WebApp Sec mailing list archives

Re: securing a deliberately vulnerable web app


From: Robin Wood <robin () digininja org>
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 22:35:34 +0100

On 5 July 2011 22:32, Charlie Belmer <charlie.belmer () gmail com> wrote:
Hi Robin,

A couple of suggestions:

Definitely VM it and roll it back frequently. You might want a list of
warnings to watch for, like someone trying to install root kits or run
certain shell commands, at which point it could trigger a roll back to
remove any custom malicious software.
Don't allow any connections out from the server, aside from the HTTP (or
whatever) connections initiated by the web browsers. this goes a long way to
preventing pivot attacks.(would have to be an external firewall device)
Make sure permissions on the web user are extremely low.
Use a bare bones server image - strip out anything unnecessary from the
image which isn't required for your service. Especially things like
compilers and libraries not used by your app.
A lot of the test/practice apps just simulate security vulnerabilities to
prevent this kind of thing - see
http://zero.webappsecurity.com/rootlogin.asp.bak as case in point (which
itself seems to be a security flaw..)

I am sure there is more you can do, but this is what I could quickly come up
with.


Thanks for the ideas.

Robin

Charlie
https://www.golemtechnologies.com

On Sun, Jul 3, 2011 at 6:51 PM, Robin Wood <robin () digininja org> wrote:

This is a question for anyone who runs a deliberately vulnerable web
app on a public facing site to allow people to test hacking it or to
test vulnerability scanners against it. I'm thinking of things like
http://test.acunetix.com/ .

What I'd like to know is how you go about securing the box the sites
are running on. Obviously you need the site running on its own server,
preferably airgapped from the rest of your network but how do you
protect yourself from attackers getting on the box then pivoting from
it to do a real attack to someone else? I'm guessing it is something
like a VM that is automatically rolled back periodically so even if
someone tries then they only have a limited attack window but are
there any other things people do?

I'm asking because I've got an idea for a new public service which
would involve putting up an app that is vulnerable but I'd like to
make sure that if I do I protect myself as much as possible.

Robin



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Request Yours Now! 
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