Business information leak

Need

Protection of sensitive business information from unauthorized access or leakage

Context

• Usage of Scala for building scalable and high-performance applications
• Usage of play.api.mvc for handling HTTP requests and responses in Play Framework
• Usage of global execution context for Scala concurrent programming
• Usage of AbstractController for creating reusable controller logic in a project
• Usage of Request for making HTTP requests in Node.js
• Usage of AnyContent for flexible content management and storage
• Usage of JSON for data interchange and storage
• Usage of UserDAO for interacting with the user data in the database
• Usage of BusinessDAO for accessing and manipulating business data
• Usage of EmployeeDAO for data access and manipulation related to employees
• Usage of ClientDAO for interacting with the client data in the application
• Usage of ProviderDAO for data access and manipulation with providers

Description

Non compliant code

import play.api.mvc._
import scala.concurrent.ExecutionContext.Implicits.global

class UserController @Inject()(cc: ControllerComponents) extends AbstractController(cc) {

  def getUsernames = Action.async { implicit request: Request[AnyContent] =>
    val usernames = UserDAO.getAllUsernames // Assume this method returns all usernames from the database
    Future.successful(Ok(Json.toJson(usernames)))
  }

  def getStrategicInformation = Action.async { implicit request: Request[AnyContent] =>
    val strategicInfo = BusinessDAO.getStrategicInformation // Assume this method returns all strategic information from the database
    Future.successful(Ok(Json.toJson(strategicInfo)))
  }

  def getEmployeeInformation = Action.async { implicit request: Request[AnyContent] =>
    val employeeInfo = EmployeeDAO.getAllEmployees // Assume this method returns all employee information from the database
    Future.successful(Ok(Json.toJson(employeeInfo)))
  }

  def getClientInformation = Action.async { implicit request: Request[AnyContent] =>
    val clientInfo = ClientDAO.getAllClients // Assume this method returns all client information from the database
    Future.successful(Ok(Json.toJson(clientInfo)))
  }

  def getProviderInformation = Action.async { implicit request: Request[AnyContent] =>
    val providerInfo = ProviderDAO.getAllProviders // Assume this method returns all provider information from the database
    Future.successful(Ok(Json.toJson(providerInfo)))
  }
}

The above code is vulnerable to business information leak. It exposes several endpoints that provide sensitive business information such as usernames, strategic information, employee information, client information, and provider information.

The getUsernames, getStrategicInformation, getEmployeeInformation, getClientInformation, getProviderInformation methods are all asynchronous actions that retrieve their respective information from the database and return it as a JSON response.

These methods do not implement any form of access control. This means that any user, authenticated or not, can access these endpoints and retrieve the information. This is a serious security vulnerability as it can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive business information.

Steps

• Implement proper authentication and authorization mechanisms to restrict access to sensitive information.
• Ensure that only authorized users can access the endpoints that expose business information.
• Implement role-based access control to limit access to specific endpoints based on user roles.
• Consider implementing token-based authentication to authenticate and authorize API requests.
• Encrypt sensitive information stored in the database to protect it from unauthorized access.
• Regularly review and update access control policies to ensure they align with the current security requirements.
• Implement input validation and sanitization to prevent any potential injection attacks.
• Regularly perform security audits and penetration testing to identify and fix any vulnerabilities.
• Educate developers about secure coding practices and provide training on common security vulnerabilities.
• Stay updated with the latest security patches and updates for the Play framework and its dependencies.

Compliant code

import play.api.mvc._
import scala.concurrent.ExecutionContext.Implicits.global
import play.api.libs.json.Json
import play.api.mvc.Security.AuthenticatedBuilder
import javax.inject.Inject

class UserController @Inject()(cc: ControllerComponents, authAction: AuthAction) extends AbstractController(cc) {

  def getUsernames = authAction.async { implicit request: Request[AnyContent] =>
    if(request.user.role == "Admin") {
      val usernames = UserDAO.getAllUsernames // Assume this method returns all usernames from the database
      Future.successful(Ok(Json.toJson(usernames)))
    } else {
      Future.successful(Forbidden("You do not have access to this resource."))
    }
  }

  def getStrategicInformation = authAction.async { implicit request: Request[AnyContent] =>
    if(request.user.role == "Admin") {
      val strategicInfo = BusinessDAO.getStrategicInformation // Assume this method returns all strategic information from the database
      Future.successful(Ok(Json.toJson(strategicInfo)))
    } else {
      Future.successful(Forbidden("You do not have access to this resource."))
    }
  }

  def getEmployeeInformation = authAction.async { implicit request: Request[AnyContent] =>
    if(request.user.role == "Admin" || request.user.role == "HR") {
      val employeeInfo = EmployeeDAO.getAllEmployees // Assume this method returns all employee information from the database
      Future.successful(Ok(Json.toJson(employeeInfo)))
    } else {
      Future.successful(Forbidden("You do not have access to this resource."))
    }
  }

  def getClientInformation = authAction.async { implicit request: Request[AnyContent] =>
    if(request.user.role == "Admin" || request.user.role == "Sales") {
      val clientInfo = ClientDAO.getAllClients // Assume this method returns all client information from the database
      Future.successful(Ok(Json.toJson(clientInfo)))
    } else {
      Future.successful(Forbidden("You do not have access to this resource."))
    }
  }

  def getProviderInformation = authAction.async { implicit request: Request[AnyContent] =>
    if(request.user.role == "Admin" || request.user.role == "Procurement") {
      val providerInfo = ProviderDAO.getAllProviders // Assume this method returns all provider information from the database
      Future.successful(Ok(Json.toJson(providerInfo)))
    } else {
      Future.successful(Forbidden("You do not have access to this resource."))
    }
  }
}

The updated code now includes an AuthAction which is a custom action builder that checks if a user is authenticated before allowing them to access the endpoint. This is done by injecting AuthAction into the UserController and using it to wrap the action bodies.

Inside each action, we now check the role of the authenticated user. If the user has the appropriate role (e.g., "Admin" for getting usernames or strategic information, "HR" for employee information, "Sales" for client information, and "Procurement" for provider information), the request is processed and the information is returned. If the user does not have the appropriate role, a Forbidden response is returned, indicating that the user does not have access to the requested resource.

This approach implements role-based access control (RBAC), which is a method of regulating access to computer or network resources based on the roles of individual users within your organization. RBAC lets employees have access rights only to the information they need to do their jobs and prevents them from accessing information that doesn't pertain to them.

Please note that the AuthAction and the user role checking are just placeholders. You would need to implement the actual authentication and authorization mechanisms according to your specific requirements and the capabilities of your chosen authentication and authorization libraries or frameworks.

References

• 038.Business information leak