Hello Thomas,

[email protected] schrieb am Samstag, 12. März 2022 um 23:00:34 UTC+1:

> Since we are looking at getting Leo to work with files on a remote 
> computer, we should discuss the security aspect.  I think there are 
> basically two kinds of things we'd like to prevent.  My terminology here is 
> that the "host" computer is the one that contains a Leo file that we'd like 
> to work on in an instance of Leo running on a different computer;  The 
> "remote" computer is the one where we want to be able have Leo open that 
> host file.
>
> 1) Exfiltration of arbitrary files from the host computer.  We don't want 
> someone to use our host's leoserver to retrieve any arbitrary file by 
> pretending to be a remote Leo instance.
>
> 2) Replacement or corruption of arbitrary files - or even just Leo files - 
> on the host computer.
>
> Now, I realize that I've been picturing this remote usage as being 
> entirely within the local LAN, and even then you'd have to get the firewall 
> on the host machine to let our webchannel connections through.  Even so, I 
> think we should be thinking about the issues.
>

Definitely it should be done now / in parallel - and - not as an 
afterthought.
 

>
> I don't have a general solution to suggest here.  And I don't know much 
> about how the Windows firewall can be configured (not for Linux, either, 
> but I think at least there one can do almost anything).  But here are some 
> measures that could be done, probably for not too much effort:
>
> a. Get the firewall to only allow connections from the one specific 
> IP:port combination you want to use for the remote computer;
> b. Have leoserver only send and receive Leo outlines;
>     b1.  Have leoserver validate that a file really is a proper Leo file;
> c. Have leoserver only save files from the remote that it had previously 
> sent to the remote.
> d. Have leoserver only send and receive files that have been specified in 
> a config file.
>

I think those are the bare minimal measures to get the implementation 
started - and - are needed as soon as leo-client 'leaves' localhost in real 
life usage.

I believe that transport layer security (e.g. support & usage of wss:// 
instead of only ws://) - as well as - proper authentication (e.g. login (w/ 
2FA?)) should be taken into account as well.

IMO both authentication & encryption should be made available, at least as 
opt-in extensions, for the leo-server environment on the host machine.
 

> Yes, it's true, someone could modify the leoserver python file to get 
> around these kinds of restrictions.  But to do that, they would have to 
> have local access already, and if that is the case they would already be 
> able to drop or retrieve any files they want anywhere on the machine.  So I 
> don't think we need to worry much about this particular possibility.
>

Agreed.

Looking forward to hear what Edward & Felix think about this topic.

With kind regards,

Viktor

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