ece517-p3/expertiza

class SuperAdministrator < User

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

class SurveyDeployment < ActiveRecord::Base

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

  get ':controller(/:action(/:id))(.:format)'

Close

The general default routes warning means there is a call to

#Rails 2.x
map.connect ":controller/:action/:id"

or

Rails 3.x
match ':controller(/:action(/:id(.:format)))'

in config/routes.rb. This allows any public method on any controller to be called as an action.

If this warning is reported for a particular controller, it means there is a route to that controller containing :action.

Default routes can be dangerous if methods are made public which are not intended to be used as URLs or actions.

    @assignment = Assignment.new(args[:assignment])

Close

Mass assignment is a feature of Rails which allows an application to create a record from the values of a hash.

Example:

User.new(params[:user])

Unfortunately, if there is a user field called admin which controls administrator access, now any user can make themselves an administrator.

attr_accessible and attr_protected can be used to limit mass assignment. However, Brakeman will warn unless attr_accessible is used, or mass assignment is completely disabled.

There are two different mass assignment warnings which can arise. The first is when mass assignment actually occurs, such as the example above. This results in a warning like

Unprotected mass assignment near line 61: User.new(params[:user])

The other warning is raised whenever a model is found which does not use attr_accessible. This produces generic warnings like

Mass assignment is not restricted using attr_accessible

with a list of affected models.

In Rails 3.1 and newer, mass assignment can easily be disabled:

config.active_record.whitelist_attributes = true

Unfortunately, it can also easily be bypassed:

User.new(params[:user], :without_protection => true)

Brakeman will warn on uses of without_protection.

    if @site_controller.update_attributes(params[:site_controller])

Close

Mass assignment is a feature of Rails which allows an application to create a record from the values of a hash.

Example:

User.new(params[:user])

Unfortunately, if there is a user field called admin which controls administrator access, now any user can make themselves an administrator.

attr_accessible and attr_protected can be used to limit mass assignment. However, Brakeman will warn unless attr_accessible is used, or mass assignment is completely disabled.

There are two different mass assignment warnings which can arise. The first is when mass assignment actually occurs, such as the example above. This results in a warning like

Unprotected mass assignment near line 61: User.new(params[:user])

The other warning is raised whenever a model is found which does not use attr_accessible. This produces generic warnings like

Mass assignment is not restricted using attr_accessible

with a list of affected models.

In Rails 3.1 and newer, mass assignment can easily be disabled:

config.active_record.whitelist_attributes = true

Unfortunately, it can also easily be bypassed:

User.new(params[:user], :without_protection => true)

Brakeman will warn on uses of without_protection.

            <%= display_directory_tree(participant, files, true).html_safe if files and files.length > 0 %>

Close

Cross-site scripting (or XSS) is #3 on the 2013 [OWASP Top Ten](https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Top_10_2013-A3-Cross-Site_Scripting_(XSS\)) web security risks and it pops up nearly everywhere.

XSS occurs when a user-controlled value is displayed on a web page without properly escaping it, allowing someone to inject Javascript or HTML into the page which will be interpreted and executed by the browser..

In Rails 2.x, values need to be explicitly escaped (e.g., by using the h method). Since Rails 3.x, auto-escaping in views is enabled by default. However, one can still use the raw or html_safe methods to output a value directly.

See the Ruby Security Guide for more details.

Query Parameters and Cookies

ERB example:

<%= params[:query].html_safe %>

Brakeman looks for several situations that can allow XSS. The simplest is like the example above: a value from the params or cookies is being directly output to a view. In such cases, it will issue a warning like:

Unescaped parameter value near line 3: params[:query]

By default, Brakeman will also warn when a parameter or cookie value is used as an argument to a method, the result of which is output unescaped to a view.

For example:

<%= raw some_method(cookie[:name]) %>

This raises a warning like:

Unescaped cookie value near line 5: some_method(cookies[:oreo])

However, the confidence level for this warning will be weak, because it is not directly outputting the cookie value.

Some methods are known to Brakeman to either be dangerous (link_to is one) or safe (escape_once). Users can specify safe methods using the --safe-methods option. Alternatively, Brakeman can be set to only warn when values are used directly with the --report-direct option.

Model Attributes

Because (many) models come from database values, Brakeman mistrusts them by default.

For example, if @user is an instance of a model set in an action like

def set_user
  @user = User.first
end

and there is a view with

<%= @user.name.html_safe %>

Brakeman will raise a warning like

Unescaped model attribute near line 3: User.first.name

If you trust all your data (although you probably shouldn't), this can be disabled with --ignore-model-output.

      <%= @expected_fields.html_safe unless @expected_fields.nil? %>

Close

Cross-site scripting (or XSS) is #3 on the 2013 [OWASP Top Ten](https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Top_10_2013-A3-Cross-Site_Scripting_(XSS\)) web security risks and it pops up nearly everywhere.

XSS occurs when a user-controlled value is displayed on a web page without properly escaping it, allowing someone to inject Javascript or HTML into the page which will be interpreted and executed by the browser..

In Rails 2.x, values need to be explicitly escaped (e.g., by using the h method). Since Rails 3.x, auto-escaping in views is enabled by default. However, one can still use the raw or html_safe methods to output a value directly.

See the Ruby Security Guide for more details.

Query Parameters and Cookies

ERB example:

<%= params[:query].html_safe %>

Brakeman looks for several situations that can allow XSS. The simplest is like the example above: a value from the params or cookies is being directly output to a view. In such cases, it will issue a warning like:

Unescaped parameter value near line 3: params[:query]

By default, Brakeman will also warn when a parameter or cookie value is used as an argument to a method, the result of which is output unescaped to a view.

For example:

<%= raw some_method(cookie[:name]) %>

This raises a warning like:

Unescaped cookie value near line 5: some_method(cookies[:oreo])

However, the confidence level for this warning will be weak, because it is not directly outputting the cookie value.

Some methods are known to Brakeman to either be dangerous (link_to is one) or safe (escape_once). Users can specify safe methods using the --safe-methods option. Alternatively, Brakeman can be set to only warn when values are used directly with the --report-direct option.

Model Attributes

Because (many) models come from database values, Brakeman mistrusts them by default.

For example, if @user is an instance of a model set in an action like

def set_user
  @user = User.first
end

and there is a view with

<%= @user.name.html_safe %>

Brakeman will raise a warning like

Unescaped model attribute near line 3: User.first.name

If you trust all your data (although you probably shouldn't), this can be disabled with --ignore-model-output.

class TeamsUser < ActiveRecord::Base

Close

Mass assignment is a feature of Rails which allows an application to create a record from the values of a hash.

Example:

User.new(params[:user])

Unfortunately, if there is a user field called admin which controls administrator access, now any user can make themselves an administrator.

attr_accessible and attr_protected can be used to limit mass assignment. However, Brakeman will warn unless attr_accessible is used, or mass assignment is completely disabled.

There are two different mass assignment warnings which can arise. The first is when mass assignment actually occurs, such as the example above. This results in a warning like

Unprotected mass assignment near line 61: User.new(params[:user])

The other warning is raised whenever a model is found which does not use attr_accessible. This produces generic warnings like

Mass assignment is not restricted using attr_accessible

with a list of affected models.

In Rails 3.1 and newer, mass assignment can easily be disabled:

config.active_record.whitelist_attributes = true

Unfortunately, it can also easily be bypassed:

User.new(params[:user], :without_protection => true)

Brakeman will warn on uses of without_protection.

class Bookmark < ActiveRecord::Base

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

class ControllerAction < ActiveRecord::Base

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

class CourseSurveyDeployment < SurveyDeployment

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

class DeadlineRight < ActiveRecord::Base

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

class GlobalSurveyQuestionnaire < SurveyQuestionnaire

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

class MetareviewResponseMap < ResponseMap

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

class QuestionAdvice < ActiveRecord::Base

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

class QuizQuestion < Question

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

class ReviewCommentPasteBin < ActiveRecord::Base

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

class Rubric < Questionnaire

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

class Scale < ScoredQuestion

Close

This warning comes up if a model does not limit what attributes can be set through mass assignment.

In particular, this check looks for attr_accessible inside model definitions. If it is not found, this warning will be issued.

Brakeman also warns on use of attr_protected - especially since it was found to be vulnerable to bypass. Warnings for mass assignment on models using attr_protected will be reported, but at a lower confidence level.

Note that disabling mass assignment globally will suppress these warnings.

      @menu_item = MenuItem.new(menu_item_params)

Close

Mass assignment is a feature of Rails which allows an application to create a record from the values of a hash.

Example:

User.new(params[:user])

Unfortunately, if there is a user field called admin which controls administrator access, now any user can make themselves an administrator.

attr_accessible and attr_protected can be used to limit mass assignment. However, Brakeman will warn unless attr_accessible is used, or mass assignment is completely disabled.

There are two different mass assignment warnings which can arise. The first is when mass assignment actually occurs, such as the example above. This results in a warning like

Unprotected mass assignment near line 61: User.new(params[:user])

The other warning is raised whenever a model is found which does not use attr_accessible. This produces generic warnings like

Mass assignment is not restricted using attr_accessible

with a list of affected models.

In Rails 3.1 and newer, mass assignment can easily be disabled:

config.active_record.whitelist_attributes = true

Unfortunately, it can also easily be bypassed:

User.new(params[:user], :without_protection => true)

Brakeman will warn on uses of without_protection.