Add password for initial configuration

[mehdi]

Just went through a fresh cloudron install, and I must say I am not comfortable with the initial installation process : anyone connecting to the server's IP before the legitimate admin could basically "take over" the server in question. We could even imagine an advanced attacker taking full control of the server through this, then installing a "fake" installation page that mimics the original one, so the legitimate admin would not notice anything.

The solution to this would be some sort of a password, or key, that the CLI would give you, or ask you for, upon install, that you would then have to enter into the web interface to authenticate to it. It could potentially be an optional parameter.

[girish]

We actually implemented this a couple of releases ago. If you run cloudron-setup --generate-setup-token, it will create a setup token which is saved in /etc/cloudron/SETUP_TOKEN . At the end of setup script, it will also display the token.

[girish]

I updated https://docs.cloudron.io/installation/

[ruihildt]

@girish Wouldn't it be better if this was the default for new installations, and then have the flag for disabling it?

[nebulon]

@ruihildt I guess that is a bit of a trade-off between usability and real threat. Generally an attacker would have to get the time window right, know the ip address and then will be able to setup the Cloudron. However to actually then also modify the code to let the normal user believe nothing the system is untampered with, he/she needs to have SSH access, which the dashboard does not give as such. So further an attacker would need to know a security hole in Cloudron components.

Overall from my current perspective, that risk is quite low. Does anyone else have a different idea how to exploit this?

[mehdi]

@nebulon No SSH access needed, an attacker could just use the Volumes feature to get write access to the cloudron code folder, and be able to do whatever they want.

[nebulon]

@mehdi interesting idea. The volumes however only allow to configure /mnt, /media, /opt or /srv for the filesystem type.

[girish]

Yeah, the volumes logic specifically prevents mounting random things when using the "unmanaged" mounts (i.e things which Cloudron does not mount and manage itself) - https://git.cloudron.io/cloudron/box/-/blob/master/src/volumes.js#L52

[mehdi]

OK, my bad about volumes, but I believe the Cloudron dashboard was not designed with the goal of defending against an admin constantly in mind. So it is safe to assume that there are probably bypasses lurking somewhere, maybe in the docker addon, maybe in the backups stuff ... in any case, I believe that having this as default would be a minor inconvenience, with a non-negligible security benefit.

[ruihildt]

@mehdi This is exactly what I'm most worried about, the unknown unknowns, and it seems here the added friction is negligible: copying the token from the command line to the webbrowser.

[ruihildt]

As you probably have access to the IP of the server, you could simply display a link once the setup is complete in the CLI:

https://<IP>?<token>

So not even copy/paste needed for most.^^