Security ======== Threat model ------------ `bfs` is a command line program running on multi-user operating systems. Those other users may be malicious, but `bfs` should not allow them to do anything they couldn't already do. That includes situations where one user (especially `root`) is running `bfs` on files owned or controlled by another user. On the other hand, `bfs` implicitly trusts the user running it. Anyone with enough control over the command line of `bfs` or any `find`-compatible tool can wreak havoc with dangerous actions like `-exec`, `-delete`, etc. > [!CAUTION] > The only untrusted input that should *ever* be passed on the `bfs` command line are **file paths**. > It is *always* unsafe to allow *any* other part of the command line to be affected by untrusted input. > Use the `-f` flag, or `-files0-from`, to ensure that the input is interpreted as a path. This still has security implications, incuding: - **Information disclosure:** an attacker may learn whether particular files exist by observing `bfs`'s output, exit status, or even side channels like execution time. - **Denial of service:** large directory trees or slow/network storage may cause `bfs` to consume excessive system resources. > [!TIP] > When in doubt, do not pass any untrusted input to `bfs`. Executing commands ------------------ The `-exec` family of actions execute commands, passing the matched paths as arguments. File names that begin with a dash may be misinterpreted as options, so `bfs` adds a leading `./` in some instances: ```console user@host$ bfs -execdir echo {} \; ./-rf ``` This might save you from accidentally running `rm -rf` (for example) when you didn't mean to. This mitigation applies to `-execdir`, but not `-exec`, because the full path typically does not begin with a dash. But it is possible, so be careful: ```console user@host$ bfs -f -rf -exec echo {} \; -rf ``` Race conditions --------------- Like many programs that interface with the file system, `bfs` can be affected by race conditions—in particular, "[time-of-check to time-of-use](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-of-check_to_time-of-use)" (TOCTTOU) issues. For example, ```console user@host$ bfs / -user user -exec dangerous_command {} \; ``` is not guaranteed to only run `dangerous_command` on files you own, because another user may run ```console evil@host$ mv /path/to/file /path/to/exile evil@host$ mv ~/malicious /path/to/file ``` in between checking `-user user` and executing the command. > [!WARNING] > Be careful when running `bfs` on directories that other users have write access to, because they can modify the directory tree while `bfs` is running, leading to unpredictable results and possible TOCTTOU issues. Output sanitization ------------------- In general, printing arbitrary data to a terminal may have [security](https://hdm.io/writing/termulation.txt) [implications](https://dgl.cx/2023/09/ansi-terminal-security#vulnerabilities-using-known-replies). On many platforms, file paths may be completely arbitrary data (except for NUL (`\0`) bytes). Therefore, when `bfs` is writing output to a terminal, it will escape non-printable characters: 
user@host$ touch $'\e[1mBOLD\e[0m'
user@host$ bfs
.
./$'\e[1mBOLD\e[0m'
However, this is fragile as it only applies when outputting directly to a terminal: 
user@host$ bfs | grep BOLD
BOLD
Code quality ------------ Every correctness issue in `bfs` is a potential security issue, because acting on the wrong path may do arbitrarily bad things. For example: ```console root@host# bfs /etc -name passwd -exec cat {} \; ``` should print `/etc/passwd` but not `/etc/shadow`. `bfs` tries to ensure correct behavior through careful programming practice, an extensive testsuite, and static analysis. `bfs` is written in C, which is a memory unsafe language. Bugs that lead to memory corruption are likely to be exploitable due to the nature of C. We use [sanitizers](https://github.com/google/sanitizers) to try to detect these bugs. Fuzzing has also been applied in the past, and deploying continuous fuzzing is a work in progress. Supported versions ------------------ `bfs` comes with [no warranty](/LICENSE), and is maintained by [me](https://tavianator.com/) and [other volunteers](https://github.com/tavianator/bfs/graphs/contributors) in our spare time. In that sense, there are no *supported* versions. However, as long as I maintain `bfs` I will attempt to address any security issues swiftly. In general, security fixes will we part of the latest release, though for significant issues I may backport fixes to older release series. Reporting a vulnerability ------------------------- If you think you have found a sensitive security issue in `bfs`, you can [report it privately](https://github.com/tavianator/bfs/security/advisories/new). Or you can [report it publicly](https://github.com/tavianator/bfs/issues/new); I won't judge you.