Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update

1. Implementation

   If available, use features of the language or framework that allow specification of allowlists of attributes or fields that are allowed to be modified. If possible, prefer allowlists over denylists.

2. Architecture and Design · Implementation

   If available, use the signing/sealing features of the programming language to assure that deserialized data has not been tainted. For example, a hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) could be used to ensure that data has not been modified.

3. Implementation · Input Validation

   For any externally-influenced input, check the input against an allowlist of internal object attributes or fields that are allowed to be modified.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
• Software Supply Chain Security (opens in a new tab)
• Infrastructure as Code (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V5.1.2 (opens in a new tab)

From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

1. Requirements

   Clearly specify the minimum and maximum expectations for capabilities, and dictate which behaviors are acceptable when resource allocation reaches limits.

2. Architecture and Design

   Limit the amount of resources that are accessible to unprivileged users. Set per-user limits for resources. Allow the system administrator to define these limits. Be careful to avoid CWE-410.

3. Architecture and Design

   Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V8.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
• V13.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
• V11.1.4 (opens in a new tab)

Attack patterns

• XML Ping of the Death (opens in a new tab)
• Exponential Data Expansion (opens in a new tab)
• Serialized Data Parameter Blowup (opens in a new tab)
• Serialized Data with Nested Payloads (opens in a new tab)
• Oversized Serialized Data Payloads (opens in a new tab)

From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

1. Implementation

   Ensure that error messages only contain minimal details that are useful to the intended audience and no one else. The messages need to strike the balance between being too cryptic (which can confuse users) or being too detailed (which may reveal more than intended).

2. Implementation

   Handle exceptions internally and do not display errors containing potentially sensitive information to a user.

3. Implementation · Attack Surface Reduction

   Use naming conventions and strong types to make it easier to spot when sensitive data is being used. When creating structures, objects, or other complex entities, separate the sensitive and non-sensitive data as much as possible.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
• Logging (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V8.3.4 (opens in a new tab)
• V14.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
• V7.3.3 (opens in a new tab)

Attack patterns

• Fuzzing for application mapping (opens in a new tab)
• Padding Oracle Crypto Attack (opens in a new tab)
• Query System for Information (opens in a new tab)
• Blind SQL Injection (opens in a new tab)

From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

1. Architecture and Design · Input Validation

   Avoid making decisions based on names of resources (e.g. files) if those resources can have alternate names.

2. Implementation · Input Validation

   Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.

3. Implementation · Input Validation

   Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174).

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)
• V2.8.4 (opens in a new tab)
• V9.2.3 (opens in a new tab)

From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

1. Requirements

   Use a language that is not susceptible to these issues. However, be careful of null byte interaction errors (CWE-626) with lower-level constructs that may be written in a language that is susceptible.

2. Implementation

   Ensure that all string functions used are understood fully as to how they append null characters. Also, be wary of off-by-one errors when appending nulls to the end of strings.

3. Implementation

   If performance constraints permit, special code can be added that validates null-termination of string buffers, this is a rather naive and error-prone solution.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• XML Security (opens in a new tab)
• Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
• V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
• V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)

From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

1. Architecture and Design · Implementation

   Certificates should be carefully managed and checked to assure that data are encrypted with the intended owner's public key.

2. Implementation

   If certificate pinning is being used, ensure that all relevant properties of the certificate are fully validated before the certificate is pinned, including the hostname.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Transport Layer Protection (opens in a new tab)
• TLS Cipher String (opens in a new tab)
• OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V9.2.1 (opens in a new tab)
• V1.9.2 (opens in a new tab)
• V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)

Attack patterns

• Creating a Rogue Certification Authority Certificate (opens in a new tab)
• Signature Spoofing by Improper Validation (opens in a new tab)

From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

1. Architecture and Design · Operation

   Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.

2. Architecture and Design · Separation of Privilege

   Compartmentalize the system to have "safe" areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area.

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
• V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
• V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)

Attack patterns

• Web Server Logs Tampering (opens in a new tab)

From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

1. Implementation

   Before calling privileged APIs, always ensure that the assumptions made by the privileged code hold true prior to making the call.

2. Architecture and Design

   Know architecture and implementation weaknesses of the privileged APIs and make sure to account for these weaknesses before calling the privileged APIs to ensure that they can be called safely.

3. Implementation

   If privileged APIs make certain assumptions about data, context or state validity that are passed by the caller, the calling code must ensure that these assumptions have been validated prior to making the call.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Docker Security (opens in a new tab)
• Third Party Javascript Management (opens in a new tab)
• Virtual Patching (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V1.4.4 (opens in a new tab)
• V1.4.5 (opens in a new tab)
• V1.10.1 (opens in a new tab)

Attack patterns

• Cross Site Tracing (opens in a new tab)
• Hijacking a privileged process (opens in a new tab)

From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

1. Architecture and Design

   Use regular expressions that do not support backtracking, e.g. by removing nested quantifiers.

2. System Configuration

   Set backtracking limits in the configuration of the regular expression implementation, such as PHP's pcre.backtrack_limit. Also consider limits on execution time for the process.

3. Implementation

   Do not use regular expressions with untrusted input. If regular expressions must be used, avoid using backtracking in the expression.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• File Upload (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V12.1.1 (opens in a new tab)

Attack patterns

• Regular Expression Exponential Blowup (opens in a new tab)

From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• XML Security (opens in a new tab)
• Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
• V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
• V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)

From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

1. Implementation

   For any pointers that could have been modified or provided from a function that can return NULL, check the pointer for NULL before use. When working with a multithreaded or otherwise asynchronous environment, ensure that proper locking APIs are used to lock before the check, and unlock when it has finished.

2. Requirements

   Select a programming language that is not susceptible to these issues.

3. Implementation

   Check the results of all functions that return a value and verify that the value is non-null before acting upon it.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Logging (opens in a new tab)
• Error Handling (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V11.1.7 (opens in a new tab)

From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).