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