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diff --git a/guides/source/security.md b/guides/source/security.md index 7e39986f8b..125dd82666 100644 --- a/guides/source/security.md +++ b/guides/source/security.md @@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ The Gartner Group however estimates that 75% of attacks are at the web applicati The threats against web applications include user account hijacking, bypass of access control, reading or modifying sensitive data, or presenting fraudulent content. Or an attacker might be able to install a Trojan horse program or unsolicited e-mail sending software, aim at financial enrichment or cause brand name damage by modifying company resources. In order to prevent attacks, minimize their impact and remove points of attack, first of all, you have to fully understand the attack methods in order to find the correct countermeasures. That is what this guide aims at. -In order to develop secure web applications you have to keep up to date on all layers and know your enemies. To keep up to date subscribe to security mailing lists, read security blogs and make updating and security checks a habit (check the <a href="#additional-resources">Additional Resources</a> chapter). It is done manually because that's how you find the nasty logical security problems. +In order to develop secure web applications you have to keep up to date on all layers and know your enemies. To keep up to date subscribe to security mailing lists, read security blogs and make updating and security checks a habit (check the [Additional Resources](#additional-resources) chapter). It is done manually because that's how you find the nasty logical security problems. Sessions -------- @@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ Hence, the cookie serves as temporary authentication for the web application. An * Most people don't clear out the cookies after working at a public terminal. So if the last user didn't log out of a web application, you would be able to use it as this user. Provide the user with a _log-out button_ in the web application, and _make it prominent_. -* Many cross-site scripting (XSS) exploits aim at obtaining the user's cookie. You'll read <a href="#cross-site-scripting-xss">more about XSS</a> later. +* Many cross-site scripting (XSS) exploits aim at obtaining the user's cookie. You'll read [more about XSS](#cross-site-scripting-xss) later. * Instead of stealing a cookie unknown to the attacker, they fix a user's session identifier (in the cookie) known to them. Read more about this so-called session fixation later. @@ -118,9 +118,9 @@ It works like this: * A user receives credits, the amount is stored in a session (which is a bad idea anyway, but we'll do this for demonstration purposes). * The user buys something. -* Their new, lower credit will be stored in the session. -* The dark side of the user forces them to take the cookie from the first step (which they copied) and replace the current cookie in the browser. -* The user has their credit back. +* The new adjusted credit value is stored in the session. +* The user takes the cookie from the first step (which they previously copied) and replaces the current cookie in the browser. +* The user has their original credit back. Including a nonce (a random value) in the session solves replay attacks. A nonce is valid only once, and the server has to keep track of all the valid nonces. It gets even more complicated if you have several application servers (mongrels). Storing nonces in a database table would defeat the entire purpose of CookieStore (avoiding accessing the database). @@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ This attack method works by including malicious code or a link in a page that ac  -In the <a href="#sessions">session chapter</a> you have learned that most Rails applications use cookie-based sessions. Either they store the session id in the cookie and have a server-side session hash, or the entire session hash is on the client-side. In either case the browser will automatically send along the cookie on every request to a domain, if it can find a cookie for that domain. The controversial point is, that it will also send the cookie, if the request comes from a site of a different domain. Let's start with an example: +In the [session chapter](#sessions) you have learned that most Rails applications use cookie-based sessions. Either they store the session id in the cookie and have a server-side session hash, or the entire session hash is on the client-side. In either case the browser will automatically send along the cookie on every request to a domain, if it can find a cookie for that domain. The controversial point is, that it will also send the cookie, if the request comes from a site of a different domain. Let's start with an example: * Bob browses a message board and views a post from a hacker where there is a crafted HTML image element. The element references a command in Bob's project management application, rather than an image file. * `<img src="http://www.webapp.com/project/1/destroy">` @@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ end The above method can be placed in the `ApplicationController` and will be called when a CSRF token is not present or is incorrect on a non-GET request. -Note that _cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities bypass all CSRF protections_. XSS gives the attacker access to all elements on a page, so they can read the CSRF security token from a form or directly submit the form. Read <a href="#cross-site-scripting-xss">more about XSS</a> later. +Note that _cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities bypass all CSRF protections_. XSS gives the attacker access to all elements on a page, so they can read the CSRF security token from a form or directly submit the form. Read [more about XSS](#cross-site-scripting-xss) later. Redirection and Files --------------------- @@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ config.filter_parameters << :password INFO: _Do you find it hard to remember all your passwords? Don't write them down, but use the initial letters of each word in an easy to remember sentence._ -Bruce Schneier, a security technologist, [has analyzed](http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/12/realworld_passw.html) 34,000 real-world user names and passwords from the MySpace phishing attack mentioned <a href="#examples-from-the-underground">below</a>. It turns out that most of the passwords are quite easy to crack. The 20 most common passwords are: +Bruce Schneier, a security technologist, [has analyzed](http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/12/realworld_passw.html) 34,000 real-world user names and passwords from the MySpace phishing attack mentioned [below](#examples-from-the-underground). It turns out that most of the passwords are quite easy to crack. The 20 most common passwords are: password1, abc123, myspace1, password, blink182, qwerty1, ****you, 123abc, baseball1, football1, 123456, soccer, monkey1, liverpool1, princess1, jordan23, slipknot1, superman1, iloveyou1, and monkey. @@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ Also, the second query renames some columns with the AS statement so that the we #### Countermeasures -Ruby on Rails has a built-in filter for special SQL characters, which will escape ' , " , NULL character and line breaks. <em class="highlight">Using `Model.find(id)` or `Model.find_by_some thing(something)` automatically applies this countermeasure</em>. But in SQL fragments, especially <em class="highlight">in conditions fragments (`where("...")`), the `connection.execute()` or `Model.find_by_sql()` methods, it has to be applied manually</em>. +Ruby on Rails has a built-in filter for special SQL characters, which will escape ' , " , NULL character and line breaks. *Using `Model.find(id)` or `Model.find_by_some thing(something)` automatically applies this countermeasure*. But in SQL fragments, especially *in conditions fragments (`where("...")`), the `connection.execute()` or `Model.find_by_sql()` methods, it has to be applied manually*. Instead of passing a string to the conditions option, you can pass an array to sanitize tainted strings like this: @@ -847,7 +847,7 @@ It is recommended to _use RedCloth in combination with a whitelist input filter_ NOTE: _The same security precautions have to be taken for Ajax actions as for "normal" ones. There is at least one exception, however: The output has to be escaped in the controller already, if the action doesn't render a view._ -If you use the [in_place_editor plugin](http://dev.rubyonrails.org/browser/plugins/in_place_editing), or actions that return a string, rather than rendering a view, _you have to escape the return value in the action_. Otherwise, if the return value contains a XSS string, the malicious code will be executed upon return to the browser. Escape any input value using the h() method. +If you use the [in_place_editor plugin](https://rubygems.org/gems/in_place_editing), or actions that return a string, rather than rendering a view, _you have to escape the return value in the action_. Otherwise, if the return value contains a XSS string, the malicious code will be executed upon return to the browser. Escape any input value using the h() method. ### Command Line Injection |