web commit by joey

[ikiwiki.git] / doc / security.mdwn

diff --git a/doc/security.mdwn b/doc/security.mdwn
index bc5e318c9e900ad649e5cab22357ba21bc366786..3c85f57de39d8a8aadf5bf7d3823556506c5737b 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/security.mdwn
+++ b/doc/security.mdwn
@@ -8,29 +8,38 @@ to be kept in mind.
 
 # Probable holes
 
 
 # Probable holes
 

-## html attacks
+## XSS holes in CGI output

 
 

-ikiwiki does not attempt to do any santization of the html on the wiki.
-[[MarkDown]] allows embedding of arbitrary html into a markdown document. If
-you let anyone else edit files on the wiki, then anyone can have fun exploiting
-the web browser bug of the day. This type of attack is typically referred
-to as an XSS attack ([google](http://www.google.com/search?q=xss+attack)).
+ikiwiki has not yet been audited to ensure that all cgi script input/output is
+sanitised to prevent XSS attacks.

 
 

-## image files etc attacks
+## image file etc attacks

 
 If it enounters a file type it does not understand, ikiwiki just copies it
 into place. So if you let users add any kind of file they like, they can
 
 If it enounters a file type it does not understand, ikiwiki just copies it
 into place. So if you let users add any kind of file they like, they can

-upload images, movies, windows executables, css files, etc. If these files
-exploit security holes in the browser of someone who's viewing the wiki,
-that can be a security problem.
+upload images, movies, windows executables, css files, etc (though not html
+files). If these files exploit security holes in the browser of someone
+who's viewing the wiki, that can be a security problem.

 
 Of course nobody else seems to worry about this in other wikis, so should we?
 
 
 Of course nobody else seems to worry about this in other wikis, so should we?
 

-## web server attacks
+## svn commit logs

 
 

-If your web server does any parsing of special sorts of files (for example,
-server parsed html files), then if you let anyone else add files to the wiki,
-they can try to use this to exploit your web server.
+Anyone with svn commit access can forge "web commit from foo" and make it
+appear on [[RecentChanges]] like foo committed. One way to avoid this would
+be to limit web commits to those done by a certian user.
+
+It's actually possible to force a whole series of svn commits to appear to
+have come just before yours, by forging svn log output. This could be
+guarded against by using svn log --xml.
+
+ikiwiki escapes any html in svn commit logs to prevent other mischief.
+
+----
+
+# Potential gotchas
+
+Things not to do.

 
 ## multiple accessors of wiki directory
 
 
 ## multiple accessors of wiki directory
 


@@ -46,18 +55,6 @@ Setup files are not safe to keep in subversion with the rest of the wiki.
 Just don't do it. [[ikiwiki.setup]] is *not* used as the setup file for
 this wiki, BTW.
 
 Just don't do it. [[ikiwiki.setup]] is *not* used as the setup file for
 this wiki, BTW.
 

-## svn commit logs
-
-Anyone with svn commit access can forge "web commit from foo" and make it
-appear on [[RecentChanges]] like foo committed. One way to avoid this would
-be to limit web commits to those done by a certian user.
-
-It's actually possible to force a whole series of svn commits to appear to
-have come just before yours, by forging svn log output. This could be
-guarded against by using svn log --xml.
-
-ikiwiki escapes any html in svn commit logs to prevent other mischief.
-

 ## page locking can be bypassed via direct svn commits
 
 A [[lock]]ed page can only be edited on the web by an admin, but
 ## page locking can be bypassed via direct svn commits
 
 A [[lock]]ed page can only be edited on the web by an admin, but


@@ -65,6 +62,12 @@ anyone who is allowed to commit direct to svn can bypass this. This is by
 design, although a subversion pre-commit hook could be used to prevent
 editing of locked pages when using subversion, if you really need to.
 
 design, although a subversion pre-commit hook could be used to prevent
 editing of locked pages when using subversion, if you really need to.
 

+## web server attacks
+
+If your web server does any parsing of special sorts of files (for example,
+server parsed html files), then if you let anyone else add files to the wiki,
+they can try to use this to exploit your web server.
+

 ----
 
 # Hopefully non-holes
 ----
 
 # Hopefully non-holes


@@ -193,3 +196,7 @@ would still be possible to use this attack to confuse ikiwiki into
 rendering the wrong thing. This is not currently possible, but must be kept
 in mind in the future when for example adding support for generating html
 pages from source with some other extension.
 rendering the wrong thing. This is not currently possible, but must be kept
 in mind in the future when for example adding support for generating html
 pages from source with some other extension.

+
+## XSS attacks in page content
+
+ikiwiki supports [[HtmlSanitistion]], though it can be turned off.