Malicious or coerced administrator accepted

THREATQW61 · Accepted: The team has decided to live with this risk. · Defined in catalog.py:3871

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

The threat model assumes all actors act in good faith. An administrator or the person installing the workstation is able to insert malicious packages.

Threat actors: Nation State / Law Enforcement

Mitigations

No mitigations in place.

Possible further mitigations

Two man rule for admin changes MITIGQW51 proposed
Hide identity of admin to prevent targeted attacks MITIGQW52 proposed

Where it applies

Applies to 1 component in 1 scenario.

Workstation provisioning code SecureDrop Workstation

Workstation: boot, provisioning and updates · Workstation provisioning code

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

    subgraph cluster_boundary_External_Services {
        graph [
            fontsize = 10;
            fontcolor = black;
            style = dashed;
            color = firebrick2;
            label = <<i>External Services</i>>;
        ]

        component_FPF_apt_repository_External_Services [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "FPF apt\nrepository";
            URL = "component_FPF_apt_repository.html";
            tooltip = "FPF apt repository";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

    }

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

        }

        component_Qubes_OS_and_Xen_SecureDrop_Workstation [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Qubes OS and Xen";
            URL = "component_Qubes_OS_and_Xen.html";
            tooltip = "Qubes OS and Xen";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

        component_Workstation_bootloader_SecureDrop_Workstation [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Workstation\nbootloader";
            URL = "component_Workstation_bootloader.html";
            tooltip = "Workstation bootloader";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

        component_Workstation_firmware_SecureDrop_Workstation [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Workstation\nfirmware";
            URL = "component_Workstation_firmware.html";
            tooltip = "Workstation firmware";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

        component_Workstation_hardware_SecureDrop_Workstation [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Workstation\nhardware";
            URL = "component_Workstation_hardware.html";
            tooltip = "Workstation hardware";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

        component_Workstation_provisioning_code_SecureDrop_Workstation [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "Workstation\nprovisioning\ncode";
            URL = "component_Workstation_provisioning_code.html";
            tooltip = "Workstation provisioning code";
            margin = 0.02;

            style = "filled";

            fillcolor = "#c0392b";

            fontcolor = "white";

            class = "highlighted";
        ]

        component_dom0_SecureDrop_Workstation [
            shape = circle;
            color = black;
            fontcolor = black;
            label = "dom0";
            URL = "component_dom0.html";
            tooltip = "dom0";
            margin = 0.02;
        ]

    }

    actor_Administrator_ [
        shape = square;
        color = black;
        fontcolor = black;
        label = "Administrator";
        URL = "component_Administrator.html";
        tooltip = "Administrator";
        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_Workstation_hardware_SecureDrop_Workstation [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "1. Power on";    ]
    component_Workstation_hardware_SecureDrop_Workstation -> component_Workstation_firmware_SecureDrop_Workstation [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "2. Start firmware";    ]
    component_Workstation_firmware_SecureDrop_Workstation -> component_Workstation_bootloader_SecureDrop_Workstation [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "3. Load bootloader";    ]
    component_Workstation_bootloader_SecureDrop_Workstation -> component_Qubes_OS_and_Xen_SecureDrop_Workstation [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "4. Boot Qubes";    ]
    component_Qubes_OS_and_Xen_SecureDrop_Workstation -> component_dom0_SecureDrop_Workstation [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "5. Start dom0";    ]
    actor_Administrator_ -> component_Workstation_provisioning_code_SecureDrop_Workstation [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "6. Install and\nconfigure";    ]
    component_Workstation_provisioning_code_SecureDrop_Workstation -> component_dom0_SecureDrop_Workstation [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "7. Apply salt states";    ]
    component_dom0_SecureDrop_Workstation -> component_sd_gpg_Workstation_VMs [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "8. Provide secret\nkeys";    ]
    component_dom0_SecureDrop_Workstation -> component_FPF_apt_repository_External_Services [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "9. Fetch updates";    ]
    component_FPF_apt_repository_External_Services -> component_dom0_SecureDrop_Workstation [        color = black;        fontcolor = black;        dir = forward;        label = "10. Signed packages";    ]
}

Notes

Further mitigations: Two man rule for admin changes (MITIGQW51), hide identity of administrator to prevent targeted attacks (MITIGQW52).

How this threat is matched

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