OWASP 301: Infrastructure-based Security

Some of the trickier application security risks (ASRs) covered by the OWASP Top ten are focused on infrastructure and application configuration. As these risks are deeper within the production stack, they can be harder to find and address. Together, we’ll walk through each of these risks, examine how to identify them in an application or production environment, and cover actionable steps you can take today to address them with your application.

Transcript

1. OWASP 301: Infrastructure-Based Security Eric Mann
2. ASR 3 - Sensitive Data Exposure
3. Many web applications do not adequately protect sensitive data, such as credit cards, tax IDs, and authentication credentials.
4. Photo borrowed from Schneier on Security: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/02/the_weakest_lin.html
5. Sensitive Data Retention What data do you retain? Why do you need this data in the first place? Who has access to the data? Where are backups stored? Who has access to the data via the backup system?
6. Encoding is not encryption!
7. function encodeString($str) { for ($i = 0; $i < 5; $i++) { $str = strrev(base64_encode($str)); } return $str; } function decodeString($str) { for ($i = 0; $i < 5; $i++) { $str = base64_decode(strrev($str)); } return $str; } encodeString('this is a secret'); QVlRHZlbopUYxQWShRkTUR1aaVUWuB3UNdlR2NmRWplUuJkVUxGcPFGbGVkVqp0VUJjUZdVVaNVTtVUP
8. ASR 5 - Broken Access Control
9. Restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do are not properly enforced.
10. $app->post( '/profile', function ($request, $response, $args) { if (!isset($_SESSION['user_id']) || !$this->users->get($_SESSION['user_id'])) { return $response->withRedirect('/?error=notloggedin'); } $userID = $request->getParam('user_id'); $fname = $request->getParam('fname'); $lname = $request->getParam('lname'); $email = $request->getParam('email'); // Retrieve the user's account from the database (via the app container) $user = $this->users->get(intval($userID)); $user->profile->fname = filter_var($fname, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING); $user->profile->lname = filter_var($lname, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING); $user->profile->email = filter_var($email, FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL); $this->users->update($user); } );
11. United Airlines experienced this vulnerability in their mobile app in 2015 - https://randywestergren.com/united-airlines-bug-bounty-an-experience-in-reporting-a-serious-vulnerability//
12. ASR 6 - Security Misconfiguration
13. Secure settings should be defined, implemented, and maintained, as defaults are often insecure.
14. PHP Settings Disable error display (display_errors) Disable remote includes (allow_url_fopen and allow_url_include) Set reasonable resource maximums (upload_max_filesize and memory_limit) Leverage the disable_functions directive to block dangerous functions: exec, passthru, shell_exec, system, proc_open, popen, parse_ini_file, show_source, eval, create_function
15. Webserver Settings (Nginx / Apache / etc) Disable server tokens and signature disclosure Configure a static server name (don’t trust potentially malicious HOST headers) Disable directory traversal ALWAYS configure strong SSL certificates for secure access Return proper error codes
16. Database (MySQL) Settings Set an appropriate bind-address Ensure users are configured from the correct host, not a % wildcard Limit user permissions on the database to just what the application needs
17. ASR 9 - Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities
18. Applications using components with known vulnerabilities may undermine application defenses and enable a range of possible attacks and impacts.
19. Audit Application Dependencies Monitor Composer-installed dependencies for outdated or vulnerable libraries Leverage unattended-upgrades to keep system packages up-to-date Audit the packages installed on your server - don’t install things you don’t need
20. Custom error messages can help demonstrate when a security hole has been plugged. Or annoy those who were exploiting it in the first place...
21. Audit Application Dependencies Monitor Composer-installed dependencies for outdated or vulnerable libraries Leverage unattended-upgrades to keep system packages up-to-date Audit the packages installed on your server - don’t install things you don’t need Only run current, supported versions of PHP!!!
22. ASR 10 - Insufficient Logging & Monitoring
23. Attackers rely on the lack of monitoring and timely response to achieve their goals without being detected.
24. It’s Important to Track: What happened When it happened Where it happened (in terms of code and the IP of the server) To whom it happened What input triggered the event
25. Event Classes Input Validation Errors Output Validation Errors Authentication Events Authorization (Access Control) Failures Application Errors Application Startup/Shutdown High-risk Operations
26. (Full image slide. No text)
27. Questions?
28. Thank you eric.mann@vacasa.com | 503.925.6266