Self-Healing Content Security Policies for Trusted-Source Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional Content Security Policies (CSPs) are difficult to manage and maintain across multiple web applications, especially when different development teams are involved, leading to inefficiencies and increased vulnerability to malicious attacks.
Innovation Solution
A centralized CSP management system that allows administrators to generate, edit, and deploy CSP definitions, automatically or manually updating them based on violations, using a repository and trusted source lists to prevent future violations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If CSP definitions are manually managed and updated across multiple web applications, then security policies can be customized for each application, but the complexity of management and maintenance increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges CSP management across multiple web applications into a centralized system. A master CSP definition is created once and automatically propagated to multiple web applications, eliminating the need to manually manage separate CSP definitions for each application while maintaining consistent security enforcement across all applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The master CSP definition serves multiple web applications simultaneously, making it a universal security policy that can be applied across different applications. This multi-functional approach allows a single CSP definition to protect multiple applications, reducing management overhead while maintaining application-specific security requirements.
2Reliability
If CSP definitions are frequently updated to include new trusted sources, then security coverage is improved, but the time and resources required for manual updates increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-defining trusted sources in the master CSP definition. When new trusted sources are identified, they are added to the master definition in advance, which then automatically propagates to all web applications. This eliminates the need for time-consuming manual updates to each individual application's CSP definition.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service by automatically propagating CSP definition updates from the master definition to multiple web applications. The automated propagation mechanism eliminates manual intervention, allowing the system to update itself across all applications whenever the master definition changes, significantly reducing the time and resources required for updates.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If strict CSP policies are enforced to block malicious sources, then security against attacks is improved, but false positives from trusted sources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by monitoring CSP violations and using this information to update the master CSP definition. When violations occur, administrators can review them and add legitimate trusted sources to the master definition. This feedback loop ensures that strict security policies continue to block malicious sources while gradually incorporating new trusted sources to reduce false positives.
Solution Approach 2:
The CSP definition is made dynamic through automatic propagation. The master CSP definition can be updated at any time to reflect changing security requirements and new trusted sources. These dynamic updates are automatically propagated to all web applications, allowing the security policy to adapt to new threats and legitimate sources without manual reconfiguration of each application.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods provide for self-healing content security policies (CSPs). In accordance with some aspects, CSP violation information is received identifying a CSP violation for a CSP header and a violating source for the CSP violation. The violating source for the CSP violation is compared against a list of trusted sources. Based on the comparison, a first trusted source in the list of trusted sources is identified as matching the violating source for the CSP violation. Responsive to identifying the first trusted source as matching the violating source, a CSP definition associated with the CSP header is caused to be updated to include a source value based on the violating source or the first trusted source to provide an updated CSP definition.