cve-dashboard/docs/security-audit-tracker.md

Security Audit Tracker — STEAM Security Dashboard

Last scan: 2026-04-20 Scope: Full repository — backend routes, middleware, helpers, scripts, frontend components Baseline: docs/security-audit-2026-04-01.md (31 findings), docs/security-remediation-plan.md (17 prioritised items)

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Table of Contents

• Remediation Status — April 1 Audit
• New Findings — April 20 Scan
• Open Finding Summary
• Positive Security Observations
• Scan Metadata

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Remediation Status — April 1 Audit

Cross-reference of the 31 original findings against the current codebase. Status: Fixed, Partial, or Open.

Critical Findings

ID	Title	Status	Evidence
C-1	Missing auth on Ivanti findings endpoints	Fixed	ivantiFindings.js — router uses requireAuth(db) at router level, requireGroup on sync
C-2	requireRole(db) bypasses role check in KB routes	Fixed	knowledgeBase.js — uses requireGroup('Admin', 'Standard_User') correctly
C-3	Unauthenticated finding note writes	Fixed	ivantiFindings.js — note routes behind requireAuth(db)
C-4	No brute force protection on login	Fixed	auth.js — loginLimiter (20 attempts / 15 min) applied to POST /login
C-5	Default credentials displayed in login UI	Fixed	LoginForm.js — no hardcoded credentials in the component
C-6	Missing sandbox on KB document iframe	Fixed	KnowledgeBaseViewer.js:282 — sandbox="allow-same-origin" applied

High Findings

ID	Title	Status	Evidence
H-1	/cleanup-sessions missing role check	Fixed	auth.js — requireAuth(db), requireGroup('Admin') applied
H-2	Hardcoded fallback SESSION_SECRET	Fixed	server.js:34-37 — hard-fails with process.exit(1) if unset
H-3	Audit log parameter mismatch — silent trail gaps	Partial	knowledgeBase.js — fixed. archerTickets.js — logAudit calls missing username field (see N-1 below)
H-4	Viewers can write compliance notes	Fixed	compliance.js — requireGroup('Admin', 'Standard_User') on POST /notes
H-5	Sync endpoints accessible to all authenticated users	Fixed	Both ivantiFindings.js and ivantiWorkflows.js — requireGroup('Admin', 'Standard_User') on POST /sync
H-6	HTTP header injection via Content-Disposition filename	Fixed	knowledgeBase.js — filename sanitized with .replace(/["\r\n\\]/g, '')
H-7	Race condition in KB file upload	Fixed	knowledgeBase.js — file moved after DB insert succeeds
H-8	Hardcoded default admin password in setup.js	Fixed	setup.js — generates random password via crypto.randomBytes(12)
H-9	ReactMarkdown renders HTML without sanitization	Fixed	KnowledgeBaseViewer.js — rehypeSanitize plugin applied

Medium Findings

ID	Title	Status	Evidence
M-1	No CSRF token protection	Open	Cookies use SameSite: lax — no CSRF token implemented
M-2	CORS credentials with explicit origin list	Open	Acceptable for this deployment model — monitor
M-3	No rate limiting on NVD API proxy	Open	No server-side cache or per-user rate limit on /api/nvd/lookup
M-4	Admin self-demotion check uses loose equality	Fixed	users.js — uses String(userId) === String(req.user.id)
M-5	Missing hostname format validation	Fixed	compliance.js POST /notes — regex validation ^[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+$
M-6	Vendor field validated before trim	Open	ivantiTodoQueue.js:8 — isValidVendor() checks length before trim
M-7	Unsanitized original filename in temp JSON	Open	compliance.js:344 — req.file.originalname passed directly
M-8	Hardcoded frontend IP in CSP header	Fixed	knowledgeBase.js:302 — reads from CORS_ORIGINS env var
M-9	API error messages forwarded to UI	Open	Frontend still uses alert(err.message) in several places
M-10	User data in window.confirm dialogs	Open	Frontend still uses window.confirm with user-supplied data

Low / Info Findings

ID	Title	Status	Evidence
L-1	Silent ROLLBACK on transaction failure	Open	compliance.js:167 — .catch(() => {}) still swallows errors
L-2	Fire-and-forget audit logging	Partial	auditLog.js — now logs to console.error on failure, but no alerting
L-3	Async temp file cleanup with no error handling	Open	compliance.js — fs.unlink(path, () => {}) still used
L-4	IVANTI_SKIP_TLS with no startup warning	Open	No startup warning when IVANTI_SKIP_TLS=true
L-5	console.error in production frontend	Open	No environment guard on console.error calls
L-6	localStorage column config lacks structural validation	Open	No change observed

Remediation Plan Items (not in original 31)

ID	Title	Status	Evidence
RP-1	Authenticate /uploads static file access	Open	server.js:127 — express.static('uploads') still unauthenticated
RP-2	Sanitize Mermaid SVG output with DOMPurify	Open	KnowledgeBaseViewer.js:38 — innerHTML = svg without DOMPurify
RP-3	Strip server file paths from compliance preview response	Open	compliance.js:342 — full tempFilePath returned to client
RP-4	Add SESSION_SECRET to .env.example	Open	.env.example — no SESSION_SECRET entry

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New Findings — April 20 Scan

Findings discovered in this scan that were not present in the April 1 audit.

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N-1 — Archer Ticket Audit Logs Missing username Field (Medium)

File: backend/routes/archerTickets.js:89, 172, 195

All three logAudit calls in the Archer tickets router omit the username field:

logAudit(db, {
  userId: req.user.id,
  action: 'CREATE_ARCHER_TICKET',
  // username: req.user.username  ← missing
  ...
});

The auditLog.js helper defaults missing username to 'unknown', so all Archer ticket audit entries show username = 'unknown' instead of the actual user.

Impact: Audit trail for Archer ticket operations cannot identify which user performed the action. Compliance reviews and incident investigations are degraded.

Fix: Add username: req.user.username to all three logAudit calls.

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N-2 — migrate-to-1.1.js Contains Hardcoded Admin Password (Medium)

File: backend/migrate-to-1.1.js:246

const passwordHash = await bcrypt.hash('admin123', 10);

While setup.js was fixed to generate random passwords (H-8), the migration script still hardcodes admin123. If this migration is run on an existing deployment, it resets the admin password to a known value.

Impact: Running the migration on a production system resets the admin account to a publicly known password.

Fix: Either generate a random password (matching setup.js pattern) or skip admin creation if the user already exists.

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N-3 — Compliance Preview Returns Full Server Filesystem Path (Medium)

File: backend/routes/compliance.js:342

tempFile: tempFilePath,

The preview endpoint returns the full server-side path (e.g. /home/cve-dashboard/backend/uploads/temp/compliance_preview_...json) to the frontend. The commit endpoint then receives this path back and reads the file. This exposes the server's directory structure to any authenticated user.

Impact: Information disclosure — authenticated users learn the server's absolute filesystem layout, which aids further exploitation.

Fix: Return only the filename. Reconstruct the full path server-side in the commit handler:

tempFile: tempFilename,  // just the basename
// In commit handler:
const tempFile = path.join(TEMP_DIR, path.basename(req.body.tempFile));

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N-4 — /uploads Static Directory Served Without Authentication (High)

File: backend/server.js:127

app.use('/uploads', express.static('uploads', {
    dotfiles: 'deny',
    index: false
}));

All uploaded files (CVE documents, compliance data, knowledge base articles) are served as static files without any authentication check. Anyone who knows or guesses a file URL can access sensitive vulnerability documentation, compliance reports, and internal knowledge base content.

Impact: Unauthenticated access to all uploaded documents. File paths are predictable (CVE ID + vendor + timestamp-filename pattern).

Fix: Replace with an authenticated route handler:

app.use('/uploads', requireAuth(db), express.static('uploads', { ... }));

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N-5 — Mermaid SVG Rendered via innerHTML Without Sanitization (Medium)

File: frontend/src/components/KnowledgeBaseViewer.js:38

ref.current.innerHTML = svg;

Mermaid-generated SVG is injected directly into the DOM via innerHTML. While Mermaid itself sanitizes most input, a crafted diagram definition in a knowledge base article could potentially produce SVG with embedded event handlers or script elements.

Impact: Stored XSS vector if Mermaid's internal sanitization is bypassed. Any user viewing the article would execute the payload.

Fix: Sanitize the SVG string before injection:

import DOMPurify from 'dompurify';
ref.current.innerHTML = DOMPurify.sanitize(svg, { USE_PROFILES: { svg: true } });

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N-6 — SESSION_SECRET Not Documented in .env.example (Low)

File: backend/.env.example

The SESSION_SECRET environment variable is required for the server to start (hard-fail added per H-2 fix), but it is not listed in .env.example. Fresh deployments will fail with no guidance on what to set.

Fix: Add to .env.example:

# Session signing secret — generate with: openssl rand -hex 32
SESSION_SECRET=

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N-7 — requireGroup Error Response Leaks Current User Group (Low)

File: backend/middleware/auth.js:55-60

return res.status(403).json({
    error: 'Insufficient permissions',
    required: allowedGroups,
    current: req.user.group
});

The 403 response includes both the required groups and the user's current group. This is minor information disclosure — an attacker probing endpoints learns the exact group membership of the compromised account and which groups are needed.

Fix: Remove required and current from the response:

return res.status(403).json({ error: 'Insufficient permissions' });

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N-8 — No Content-Security-Policy Header on Main Application (Medium)

File: backend/server.js:107-113

Security headers include X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, X-XSS-Protection, Referrer-Policy, and Permissions-Policy, but no Content-Security-Policy header. CSP is the primary browser-side defense against XSS.

Impact: No browser-enforced restriction on script sources. If an XSS vulnerability exists (e.g. N-5), there is no CSP to mitigate it.

Fix: Add a baseline CSP header:

res.setHeader('Content-Security-Policy',
    "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; " +
    "img-src 'self' data:; font-src 'self'; connect-src 'self'");

Start with Content-Security-Policy-Report-Only to avoid breaking existing functionality.

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N-9 — Expired Sessions Not Cleaned Up Automatically (Low)

File: backend/server.js, backend/routes/auth.js

The sessions table has no automatic cleanup. Expired sessions accumulate indefinitely. The /cleanup-sessions endpoint exists but must be triggered manually by an admin.

Impact: Performance degradation over time as the sessions table grows. Not directly exploitable, but expired session rows increase the surface for timing attacks on session lookups.

Fix: Add a cleanup interval on server startup:

setInterval(() => {
    db.run("DELETE FROM sessions WHERE expires_at < datetime('now')");
}, 6 * 60 * 60 * 1000); // every 6 hours

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Open Finding Summary

Prioritised list of all open findings requiring action.

High Priority

ID	Severity	Title	Source
N-4	High	/uploads static directory served without authentication	New

Medium Priority

ID	Severity	Title	Source
M-1	Medium	No CSRF token protection	April 1
M-3	Medium	No rate limiting on NVD API proxy	April 1
N-1	Medium	Archer ticket audit logs missing username field	New
N-2	Medium	migrate-to-1.1.js contains hardcoded admin password	New
N-3	Medium	Compliance preview returns full server filesystem path	New
N-5	Medium	Mermaid SVG rendered via innerHTML without sanitization	New
N-8	Medium	No Content-Security-Policy header on main application	New
M-6	Medium	Vendor field validated before trim	April 1
M-7	Medium	Unsanitized original filename in temp JSON	April 1
M-9	Medium	API error messages forwarded to UI	April 1
M-10	Medium	User data in window.confirm dialogs	April 1

Low Priority

ID	Severity	Title	Source
N-6	Low	SESSION_SECRET not documented in .env.example	New
N-7	Low	requireGroup error response leaks current user group	New
N-9	Low	Expired sessions not cleaned up automatically	New
L-1	Low	Silent ROLLBACK on transaction failure	April 1
L-3	Low	Async temp file cleanup with no error handling	April 1
L-4	Low	IVANTI_SKIP_TLS with no startup warning	April 1
L-5	Low	console.error in production frontend	April 1
L-6	Low	localStorage column config lacks structural validation	April 1

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Positive Security Observations

Verified secure patterns that should be preserved:

• SQL injection prevention — all queries use parameterized statements throughout the entire codebase
• Path traversal prevention — sanitizePathSegment() and isPathWithinUploads() consistently applied in server.js, compliance.js, and knowledgeBase.js
• Python script execution — spawn('python3', [SCRIPT, filePath]) with argument arrays — no shell injection
• File upload security — extension allowlist + MIME prefix validation + 10 MB size limit via multer
• Password hashing — bcrypt with cost factor 10 used for all password storage
• Session management — 32-byte random session IDs via crypto.randomBytes, httpOnly cookies, 24h expiry
• Rate limiting — login endpoint protected with 20 attempts per 15-minute window
• Audit trail — comprehensive audit logging on all state-changing operations (with noted exceptions above)
• Self-modification prevention — admin cannot demote or deactivate their own account
• Ownership-scoped deletion — Standard_User can only delete resources they created
• Compliance linkage protection — deletion blocked when tickets are linked to active compliance reports
• Temp file path validation — isSafeTempPath() enforces .json extension and uploads/temp/ directory
• Static file serving — dotfiles: 'deny' and index: false prevent directory listing

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Scan Metadata

Field	Value
Scan date	2026-04-20
Scan type	Full repository static analysis
Scope	backend/, frontend/src/, config files
Baseline	docs/security-audit-2026-04-01.md
Previous findings	31 (6 Critical, 9 High, 10 Medium, 6 Low/Info)
Remediated	20 fully fixed, 2 partially fixed
Still open (from baseline)	13
New findings	9
Total open	22 (1 High, 11 Medium, 10 Low)
Methodology	Static analysis — code review of all route handlers, middleware, helpers, and frontend components