This document outlines the comprehensive security measures implemented in the Rust CMS to protect against common web application vulnerabilities.

• bcrypt Password Hashing: Industry-standard bcrypt with automatic salt generation (OWASP compliant)
• Automatic Salt Generation: Each password gets cryptographically secure random salt
• Cost Factor: Uses bcrypt DEFAULT_COST (12) for optimal security/performance balance
• Session-based Authentication: Secure database-backed sessions with HMAC-signed tokens

• HTTPS Enforcement: Security headers middleware enforces HTTPS in production
• HSTS Headers: HTTP Strict Transport Security with 1-year max-age and includeSubDomains
• Security Headers: Comprehensive set of security headers including:
  • X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
  • X-Frame-Options: DENY
  • X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
  • Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin
  • Content-Security-Policy: Strict CSP with WASM support
  • Permissions-Policy: Restricts dangerous browser features

• Authentication Endpoints: 5 attempts per minute with burst of 10
• File Upload Endpoints: 10 uploads per minute with burst of 3
• IP-Based Limiting: Rate limits applied per IP address
• Future Enhancement: Ready for user-based rate limiting

• Environment-Aware: Development vs Production configurations
• Strict Origin Control: Only allows specific domains in production
• Credential Protection: Properly configured credential handling

• Magic Byte Validation: Verifies file content matches declared MIME type
• File Type Whitelist: Only allows safe file types (images, PDFs, text)
• Size Limits: Enforces maximum file size limits
• Filename Sanitization: Prevents directory traversal and malicious filenames
• Malicious Content Scanning: Detects embedded executables and scripts

• HTML Sanitization: Uses Ammonia library for safe HTML processing
• Text Escaping: HTML entity encoding for all user input
• Rich Content Support: Safe handling of rich text editor content
• URL Validation: Prevents javascript: and data: URI attacks
• SQL Injection Prevention: Basic protection against SQL injection patterns

• HMAC-Signed Tokens: Session tokens cryptographically signed with HMAC-SHA256
• Database-Backed Sessions: Server-side session storage with immediate revocation capability
• Role-Based Authentication: Strict admin role verification
• Session Expiration: Configurable session lifetimes with automatic cleanup
• Multi-Session Support: Controlled concurrent sessions per user
• Middleware Protection: All admin endpoints protected by authentication middleware
• Backward Compatibility: Supports both signed and unsigned tokens during transition

• Information Hiding: Generic error messages prevent information leakage
• Stack Trace Protection: No internal errors exposed to users
• Structured Logging: Secure logging without sensitive data exposure

• Issue: Diesel 1.4.8 has a binary protocol vulnerability (RUSTSEC-2024-0365)
• Status: Needs upgrade to Diesel >=2.2.3
• Impact: r2d2-diesel dependency chain needs updating

• Current: Default secrets in config.rs
• Required: External environment variable configuration
• Action: Rotate all default keys before production deployment

• Required: Encrypt backup files
• Required: Secure backup storage and access controls
• Required: Backup integrity verification

# Required: Change these defaults!
# Authentication uses secure session-based tokens (not JWTs)
SESSION_SECRET=your-super-secret-session-key-minimum-32-characters

# CORS Configuration
ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://yourdomain.com,https://www.yourdomain.com

# Rate Limiting
AUTH_RATE_LIMIT_PER_MINUTE=5
GENERAL_RATE_LIMIT_PER_MINUTE=60
UPLOAD_RATE_LIMIT_PER_MINUTE=10

# File Upload Security
MAX_FILE_SIZE=10485760
UPLOAD_DIR=./uploads

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/cms_db

• HTTPS: Deploy behind HTTPS-enabled reverse proxy (nginx, Cloudflare, etc.)
• Secrets: Rotate all default session secrets
• CORS: Update allowed origins to production domains only
• Database: Use production database with restricted access
• File Storage: Configure secure file storage with proper permissions
• Monitoring: Set up security event logging and monitoring
• Backups: Implement encrypted backup strategy
• Updates: Keep all dependencies updated regularly

Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-Frame-Options: DENY
X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin
Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'wasm-unsafe-eval'; ...
Permissions-Policy: geolocation=(), microphone=(), camera=()

1. Authentication: Test rate limiting on login endpoint
2. File Upload: Test upload of various file types and malicious files
3. XSS: Test input fields with script injection attempts
4. CORS: Verify cross-origin requests from unauthorized domains are blocked

# Run security audit
cargo audit

# Test with security scanner
./scripts/security-scan.sh

# Load testing with rate limiting
./scripts/load-test-auth.sh

1. Detection: Monitor logs for suspicious activity
2. Isolation: Implement rate limiting and IP blocking
3. Investigation: Review security logs and access patterns
4. Recovery: Rotate compromised secrets if necessary
5. Prevention: Update security measures based on findings

• Weekly: Run cargo audit to check for new vulnerabilities
• Monthly: Review access logs for suspicious patterns
• Quarterly: Security audit and penetration testing
• Annually: Complete security review and policy updates

For security issues, please contact riverwalkit@proton.me

Do not report security vulnerabilities through public GitHub issues.