nodeSolidServer / nodeSolidServer/node-solid-server
Information exposure through Link header by guessing an allocated URI
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- JavaScript
- Stars
- 1.8k
- Forks
- 308
- PR merge metrics
- No merged PRs in 30d
Description
NSS responds to unauthenticated and unauthorized GET requests to /foo/bar (that exists) by including the HTTP header:
Link: <bar.acl>; rel="acl", <bar.meta> rel="describedBy", <http://www.w3.org/ns/ldp#Resource>; rel="type"
For GET requests to non-existing resources eg. /foo/baz, the response doesn't include the HTTP Link header.
Thus, the security consideration: existence of a resource can potentially be known by guessing or anticipating an allocated URI.
There are use cases where the server may want to reveal the information in the Link header in the response. If the server doesn't make the distinction between intentionally revealing and unintentionally exposing, the server is encouraged to minimize information leaking. So, in the case here, it should be consistent by omitting the Link header for unauthenticated and unauthorized requests.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Trace the GET request handling and Link-header generation for existing versus missing paths. Compare unauthenticated and unauthorized requests to /foo/bar and /foo/baz; done means the Link header is consistently absent for those denied requests, with intended disclosure behavior covered by tests.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- javascript
- Domain
- backend, security
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 38/100