Charon/SECURITY.md

Security Policy

Supported Versions

We release security updates for the following versions:

Version	Supported
1.0.x	✅
< 1.0	❌

Reporting a Vulnerability

We take security seriously. If you discover a security vulnerability in Charon, please report it responsibly.

Where to Report

Preferred Method: GitHub Security Advisory (Private)

1. Go to https://github.com/Wikid82/charon/security/advisories/new
2. Fill out the advisory form with:
   • Vulnerability description
   • Steps to reproduce
   • Proof of concept (non-destructive)
   • Impact assessment
   • Suggested fix (if applicable)

Alternative Method: Email

• Send to: security@charon.dev (if configured)
• Use PGP encryption (key available below, if applicable)
• Include same information as GitHub advisory

What to Include

Please provide:

1. Description: Clear explanation of the vulnerability
2. Reproduction Steps: Detailed steps to reproduce the issue
3. Impact Assessment: What an attacker could do with this vulnerability
4. Environment: Charon version, deployment method, OS, etc.
5. Proof of Concept: Code or commands demonstrating the vulnerability (non-destructive)
6. Suggested Fix: If you have ideas for remediation

What Happens Next

1. Acknowledgment: We'll acknowledge your report within 48 hours
2. Investigation: We'll investigate and assess the severity
3. Updates: We'll provide regular status updates (weekly minimum)
4. Fix Development: We'll develop and test a fix
5. Disclosure: Coordinated disclosure after fix is released
6. Credit: We'll credit you in release notes (if desired)

Responsible Disclosure

We ask that you:

• ✅ Give us reasonable time to fix the issue before public disclosure (90 days preferred)
• ✅ Avoid destructive testing or attacks on production systems
• ✅ Not access, modify, or delete data that doesn't belong to you
• ✅ Not perform actions that could degrade service for others

We commit to:

• ✅ Respond to your report within 48 hours
• ✅ Provide regular status updates
• ✅ Credit you in release notes (if desired)
• ✅ Not pursue legal action for good-faith security research

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Security Features

Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) Protection

Charon implements industry-leading SSRF protection to prevent attackers from using the application to access internal resources or cloud metadata.

Protected Against

• Private network access (RFC 1918: 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16)
• Cloud provider metadata endpoints (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Localhost and loopback addresses (127.0.0.0/8, ::1/128)
• Link-local addresses (169.254.0.0/16, fe80::/10)
• Protocol bypass attacks (file://, ftp://, gopher://, data:)

Validation Process

All user-controlled URLs undergo:

1. URL Format Validation: Scheme, syntax, and structure checks
2. DNS Resolution: Hostname resolution with timeout protection
3. IP Range Validation: Blocked ranges include 13+ CIDR blocks
4. Request Execution: Timeout enforcement and redirect limiting

Protected Features

• Security notification webhooks
• Custom webhook notifications
• CrowdSec hub synchronization
• External URL connectivity testing (admin-only)

Learn More

For complete technical details, see:

• SSRF Protection Guide
• Implementation Report
• QA Audit Report

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Authentication & Authorization

• JWT-based authentication: Secure token-based sessions
• Role-based access control: Admin vs. user permissions
• Session management: Automatic expiration and renewal
• Secure cookie attributes: HttpOnly, Secure (HTTPS), SameSite

Data Protection

• Database encryption: Sensitive data encrypted at rest
• Secure credential storage: Hashed passwords, encrypted API keys
• Input validation: All user inputs sanitized and validated
• Output encoding: XSS protection via proper encoding

Infrastructure Security

• Container isolation: Docker-based deployment
• Minimal attack surface: Alpine Linux base image
• Dependency scanning: Regular Trivy and govulncheck scans
• No unnecessary services: Single-purpose container design

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

• Coraza WAF integration: OWASP Core Rule Set support
• Rate limiting: Protection against brute-force and DoS
• IP allowlisting/blocklisting: Network access control
• CrowdSec integration: Collaborative threat intelligence

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Security Best Practices

Deployment Recommendations

1. Use HTTPS: Always deploy behind a reverse proxy with TLS
2. Restrict Admin Access: Limit admin panel to trusted IPs
3. Regular Updates: Keep Charon and dependencies up to date
4. Secure Webhooks: Only use trusted webhook endpoints
5. Strong Passwords: Enforce password complexity policies
6. Backup Encryption: Encrypt backup files before storage

Configuration Hardening

# Recommended docker-compose.yml settings
services:
  charon:
    image: ghcr.io/wikid82/charon:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - CHARON_ENV=production
      - LOG_LEVEL=info  # Don't use debug in production
    volumes:
      - ./charon-data:/app/data:rw
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro  # Read-only!
    networks:
      - charon-internal  # Isolated network
    cap_drop:
      - ALL
    cap_add:
      - NET_BIND_SERVICE  # Only if binding to ports < 1024
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    read_only: true  # If possible
    tmpfs:
      - /tmp:noexec,nosuid,nodev

Network Security

• Firewall Rules: Only expose necessary ports (80, 443, 8080)
• VPN Access: Use VPN for admin access in production
• Fail2Ban: Consider fail2ban for brute-force protection
• Intrusion Detection: Enable CrowdSec for threat detection

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Security Audits & Scanning

Automated Scanning

We use the following tools:

• Trivy: Container image vulnerability scanning
• CodeQL: Static code analysis for Go and JavaScript
• govulncheck: Go module vulnerability scanning
• golangci-lint: Go code linting (including gosec)
• npm audit: Frontend dependency vulnerability scanning

Manual Reviews

• Security code reviews for all major features
• Peer review of security-sensitive changes
• Third-party security audits (planned)

Continuous Monitoring

• GitHub Dependabot alerts
• Weekly security scans in CI/CD
• Community vulnerability reports

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Known Security Considerations

Third-Party Dependencies

CrowdSec Binaries: As of December 2025, CrowdSec binaries shipped with Charon contain 4 HIGH-severity CVEs in Go stdlib (CVE-2025-58183, CVE-2025-58186, CVE-2025-58187, CVE-2025-61729). These are upstream issues in Go 1.25.1 and will be resolved when CrowdSec releases binaries built with Go 1.25.5+.

Impact: Low. These vulnerabilities are in CrowdSec's third-party binaries, not in Charon's application code. They affect HTTP/2, TLS certificate handling, and archive parsing—areas not directly exposed to attackers through Charon's interface.

Mitigation: Monitor CrowdSec releases for updated binaries. Charon's own application code has zero vulnerabilities.

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Security Hall of Fame

We recognize security researchers who help improve Charon:

• Your name could be here!

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Security Contact

• GitHub Security Advisories: https://github.com/Wikid82/charon/security/advisories
• GitHub Discussions: https://github.com/Wikid82/charon/discussions
• GitHub Issues (non-security): https://github.com/Wikid82/charon/issues

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License

This security policy is part of the Charon project, licensed under the MIT License.

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Last Updated: December 24, 2025 Version: 1.1