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Security controls bypass or absence

Need​

Enhancement of security controls to prevent bypass or absence

Context​

  • Usage of Go 1.16 for developing high-performance and efficient applications
  • Usage of gin-gonic/gin for building web applications in Go

Description​

Non compliant code​

package main

import (
	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
)

func main() {
	r := gin.Default()

	r.GET("/admin", func(c *gin.Context) {
		c.String(200, "Welcome to the Admin Dashboard!")
	})

	r.Run(":8080")
}

In the above Go code snippet, we are using the Gin web framework to create a simple web server with a route /admin which is supposed to be for admin users.

The vulnerability here is that there are no security controls to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the /admin route. Any user, regardless of their privileges, can access this route just by navigating to http://<server-address>:8080/admin.

This is a serious security issue as sensitive information or functionality could be exposed to unauthorized users, leading to potential data breaches or system misuse. The absence of security controls allows for a bypass of any intended restrictions on this route.

Steps​

  • Implement proper authentication and authorization mechanisms to control access to sensitive routes or functionalities.
  • Use role-based access control (RBAC) to define different levels of access for different user roles.
  • Ensure that sensitive routes or functionalities are only accessible to authorized users.
  • Implement session management to track and validate user sessions.
  • Enforce secure communication protocols (e.g., HTTPS) to protect sensitive data during transit.
  • Regularly update and patch the application and its dependencies to address any security vulnerabilities.
  • Perform security testing and code reviews to identify and fix any security weaknesses.
  • Follow secure coding practices and guidelines to prevent security controls bypass or absence vulnerabilities.

Compliant code​

package main

import (
	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
	"github.com/gin-contrib/sessions"
	"github.com/gin-contrib/sessions/cookie"
)

func main() {
	r := gin.Default()

	store := cookie.NewStore([]byte("secret"))
	r.Use(sessions.Sessions("mysession", store))

	r.GET("/admin", func(c *gin.Context) {
		session := sessions.Default(c)
		user := session.Get("user")
		if user == nil {
			c.JSON(401, gin.H{"error": "Unauthorized"})
			return
		}

		c.String(200, "Welcome to the Admin Dashboard!")
	})

	r.Run(":8080")
}

The updated code now includes a session management mechanism using the github.com/gin-contrib/sessions package. This package provides middleware for session handling in the Gin framework.

A new cookie store is created with a secret key and is used as middleware in the Gin engine. This store will handle the session data.

In the /admin route handler, the session is retrieved from the context. If there is no user data in the session, it means the user is not authenticated. In this case, the server responds with a 401 Unauthorized status code and an error message.

If the user data is present in the session, it means the user is authenticated and the server responds with a welcome message.

This way, the /admin route is protected and can't be accessed without proper authentication. This prevents the security controls bypass vulnerability.

Please note that this is a basic example and real-world applications may require more complex authentication and authorization mechanisms, such as role-based access control (RBAC). Also, the secret key for the cookie store should be kept secure and not be exposed in the code.

References​

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