Red Hat Security Advisory: thunderbird security update

1. 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.

2. Architecture and Design · Language Selection

   Use a language that provides appropriate memory abstractions.

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)

Attack patterns

• Overread Buffers (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).

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Secure Design Principles (opens in a new tab)

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

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V14.5.2 (opens in a new tab)
• V14.5.3 (opens in a new tab)
• V1.4.4 (opens in a new tab)

Attack patterns

• JSON Hijacking (aka JavaScript Hijacking) (opens in a new tab)
• Cache Poisoning (opens in a new tab)
• DNS Cache Poisoning (opens in a new tab)
• Exploit Script-Based APIs (opens in a new tab)
• Application API Message Manipulation via Man-in-the-Middle (opens in a new tab)

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

1. Requirements · Language Selection

   Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

2. Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks

   Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

3. Operation · Build and Compilation · Environment Hardening

   Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index…

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)

Attack patterns

• Overflow Buffers (opens in a new tab)
• SOAP Array Overflow (opens in a new tab)

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

1. Architecture and Design

   Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.

2. Implementation

   When freeing pointers, be sure to set them to NULL once they are freed. However, the utilization of multiple or complex data structures may lower the usefulness of this strategy.

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. Requirements · Language Selection

   Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

2. Implementation

   It is good practice to be responsible for freeing all resources you allocate and to be consistent with how and where you free resources in a function. If you allocate resources that you intend to free upon completion of the function, you must be sure to free the resources at all exit points for that function including…

3. Operation · Architecture and Design · Resource Limitation

   Use resource-limiting settings provided by the operating system or environment. For example, when managing system resources in POSIX, setrlimit() can be used to set limits for certain types of resources, and getrlimit() can determine how many resources are available.

Attack patterns

• HTTP DoS (opens in a new tab)

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

1. Requirements

   Specify which data in the software should be regarded as sensitive. Consider which types of users should have access to which types of data.

2. Implementation

   Ensure that any possibly sensitive data specified in the requirements is verified with designers to ensure that it is either a calculated risk or mitigated elsewhere.

3. System Configuration

   Setup default error messages so that unexpected errors do not disclose sensitive information.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

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

• Choosing Message Identifier (opens in a new tab)
• Exploiting Incorrectly Configured SSL/TLS (opens in a new tab)
• WiFi MAC Address Tracking (opens in a new tab)
• WiFi SSID Tracking (opens in a new tab)
• Cellular Broadcast Message Request (opens in a new tab)

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

Attack patterns

• Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables (opens in a new tab)
• Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
• Overflow Variables and Tags (opens in a new tab)
• Buffer Overflow in an API Call (opens in a new tab)
• Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities (opens in a new tab)

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

1. Requirements · Language Selection

   Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

2. Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks

   Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

3. Operation · Build and Compilation · Environment Hardening

   Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index…

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).

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V1.11.2 (opens in a new tab)

Attack patterns

• Leveraging Time-of-Check and Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) Race Conditions (opens in a new tab)
• Leveraging Race Conditions (opens in a new tab)

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

1. Requirements · Language Selection

   Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

2. Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks

   Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

3. Operation · Build and Compilation · Environment Hardening

   Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index…

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Docker Security (opens in a new tab)
• XML Security (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V5.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
• V14.1.2 (opens in a new tab)
• V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)

Attack patterns

• Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables (opens in a new tab)
• Overflow Buffers (opens in a new tab)
• Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
• Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow (opens in a new tab)
• MIME Conversion (opens in a new tab)

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

1. Requirements

   Ensure that all protocols are strictly defined, such that all out-of-bounds behavior can be identified simply, and require strict conformance to the protocol.

2. Requirements · Language Selection

   Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

3. Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks

   Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

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

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V5.4.3 (opens in a new tab)
• V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
• V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)

Attack patterns

• Forced Integer Overflow (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 · Operation · Environment Hardening

   Run your code using the lowest privileges that are required to accomplish the necessary tasks. If possible, create isolated accounts with limited privileges that are only used for a single task. That way, a successful attack will not immediately give the attacker access to the rest of the software or its environment.

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)
• Secure Design Principles (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)

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

1. Implementation

   Do not leave debug statements that could be executed in the source code. Ensure that all debug information is eradicated before releasing 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 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)

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

1. Architecture and Design

   Break up privileges between different modules, objects, or entities. Minimize the interfaces between modules and require strong access control between them.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Secure Design Principles (opens in a new tab)

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

1. Architecture and Design · Attack Surface Reduction

   Store state information and sensitive data on the server side only.

2. Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks

   Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

3. Architecture and Design

   For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Secure Design Principles (opens in a new tab)

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

1. Architecture and Design · Implementation · Testing

   Access-control-policy protections must be reviewed for design inconsistency and common weaknesses.; Access-control-policy definition and programming flow must be tested in pre-silicon, post-silicon testing.

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

• Accessing Functionality Not Properly Constrained by ACLs (opens in a new tab)
• Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels (opens in a new tab)

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

1. Implementation · System Configuration · Operation

   When storing data in the cloud (e.g., S3 buckets, Azure blobs, Google Cloud Storage, etc.), use the provider's controls to encrypt the data at rest.

2. Implementation · System Configuration · Operation

   In some systems/environments such as cloud, the use of "double encryption" (at both the software and hardware layer) might be required, and the developer might be solely responsible for both layers, instead of shared responsibility with the administrator of the broader system/environment.

OWASP Cheat Sheets

• Secure Design Principles (opens in a new tab)

OWASP ASVS 4.0.3

• V8.1.6 (opens in a new tab)
• V8.2.3 (opens in a new tab)
• V8.2.2 (opens in a new tab)

Attack patterns

• Retrieve Embedded Sensitive Data (opens in a new tab)

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