Dynamic Buffer Adaptation for Secure Alert Transmission
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Security Alerting Systems face issues with buffer overwrite attacks and prolonged disconnection between endpoint hosts and collection servers, leading to potential loss of critical alert messages, as existing buffer size adjustment methods either leak information or fail to prevent truncation attacks.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a dynamic buffer size adaptation mechanism that adjusts buffer size based on connection history rather than alerting history, using forward-secure cryptographic keys for message and buffer protection, ensuring integrity, stealthiness, and persistence of alert messages during network disruptions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the buffer size is enlarged incrementally to accommodate new alerts during prolonged disconnection, then alert message loss is prevented, but the buffer size provides a post-compromise indication of whether alerts were recorded prior to compromise
Solution Approach 1:
The buffer size is dynamically adjusted based on connection status rather than alerting history. When disconnection is detected, the buffer size increases to accommodate accumulated alerts. When connection is restored, the buffer size resets to a baseline value, preventing leakage of information about prior alert activity while ensuring reliable delivery of all alerts during disconnection periods.
2Loss of information
If the buffer size is kept small to maintain stealth, then post-compromise indication is prevented, but alert messages may be lost during prolonged disconnection
Solution Approach 1:
The buffer size transitions from a static small value to a dynamic structure that expands only when needed. The system maintains a baseline buffer size for normal operation to preserve stealth, then dynamically expands the buffer capacity when disconnection events are detected, ensuring all alerts are captured without permanently increasing the buffer footprint that could leak information about alert history.
3Device complexity
If a single cryptographic key is used for both message and buffer protection, then system complexity is reduced, but truncation attacks become more difficult to detect
Solution Approach 1:
The single cryptographic key is segmented into two separate keys: a message protection key for securing individual alert messages and a buffer protection key for securing the buffer contents and transmission integrity. This segmentation enables independent verification of message authenticity and buffer integrity, allowing detection of truncation attacks where messages are removed from the buffer without proper key separation.
4Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If buffer overwrite attacks are detected using gap-rule check, then attack detection capability is provided, but legitimate alert gaps during disconnection are incorrectly identified as attacks
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback mechanisms that track connection status and buffer transmission history. When disconnection events are detected, the system adjusts its expectations for alert transmission patterns. The gap-rule check is modified to account for connection state, distinguishing between gaps caused by legitimate disconnection (where buffer contents are preserved) and gaps indicating buffer overwrite attacks (where patterns are inconsistent with connection state).
Data Source
AI summary
A Security Alerting System is provided with dynamic buffer size adaptation. An alert message from a Security Alerting System is transmitted by obtaining the alert message from the Security Alerting System; authenticating the alert message using a secret key known by a server; storing the authenticated alert message in a buffer; transmitting the buffer to the server; and detecting a truncation attack based on generating different cryptographic keys for protection of inserted messages and transmitted buffers, wherein the cryptographic keys for protection of inserted messages are generated in a forward-secure manner in a same order that the messages are inserted in the buffer and wherein the cryptographic keys for protection of transmitted buffers are generated in a forward-secure manner in a same order that the buffers are transmitted over a network.