mirror of
https://mau.dev/maunium/synapse.git
synced 2024-12-15 18:33:53 +01:00
141 lines
4.1 KiB
ReStructuredText
141 lines
4.1 KiB
ReStructuredText
Overview
|
|
========
|
|
|
|
Scope
|
|
-----
|
|
|
|
This document considers threats specific to the server to server federation
|
|
synapse protocol.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Attacker
|
|
--------
|
|
|
|
It is assumed that the attacker can see and manipulate all network traffic
|
|
between any of the servers and may be in control of one or more homeservers
|
|
participating in the federation protocol.
|
|
|
|
Threat Model
|
|
============
|
|
|
|
Denial of Service
|
|
-----------------
|
|
|
|
The attacker could attempt to prevent delivery of messages to or from the
|
|
victim in order to:
|
|
|
|
* Disrupt service or marketing campaign of a commercial competitor.
|
|
* Censor a discussion or censor a participant in a discussion.
|
|
* Perform general vandalism.
|
|
|
|
Threat: Resource Exhaustion
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could cause the victims server to exhaust a particular resource
|
|
(e.g. open TCP connections, CPU, memory, disk storage)
|
|
|
|
Threat: Unrecoverable Consistency Violations
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could send messages which created an unrecoverable "split-brain"
|
|
state in the cluster such that the victim's servers could no longer dervive a
|
|
consistent view of the chatroom state.
|
|
|
|
Threat: Bad History
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could convince the victim to accept invalid messages which the
|
|
victim would then include in their view of the chatroom history. Other servers
|
|
in the chatroom would reject the invalid messages and potentially reject the
|
|
victims messages as well since they depended on the invalid messages.
|
|
|
|
Threat: Block Network Traffic
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could try to firewall traffic between the victim's server and some
|
|
or all of the other servers in the chatroom.
|
|
|
|
Threat: High Volume of Messages
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could send large volumes of messages to a chatroom with the victim
|
|
making the chatroom unusable.
|
|
|
|
Threat: Banning users without necessary authorisation
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could attempt to ban a user from a chatroom with the necessary
|
|
authorisation.
|
|
|
|
Spoofing
|
|
--------
|
|
|
|
An attacker could try to send a message claiming to be from the victim without
|
|
the victim having sent the message in order to:
|
|
|
|
* Impersonate the victim while performing illict activity.
|
|
* Obtain privileges of the victim.
|
|
|
|
Threat: Altering Message Contents
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could try to alter the contents of an existing message from the
|
|
victim.
|
|
|
|
Threat: Fake Message "origin" Field
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could try to send a new message purporting to be from the victim
|
|
with a phony "origin" field.
|
|
|
|
Spamming
|
|
--------
|
|
|
|
The attacker could try to send a high volume of solicicted or unsolicted
|
|
messages to the victim in order to:
|
|
|
|
* Find victims for scams.
|
|
* Market unwanted products.
|
|
|
|
Threat: Unsoliticted Messages
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could try to send messages to victims who do not wish to receive
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
Threat: Abusive Messages
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could send abusive or threatening messages to the victim
|
|
|
|
Spying
|
|
------
|
|
|
|
The attacker could try to access message contents or metadata for messages sent
|
|
by the victim or to the victim that were not intended to reach the attacker in
|
|
order to:
|
|
|
|
* Gain sensitive personal or commercial information.
|
|
* Impersonate the victim using credentials contained in the messages.
|
|
(e.g. password reset messages)
|
|
* Discover who the victim was talking to and when.
|
|
|
|
Threat: Disclosure during Transmission
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could try to expose the message contents or metadata during
|
|
transmission between the servers.
|
|
|
|
Threat: Disclosure to Servers Outside Chatroom
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could try to convince servers within a chatroom to send messages to
|
|
a server it controls that was not authorised to be within the chatroom.
|
|
|
|
Threat: Disclosure to Servers Within Chatroom
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
|
An attacker could take control of a server within a chatroom to expose message
|
|
contents or metadata for messages in that room.
|
|
|
|
|