Phishing - Go

Need

Enhanced protection against phishing attacks

Context

1. Usage of Go 1.16 for building efficient and scalable applications
2. Usage of gin-gonic/gin for building web applications in Go

Description

Insecure Code Example

package main

import (
	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
)

func main() {
	r := gin.Default()

	r.POST("/login", func(c *gin.Context) {
		var loginInfo Login
		if err := c.ShouldBindJSON(&loginInfo); err != nil {
			c.JSON(400, gin.H{"message": "Bad request"})
			return
		}

		// Authenticate user
		isAuthenticated := authenticateUser(loginInfo)
		if !isAuthenticated {
			c.JSON(401, gin.H{"message": "Unauthorized"})
			return
		}

		c.JSON(200, gin.H{"message": "Login successful"})
	})
	r.Run()
}

type Login struct {
	Email    string `json:"email"`
	Password string `json:"password"`
}

func authenticateUser(login Login) bool {
	// Simulate user authentication
	return login.Email == "user@example.com" && login.Password == "password"
}

This code represents a simple login endpoint in a Go application using the Gin framework. The `/login` route accepts POST requests with a JSON body containing `email` and `password` fields. This data is unmarshalled into a `Login` struct and then passed to the `authenticateUser` function. The vulnerability lies in the fact that there is no protection against phishing attacks. An attacker could create a phishing site that mimics this login page, tricking users into entering their credentials. The phishing site then sends a POST request to the `/login` route with the phished credentials, effectively logging in as the unsuspecting user. There are no mechanisms in place to verify that the login request is coming from a trusted source, such as a secure token or a captcha. Furthermore, there is no rate limiting to prevent brute force attacks, and no multi-factor authentication to provide an additional layer of security. All these factors make the application susceptible to phishing attacks.

Steps

1. Implement secure email communication protocols, such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, to prevent email spoofing and phishing attacks.
2. Educate users about phishing attacks and how to identify and report suspicious emails.
3. Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) to add an extra layer of security to user logins.
4. Use secure password storage mechanisms, such as hashing and salting, to protect user passwords.
5. Implement SSL/TLS encryption to secure communication between the client and the server.
6. Regularly update and patch the application and its dependencies to fix any known security vulnerabilities.
7. Implement input validation and sanitization to prevent malicious input from being processed.
8. Implement rate limiting and account lockout mechanisms to prevent brute-force attacks.
9. Implement session management and enforce session expiration to prevent session hijacking.
10. Implement secure coding practices, such as avoiding the use of deprecated or insecure functions and libraries.
11. Regularly monitor and log application activities to detect and respond to potential security incidents.
12. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing to identify and fix any vulnerabilities in the application.

Secure Code Example

package main

import (
	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
	"github.com/gin-contrib/sessions"
	"github.com/gin-contrib/sessions/cookie"
	"golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt"
)

func main() {
	r := gin.Default()

	store := cookie.NewStore([]byte("secret"))
	r.Use(sessions.Sessions("mysession", store))

	r.POST("/login", func(c *gin.Context) {
		session := sessions.Default(c)
		var loginInfo Login
		if err := c.ShouldBindJSON(&loginInfo); err != nil {
			c.JSON(400, gin.H{"message": "Bad request"})
			return
		}

		// Authenticate user
		isAuthenticated, err := authenticateUser(loginInfo)
		if err != nil || !isAuthenticated {
			c.JSON(401, gin.H{"message": "Unauthorized"})
			return
		}

		session.Set("user", loginInfo.Email)
		session.Save()

		c.JSON(200, gin.H{"message": "Login successful"})
	})
	r.Run()
}

type Login struct {
	Email    string `json:"email"`
	Password string `json:"password"`
}

func authenticateUser(login Login) (bool, error) {
	// Simulate user authentication
	hashedPassword, _ := bcrypt.GenerateFromPassword([]byte("password"), bcrypt.DefaultCost)
	err := bcrypt.CompareHashAndPassword(hashedPassword, []byte(login.Password))
	return login.Email == "user@example.com" && err == nil, err
}

The updated code includes several security enhancements to mitigate the risk of phishing attacks: 1. **Session Management**: The application now uses the `sessions` middleware from the `gin-contrib/sessions` package to manage user sessions. This helps prevent session hijacking by associating each session with a unique, secure session ID. 2. **Secure Password Storage**: The `bcrypt` package from `golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt` is used to securely hash and salt user passwords. This ensures that even if an attacker manages to obtain the password data, they cannot reverse-engineer the original password. 3. **User Authentication**: The `authenticateUser` function now uses the `bcrypt.CompareHashAndPassword` function to compare the hashed version of the user-provided password with the stored hashed password. This is a more secure method of password comparison that mitigates the risk of timing attacks. Please note that this code is a starting point and does not include all the recommended security measures. For example, it does not implement multi-factor authentication (MFA), input validation and sanitization, rate limiting, account lockout mechanisms, or secure email communication protocols. These additional measures should be implemented as part of a comprehensive security strategy.

References

Last updated

2023/09/18