Examine Django Framework for least privilege design and implementation.
+The assessor attempted to access the admin panel while logged into the GoodRead + application as a PAO staff user. They were able to see the admin panel and directly + edit database records for the application using the Django Framework's admin panel.
+Test AwesomeCloud IAM Roles for least privilege design and implementation.
+The assessor's security automation platform analyzed all roles specific to the
+ GoodRead Product Team, not those managed by the Office of Information Technology.
+ The IFA-GoodRead-SystemEnginer role in their respective AwesomeCloud
+ account permitted use of the following high-risk actions.
Both of these actions are overly permissive and not appropriate for the business + function of the staff member assigned this role.
+A user with the privileges of a PAO staff user can exceed the intended privileges for + their related business function and directly edit the database for the GoodRead + application.
+An account without proper least privilege design and implementation can be used to + significantly damage links created by the tool for use by public citizens, + potentially causing a national outage. If an outage were to occur, IFA and + Government policy will require the CIO of the agency to notify the Department of + Homeland Security and the public.
+Such an event will cause significant financial and reputational risk to IFA's + Administrator, executive staff, and the agency overall.
+The GoodRead application is designed and implemented to only allow access to the + administrative functions for those with PAO staff fole via the VPN via network + configuration between the IFA Enterprise Support Systems and the GoodRead + AwesomeCloud account. Additionally, the load balanacer configuration only allows + access to view shortlinks from the public internet.
+The GoodRead Product Team does not have sufficient personnel and budget to + implement the required changes in their use of the Django Framework and its + configuration in this quarter. With the consultation of the ISSO and the + assessor, the owner of the GoodRead system has decided to accept this risk until + the end of December 2023. From September to December, budget will be available + for the Good Read Product Team's developer and system engineer to completely + disable the functionality that is the source of the risk and its originating + finding.
+The owner, ISSO, and product team of the GoodRead Project intend to complete + the necessary development between September 2023 and December 2023. Whether + or not the necessary development for remedation is complete, the product + team's project manager will submit the final annual report. They will + identify this work item and whether it has been completed.
+A user in the GoodRead cloud environment with the privileges of a system engineer can + exceed the intended privileges for their related business function. They can delete + all historical audit records and remove important security monitoring functions for + the IFA Security Operations Center staff.
+An account without proper least privilege design and implementation can be used to + surreptitiously add, change, or delete cloud infrastructure to the too managing all + links to IFA's communication to public citizens, potentially causing significant + harm with no forensic evidence to recover the system. Regardless of the extent and + duration of a potential incident, such a configuration greatly increases the risk of + an insider threat if there were likely to a potential insider threat in the GoodRead + Product Team.
+If such an insider threat existed and acted with this misconfigruatio, the resulting + event could cause significant financial and reputational risk to IFA's + Administrator, executive staff, and the agency overall.
+The GoodRead Product Team does not have siginficant mitigations or compensating + controls to counter this risk, even if likelihood is low. The IFA CISO has cited + ongoing guidance that potential insider threat risks be prioritized above + alternative categories of risk for this quarter. Additionally, there is + sufficient budget and unallocated time for the GoodRead and Office of + Information Technology system engineers to modify AwesomeCloud IAM roles on or + before the next continuous monitoring cycle beginning in July 2023. The planned + completion data is June 23, 2023.
+The owner, ISSO, and product team of the GoodRead Project intend to complete + the necessary development by June 23. 2023, the last day of the coinciding + sprint. Whether or not the necessary development for mitigation is complete, + the product team's project manager will write a brief at the end of the + sprint to thw owner and ISSO of this system with the final status and + determination of this work item in this sprint.
+Budget and technical staff are needed to re-design and re-implement a part of the + GoodRead application's use of a web appplication programming framework to mitigate + the risk of low privilege users directly modifying the database of this application. + This application is a high-visibility service and integral to future operations of + the IFA Office of Public Affairs and its staff.
+Budget and technical staff allocation are available and designated to fix a + misconfiguration of the IAM roles for members of the GoodRead Product Team in their + AwesomeCloud account to implement least privilege as designed.
+Examine Django Framework for least privilege design and implementation.
-The assessor attempted to access the admin panel while logged into the GoodRead application as a PAO staff user. They were able to see the admin panel and directly edit database records for the application using the Django Framework's admin panel.
-Test AwesomeCloud IAM Roles for least privilege design and implementation.
-The assessor's security automation platform analyzed all roles specific to the GoodRead Product Team, not those managed by the Office of Information Technology. The IFA-GoodRead-SystemEnginer role in their respective AwesomeCloud account permitted use of the following high-risk actions.
Both of these actions are overly permissive and not appropriate for the business function of the staff member assigned this role.
-A user with the privileges of a PAO staff user can exceed the intended privileges for their related business function and directly edit the database for the GoodRead application.
-An account without proper least privilege design and implementation can be used to significantly damage links created by the tool for use by public citizens, potentially causing a national outage. If an outage were to occur, IFA and Government policy will require the CIO of the agency to notify the Department of Homeland Security and the public.
-Such an event will cause significant financial and reputational risk to IFA's Administrator, executive staff, and the agency overall.
-The GoodRead application is designed and implemented to only allow access to the administrative functions for those with PAO staff fole via the VPN via network configuration between the IFA Enterprise Support Systems and the GoodRead AwesomeCloud account. Additionally, the load balanacer configuration only allows access to view shortlinks from the public internet.
-The GoodRead Product Team does not have sufficient personnel and budget to implement the required changes in their use of the Django Framework and its configuration in this quarter. With the consultation of the ISSO and the assessor, the owner of the GoodRead system has decided to accept this risk until the end of December 2023. From September to December, budget will be available for the Good Read Product Team's developer and system engineer to completely disable the functionality that is the source of the risk and its originating finding.
-The owner, ISSO, and product team of the GoodRead Project intend to complete the necessary development between September 2023 and December 2023. Whether or not the necessary development for remedation is complete, the product team's project manager will submit the final annual report. They will identify this work item and whether it has been completed.
-A user in the GoodRead cloud environment with the privileges of a system engineer can exceed the intended privileges for their related business function. They can delete all historical audit records and remove important security monitoring functions for the IFA Security Operations Center staff.
-An account without proper least privilege design and implementation can be used to surreptitiously add, change, or delete cloud infrastructure to the too managing all links to IFA's communication to public citizens, potentially causing significant harm with no forensic evidence to recover the system. Regardless of the extent and duration of a potential incident, such a configuration greatly increases the risk of an insider threat if there were likely to a potential insider threat in the GoodRead Product Team.
-If such an insider threat existed and acted with this misconfigruatio, the resulting event could cause significant financial and reputational risk to IFA's Administrator, executive staff, and the agency overall.
-The GoodRead Product Team does not have siginficant mitigations or compensating controls to counter this risk, even if likelihood is low. The IFA CISO has cited ongoing guidance that potential insider threat risks be prioritized above alternative categories of risk for this quarter. Additionally, there is sufficient budget and unallocated time for the GoodRead and Office of Information Technology system engineers to modify AwesomeCloud IAM roles on or before the next continuous monitoring cycle beginning in July 2023. The planned completion data is June 23, 2023.
-The owner, ISSO, and product team of the GoodRead Project intend to complete the necessary development by June 23. 2023, the last day of the coinciding sprint. Whether or not the necessary development for mitigation is complete, the product team's project manager will write a brief at the end of the sprint to thw owner and ISSO of this system with the final status and determination of this work item in this sprint.
-Budget and technical staff are needed to re-design and re-implement a part of the GoodRead application's use of a web appplication programming framework to mitigate the risk of low privilege users directly modifying the database of this application. This application is a high-visibility service and integral to future operations of the IFA Office of Public Affairs and its staff.
-Budget and technical staff allocation are available and designated to fix a misconfiguration of the IAM roles for members of the GoodRead Product Team in their AwesomeCloud account to implement least privilege as designed.
-This section describes an attached diagram of the authorization boundary for IFA GoodRead Project's information system.
+This section describes an attached diagram of the authorization boundary for IFA + GoodRead Project's information system.
This section describes an attached diagram of the network architecture for IFA GoodRead Project's information system.
-This section describes an attached diagram of the network architecture for IFA + GoodRead Project's information system.
+This section describes an attached diagram of various dataflows for application and related elements of the IFA GoodRead Project's information system.
-This section describes an attached diagram of various dataflows for application + and related elements of the IFA GoodRead Project's information system.
+The developer of the application supports IFA Public Affairs Officers by administering the application and its infrastructure.
+The developer of the application supports IFA Public Affairs Officers by + administering the application and its infrastructure.
IFA Public Affairs Officers (PAOs) in each division of the agency review public communications to citizens who are customers of the IFA. PAOs review requests from colleagues to generate and publish content that is the target of a shortlink and can unpublish shortlinks.
+IFA Public Affairs Officers (PAOs) in each division of the agency review public + communications to citizens who are customers of the IFA. PAOs review requests + from colleagues to generate and publish content that is the target of a + shortlink and can unpublish shortlinks.
IFA develops, operates, and maintains the GoodRead link shortener system to
This is the custom GoodRead application within the system.
This is the web application framework upon which the developer writes the custom GoodRead application for the user interface and API of this system.
+This is the web application framework upon which the developer writes the custom + GoodRead application for the user interface and API of this system.
This is the database for the custom GoodRead application within the system.
This is the operating system for the web server that runs the custom GoodRead application within the system.
+This is the operating system for the web server that runs the custom GoodRead + application within the system.
This inventory item is an instance from the AwesomeCloud Awesome Compute Service (ACS) Service. It is a Linux server.
+This inventory item is an instance from the AwesomeCloud Awesome Compute Service + (ACS) Service. It is a Linux server.
This inventory item is an instance from the AwesomeCloud Awesome Load Balancer (ALB) Service. It is a Linux server.
+This inventory item is an instance from the AwesomeCloud Awesome Load Balancer + (ALB) Service. It is a Linux server.
This is the control implementation for the application and infrastructure that compose to the IFA GoodRead Project's system.
+This is the control implementation for the application and infrastructure that + compose to the IFA GoodRead Project's system.
The IFA GoodRead application and infrastructure are composed as designed and implemented with lease privilege for the elements of this system.
-For the IFA GoodRead application, the custom application is designed and implemented on top of the Django Framework to enforce least privilege. The application has a role for IFA Public Affairs Officers and one for the developers for privileged permissions, respectively. Only the latter can access or change administrative and security configurations and related data.
-The Django Framework and Django REST Framework (DRF), by default, allows any user with the is_staff role attribute to access administrative functions in an application using the framework. IFA GoodRead developers have disabled this behavior, relying on the custom roles identified in the relevant section.
For the IFA GoodRead database, the system account and accredentials for the application to read and write to the system datastore has specific read and write authorization for specific tables. This database service account does not have full administrative permissions to add, modify, or delete all respective tables. For the production environment, only the IFA GoodRead developer has a dedicated account with equivalent permissions. Only local network socket access, within in the Linux server, is permitted by host firewall configuration. Remote access, privileged or unprivileged, is not allowed remotely and the system engineer must locally authenticate for access.
-For the RedHat Linux server upon which the IFA GoodRead application is deployed in this system, only the system engineer has a non-privileged user to log in remotely via the SSH protocol to perform ad-hoc inspection, monthly log review as required by policy and procedure, and emergency debugging of the system. Privileged system administration operations may only be performed with the sudo subsystem which requires a password, two-factor authentication, and has enhanced logging of all commands executed. The system engineer must log in remotely and then use sudo to elevate privileges. Remote access with the privileged account is prohibited by configuration and attempts are logged.
For this remote SSH access, least privilege is additionally enforced by allowing this access via a specific network zone in the IFA GoodRead AwesomeCloud account accessible to only the system engineer via IFA's VPN solution, which requires the system engineer use a dedicated account with their own password and two-factor authentication token.
-For cloud account and API access to reconfigure the Linux server and its load balancer, administrative access is only allowed for the system engineer via a special AwesomeCloud IAM role. The authentication and authorization for this role is controlled by an integration with the organization's single sign-on solution. This solution will only be accessible and correctly execute for them when they are on the VPN with their account with traffic forwarded to the appropriate network zone in the IFA GoodRead account in AwesomeCloud. It will not work the developer or any staff users of the application.
-The IFA GoodRead application and infrastructure are composed as designed and + implemented with lease privilege for the elements of this system.
+For the IFA GoodRead application, the custom application is designed and + implemented on top of the Django Framework to enforce least privilege. The + application has a role for IFA Public Affairs Officers and one for the + developers for privileged permissions, respectively. Only the latter can + access or change administrative and security configurations and related + data.
+The Django Framework and Django REST Framework (DRF), by default, allows any
+ user with the is_staff role attribute to access administrative
+ functions in an application using the framework. IFA GoodRead developers
+ have disabled this behavior, relying on the custom roles identified in the
+ relevant section.
For the IFA GoodRead database, the system account and accredentials for the + application to read and write to the system datastore has specific read and + write authorization for specific tables. This database service account does + not have full administrative permissions to add, modify, or delete all + respective tables. For the production environment, only the IFA GoodRead + developer has a dedicated account with equivalent permissions. Only local + network socket access, within in the Linux server, is permitted by host + firewall configuration. Remote access, privileged or unprivileged, is not + allowed remotely and the system engineer must locally authenticate for + access.
+For the RedHat Linux server upon which the IFA GoodRead application is
+ deployed in this system, only the system engineer has a non-privileged user
+ to log in remotely via the SSH protocol to perform ad-hoc inspection,
+ monthly log review as required by policy and procedure, and emergency
+ debugging of the system. Privileged system administration operations may
+ only be performed with the sudo subsystem which requires a
+ password, two-factor authentication, and has enhanced logging of all
+ commands executed. The system engineer must log in remotely and then use
+ sudo to elevate privileges. Remote access with the privileged account
+ is prohibited by configuration and attempts are logged.
For this remote SSH access, least privilege is additionally enforced by + allowing this access via a specific network zone in the IFA GoodRead + AwesomeCloud account accessible to only the system engineer via IFA's VPN + solution, which requires the system engineer use a dedicated account with + their own password and two-factor authentication token.
+For cloud account and API access to reconfigure the Linux server and its load + balancer, administrative access is only allowed for the system engineer via + a special AwesomeCloud IAM role. The authentication and authorization for + this role is controlled by an integration with the organization's single + sign-on solution. This solution will only be accessible and correctly + execute for them when they are on the VPN with their account with traffic + forwarded to the appropriate network zone in the IFA GoodRead account in + AwesomeCloud. It will not work the developer or any staff users of the + application.
+ +