Security Probe
PrakharSachan5342 opened this issue · comments
Description
Create a probe that assesses the security of plugins. This probe could check for vulnerabilities, open-source dependencies, and adherence to security best practices.
This is quite vague for a probe.
We already have a probe looking for the recommended Security check of plugins (https://www.jenkins.io/doc/developer/security/scan/).
We could had another which would validate that the latest commit on the default branch of the plugin repository has that check and that it's successful.
This is quite vague for a probe. We already have a probe looking for the recommended Security check of plugins (https://www.jenkins.io/doc/developer/security/scan/).
We could had another which would validate that the latest commit on the default branch of the plugin repository has that check and that it's successful.
----->While it's true that the Jenkins Security Scan tool performs recommended security checks, the "Security Probe" proposed here aims to complement these efforts in several ways:
1 - Integration with the Plugin Health Score: The "Security Probe" is designed to be part of a broader Plugin Health Score system, providing a holistic assessment of a plugin's health, including its security status.
2 - Additional Security Checks: It goes beyond known vulnerabilities and open-source dependencies by also assessing a plugin's adherence to security best practices. This includes examining code for common security flaws that may not be detected by generic static analysis tools.
3 - Automation of Security Checks: The "Security Probe" can automate the process of validating the latest commit on the default branch of the plugin repository, ensuring that recommended security checks are in place and are successful.
I believe that both the Jenkins Security Scan and the proposed "Security Probe" can work together to improve the overall security of plugins, ensuring that plugins are not only free from known vulnerabilities but also adhere to best practices. The combination of these tools can contribute.
Thanks for creating this issue, but could you please draft a concrete plan for how this proposed plugin can be implemented? It sounds on the surface very fancy but I do not see a lot of actionable details here.
Thanks for creating this issue, but could you please draft a concrete plan for how this proposed plugin can be implemented? It sounds on the surface very fancy but I do not see a lot of actionable details here.
--> Implementation Plan for the Security Probe:
1 - Data Collection:
The probe will need to collect data about plugins, including their code repositories, dependencies, and known security vulnerabilities.
2 - Integration with Existing Tools:
To detect vulnerabilities and known issues, the probe can integrate with existing security scanning tools and databases, such as the National Vulnerability Database (NVD), OWASP Dependency-Check, and GitHub's CodeQL, which is used for static analysis.
3 - Custom Security Rules:
Implement custom security rules based on best practices for secure coding, such as input validation, authentication, and authorization checks. These rules can be defined based on community standards and security guidelines.
4 - Scanning the Plugin Code:
The probe will scan the code of the plugins to identify potential security issues using the defined security rules. It can use pattern matching, static analysis, and other techniques to detect vulnerabilities.
5 - Checking Dependencies:
Assess the open-source dependencies used by the plugins for known vulnerabilities. If any known vulnerabilities are identified in these dependencies, the plugin can be flagged.
6 - Reporting and Alerting:
The probe will provide detailed reports on security issues, both to plugin maintainers and to users. This includes descriptions of the issues found, their severity, and recommendations for remediation.
7 - Interoperability with Plugin Repositories:
Ensure that the probe can be integrated with Jenkins plugin repositories or other plugin hosting platforms. This will allow for automated security checks when plugins are uploaded or updated.
Interaction with Existing Plugins:
The "Security Probe" is designed to work in conjunction with other probes within the Plugin Health Score tool. It does not replicate the functionality of existing security tools but adds an extra layer of security assessment to ensure that plugins adhere to best practices.
Thanks again for the ideas, but it appears these are more like high-level abstractions rather than concrete details. So these alone will not yield anything actionable.
@PrakharSachan5342 at this point, I'm not sure this is a effort to be done in PHS.
What you call "probe" here is not a small item and, as Kris said, it is really vague.
Few elements are clearly not possible, like, collecting undisclosed security issues. This is against the rules of the security project and I won't even try to think of starting that discussion with the security team.
Most of your ideas we are done by or concern https://github.com/jenkins-infra/jenkins-security-scan.
For now, I don't see any actionable items for the Plugin Health Scoring project, so I'm closing this issue.