While working on Improving Web Application Security: Threats and Countermeasures, my team created the software security frame. We used the Security Frame to organize and prioritize software security issues. We used this frame throughout the guide to organize our guidelines and checklists. We also used the Security Frame to build evaluation criteria to help find key security decisions that can have a large impact.
Categories
We found that we could organize the majority of our security principles, patterns and practices using the following buckets:
Category | Key Considerations |
---|---|
Auditing and Logging | Who did what and when? Auditing and logging refer to how your application records security-related events. |
Authentication | Who are you? Authentication is the process where an entity proves the identity of another entity, typically through credentials, such as a user name and password. |
Authorization | What can you do? Authorization is how your application provides access controls for resources and operations. |
Configuration Management | Who does your application run as? Which databases does it connect to? How is your application administered? How are these settings secured? Configuration management refers to how your application handles these operational issues. |
Cryptography | How are you keeping secrets (confidentiality)? How are you tamper-proofing your data or libraries (integrity)? How are you providing seeds for random values that must be cryptographically strong? Cryptography refers to how your application enforces confidentiality and integrity. |
Exception Management | When a method call in your application fails, what does your application do? How much do you reveal? Do you return friendly error information to end users? Do you pass valuable exception information back to the caller? Does your application fail gracefully? |
Input and Data Validation | How do you know that the input your application receives is valid and safe? Input validation refers to how your application filters, scrubs, or rejects input before additional processing. Consider constraining input through entry points and encoding output through exit points. Do you trust data from sources such as databases and file shares? |
Sensitive Data | How does your application handle sensitive data? Sensitive data refers to how your application handles any data that must be protected either in memory, over the network, or in persistent stores. |
Session Management | How does your application handle and protect user sessions? A session refers to a series of related interactions between a user and your Web application. |
Threats and Attacks Organized by the Security Frame
With the Security Frame, it’s easy to walk the categories and think of potential security problems. Here’s a list of potential software performance problems, organized by the Security Frame:
Category | Threats |
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Auditing and Logging |
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Authentication |
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Authorization |
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configuration Management |
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Cryptography |
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Exception Management |
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Input and Data Validation |
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Sensitive Data |
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Session Management |
|
Vulnerabilities Organized by the Security Frame
You can also use the Security Frame to identify common mistakes that lead to the security problems above. Here’s a list of common design mistakes we find in applications:
Category | Vulnerabilities |
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Auditing and Logging |
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Authentication |
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Authorization |
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Configuration Management |
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Crytpography |
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Exception Management |
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Input and Data Validation |
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Sensitive Data |
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Session Management |
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Countermeasures Organized by the Security Frame
Here’s a list of common design strategies that lead to improved security:
Category | Countermeasures |
---|---|
Auditing and Logging |
|
Authentication |
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Authorization |
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Configuration Management |
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Configuration Management |
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Cryptography |
|
Exception Management |
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Input and Data Validation |
|
Sensitive Data |
|
Session Management |
|
[…] make the principles more useful, we organized them using our Security Frame. Our Security Frame is a set of actionable, relevant categories that shape your key […]