsubmission store";
            URL = "component_Encrypted_submission_store.html";
            tooltip = "Encrypted submission store";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

        component_Journalist_Interface_Application_Server [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Journalist\nInterface";
            URL = "component_Journalist_Interface.html";
            tooltip = "Journalist Interface";
            margin = 0.02;

            style = "filled";

            fillcolor = "#c0392b";

            fontcolor = "white";

            class = "highlighted";
        ]

        component_Metadata_DB_Application_Server [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Metadata DB";
            URL = "component_Metadata_DB.html";
            tooltip = "Metadata DB";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

    }

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

        component_Dedicated_Hardware_Firewall_SecureDrop_Area [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Dedicated\nHardware\nFirewall";
            URL = "component_Dedicated_Hardware_Firewall.html";
            tooltip = "Dedicated Hardware Firewall";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

    }

    actor_Journalist_ [
        shape = square;
        color = black;
        fontcolor = black;
        label = "Journalist";
        URL = "component_Journalist.html";
        tooltip = "Journalist";
        margin = 0.02;
    ]

    actor_Journalist_ -> component_Dedicated_Hardware_Firewall_SecureDrop_Area [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "1. Authenticate over\nTor";    ]
    component_Dedicated_Hardware_Firewall_SecureDrop_Area -> component_Journalist_Interface_Application_Server [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "2. Reach Journalist\nInterface";    ]
    component_Journalist_Interface_Application_Server -> component_Metadata_DB_Application_Server [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "3. List sources";    ]
    component_Encrypted_submission_store_Application_Server -> actor_Journalist_ [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "4. Download\nencrypted";    ]
}

Workstation: reading submissions · Journalist Interface

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_Journalist_Interface_Application_Server [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Journalist\nInterface";
            URL = "component_Journalist_Interface.html";
            tooltip = "Journalist Interface";
            margin = 0.02;

            style = "filled";

            fillcolor = "#c0392b";

            fontcolor = "white";

            class = "highlighted";
        ]

    }

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

        subgraph cluster_boundary_Workstation_VMs {
            graph [
                fontsize = 10;
                fontcolor = black;
                style = dashed;
                color = firebrick2;
                label = <<i>Workstation VMs</i>>;
            ]

            component_sd_app__SecureDrop_Client__Workstation_VMs [
                shape = circle;
                color = black;
                fontcolor = black;
                label = "sd-app\n(SecureDrop\nClient)";
                URL = "component_sd_app__SecureDrop_Client_.html";
                tooltip = "sd-app (SecureDrop Client)";
                margin = 0.02;
            ]

            component_sd_gpg_Workstation_VMs [
                shape = circle;
                color = black;
                fontcolor = black;
                label = "sd-gpg";
                URL = "component_sd_gpg.html";
                tooltip = "sd-gpg";
                margin = 0.02;
            ]

            component_sd_log_Workstation_VMs [
                shape = circle;
                color = black;
                fontcolor = black;
                label = "sd-log";
                URL = "component_sd_log.html";
                tooltip = "sd-log";
                margin = 0.02;
            ]

            component_sd_proxy_Workstation_VMs [
                shape = circle;
                color = black;
                fontcolor = black;
                label = "sd-proxy";
                URL = "component_sd_proxy.html";
                tooltip = "sd-proxy";
                margin = 0.02;
            ]

            component_sd_viewer__disposable_VMs__Workstation_VMs [
                shape = circle;
                color = black;
                fontcolor = black;
                label = "sd-viewer\n(disposable VMs)";
                URL = "component_sd_viewer__disposable_VMs_.html";
                tooltip = "sd-viewer (disposable VMs)";
                margin = 0.02;
            ]

            component_sys_firewall_Workstation_VMs [
                shape = circle;
                color = black;
                fontcolor = black;
                label = "sys-firewall";
                URL = "component_sys_firewall.html";
                tooltip = "sys-firewall";
                margin = 0.02;
            ]

            component_sys_net_Workstation_VMs [
                shape = circle;
                color = black;
                fontcolor = black;
                label = "sys-net";
                URL = "component_sys_net.html";
                tooltip = "sys-net";
                margin = 0.02;
            ]

        }

    }

    actor_Journalist_ [
        shape = square;
        color = black;
        fontcolor = black;
        label = "Journalist";
        URL = "component_Journalist.html";
        tooltip = "Journalist";
        margin = 0.02;
    ]

    actor_Journalist_ -> component_sd_app__SecureDrop_Client__Workstation_VMs [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "1. Use the client";    ]
    component_sd_app__SecureDrop_Client__Workstation_VMs -> component_sd_proxy_Workstation_VMs [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "2. Journalist API\nrequest";    ]
    component_sd_proxy_Workstation_VMs -> component_sys_firewall_Workstation_VMs [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "3. Route via\nfirewall";    ]
    component_sys_firewall_Workstation_VMs -> component_sys_net_Workstation_VMs [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "4. Route to network";    ]
    component_sys_net_Workstation_VMs -> component_Journalist_Interface_Application_Server [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "5. Reach the\nJournalist Interface";    ]
    component_Journalist_Interface_Application_Server -> component_sys_net_Workstation_VMs [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "6. Encrypted\nsubmissions";    ]
    component_sd_proxy_Workstation_VMs -> component_sd_app__SecureDrop_Client__Workstation_VMs [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "7. Relay to client";    ]
    component_sd_app__SecureDrop_Client__Workstation_VMs -> component_sd_gpg_Workstation_VMs [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "8. Decrypt";    ]
    component_sd_app__SecureDrop_Client__Workstation_VMs -> component_sd_viewer__disposable_VMs__Workstation_VMs [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "9. Open a file";    ]
    component_sd_app__SecureDrop_Client__Workstation_VMs -> component_sd_log_Workstation_VMs [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "10. Send logs";    ]
}

Notes

Existing mitigations: X-XSS-PROTECTION is enabled and Content-Security-Policy set to self (MITIG71). SQLAlchemy is used as ORM for all database queries (MITIG68). Flask/Jinja2 escapes all HTML content (though not attributes) (MITIG64). JI runs on stealth onion service (MITIG3). Further mitigations: Validate that all attributes are quoted per http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/0.12/security/ (MITIG80), use a WAF to further increase defense-in-depth (e.g. Apache Modsecurity) (MITIG78). Automated test for mitigation: No.

How this threat is matched

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