OWASP / OWASP/ASVS

Clarification: 1.2.8 LaTeX

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2) Awaiting response V1 (prev V5)
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Description

1.2.8 Verify that LaTeX processors are configured securely (such as not using the “– shell‑escape”flag) and an allowlist of commands is used to prevent LaTeX injection attacks.

  • An allowlist of LaTeX commands alone isn’t enough to prevent injection attacks, it can create a false sense of security. Also, sandboxing, which is a critical defense, isn’t mentioned in the requirement and I would recommend.
  • If user input isn’t properly sanitized before processing, even allowed commands could be misused in unexpected ways. The current requirement doesn’t mention important terms input sanitization, restricted execution modes, or package control.
  • Would it also make sense to cover DoS (Denial of Service) attacks here, or should that be addressed in a separate requirement?

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Research direction

Start with the raw Markdown source for requirement 1.2.8 in the 5.0 version, rather than derived CSV, JSON, XLSX, PDF, or DOCX files. Review the existing wording against the concerns about sandboxing, input sanitization, restricted execution, package control, and denial of service. Done requires an agreed scope and finalized requirement wording.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
latex
Domain
documentation, security
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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