34489 - [BC - Insight] ActivetsValidateRecordTypes do not check all th...

Submitted on Aug 14th 2024 at 00:37:23 UTC by @gladiator111 for Boost | Shardeum: Core

Report ID: #34489

Report type: Blockchain/DLT

Report severity: Insight

Target: https://github.com/shardeum/shardus-core/tree/dev

Impacts:

• Shutdown of greater than 10% or equal to but less than 30% of network processing nodes without brute force actions, but does not shut down the network

Description

Brief/Intro

Note - This is an insight report, since there is no option to submit an insight, I am submitting it under low impact, kindly downgrade to insight from low.

Active.ts::ValidateRecordTypes miss out on checking some of the types

Vulnerability Details

In the function Active.ts::ValidateRecordTypes

export function validateRecordTypes(rec: P2P.ActiveTypes.Record): string {
  let err = validateTypes(rec, {
    active: 'n',
    activated: 'a',
    activatedPublicKeys: 'a',
  })
  if (err) return err
  for (const item of rec.activated) {
    if (typeof item !== 'string') return 'items of activated array must be strings'
  }
  for (const item of rec.activatedPublicKeys) {
    if (typeof item !== 'string') return 'items of activatedPublicKeys array must be strings'
  }
  return ''
}

The above function checks only for active, activated and activatedPublicKeys and their subelements (in case of arrays). The rec: P2P.ActiveTypes.Record type consists of 5 elements. These types are as follows

export interface Record {
    active: number;
    standby: number;
    activated: string[];
    activatedPublicKeys: string[];
    maxSyncTime: number;
}

standby and maxSyncTime types are never checked. This can cause problems of type mismatch. The recommendation for correcting it is as follows.

Recommendation

Modify the function as follows

export function validateRecordTypes(rec: P2P.ActiveTypes.Record): string {
  let err = validateTypes(rec, {
    active: 'n',
@>  standby: 'n',
    activated: 'a',
    activatedPublicKeys: 'a',
@>  maxSyncTime:'n'
  })
  if (err) return err
  for (const item of rec.activated) {
    if (typeof item !== 'string') return 'items of activated array must be strings'
  }
  for (const item of rec.activatedPublicKeys) {
    if (typeof item !== 'string') return 'items of activatedPublicKeys array must be strings'
  }
  return ''
}

Impact Details

It comes under security best practices of insight report

References

https://github.com/shardeum/shardus-core/blob/72fba67d3a551f21368c8b0fe94f951c8f5cc4f8/src/p2p/Active.ts#L137

Proof of Concept

The issue is fairly simple and is insight, so I am providing only the necessary info for proof of concept.

export function validateRecordTypes(rec: P2P.ActiveTypes.Record): string {
@>let err = validateTypes(rec, {                     // no checking for standby and maxSyncTime
    active: 'n',
    activated: 'a',
    activatedPublicKeys: 'a',
  })
  if (err) return err
  for (const item of rec.activated) {
    if (typeof item !== 'string') return 'items of activated array must be strings'
  }
  for (const item of rec.activatedPublicKeys) {
    if (typeof item !== 'string') return 'items of activatedPublicKeys array must be strings'
  }
  return ''
}

The above function is used by various other functions such as CycleCreator.ts::validateCertsRecordTypes, so it is fairly crucial

function validateCertsRecordTypes(inp, caller) {
  let err = utils.validateTypes(inp, { certs: 'a', record: 'o' })
  if (err) {
    warn(caller + ' bad input: ' + err + ' ' + Utils.safeStringify(inp))
    return false
  }
  for (const cert of inp.certs) {
    err = utils.validateTypes(cert, { marker: 's', score: 'n', sign: 'o' })
    if (err) {
      warn(caller + ' bad input.certs: ' + err)
      return false
    }
    err = utils.validateTypes(cert.sign, { owner: 's', sig: 's' })
    if (err) {
      warn(caller + ' bad input.sign: ' + err)
      return false
    }
  }
  err = utils.validateTypes(inp.record, {
    activated: 'a',
    activatedPublicKeys: 'a',
    active: 'n',
    apoptosized: 'a',
    counter: 'n',
    desired: 'n',
    duration: 'n',
    expired: 'n',
    joined: 'a',
    joinedArchivers: 'a',
    joinedConsensors: 'a',
    lost: 'a',
    previous: 's',
    refreshedArchivers: 'a',
    refreshedConsensors: 'a',