3.4. Bugzilla Security

 

Putting your money in a wall safe is better protection than depending on the fact that no one knows that you hide your money in a mayonnaise jar in your fridge.

Note: Poorly-configured MySQL, Bugzilla, and FTP installations have given attackers full access to systems in the past. Please take these guidelines seriously, even for Bugzilla machines hidden away behind your firewall. 80% of all computer trespassers are insiders, not anonymous crackers.

First thing's first: Secure your installation.

Note: These instructions must, of necessity, be somewhat vague since Bugzilla runs on so many different platforms. If you have refinements of these directions for specific platforms, please submit them to mozilla-webtools@mozilla.org

  1. Ensure you are running at least MysQL version 3.22.32 or newer. Earlier versions had notable security holes and poorly secured default configuration choices.

  2. There is no substitute for understanding the tools on your system! Read The MySQL Privelege System until you can recite it from memory!

    At the very least, ensure you password the "mysql -u root" account and the "bugs" account, establish grant table rights (consult the Keystone guide in Appendix C: The Bugzilla Database for some easy-to-use details) that do not allow CREATE, DROP, RELOAD, SHUTDOWN, and PROCESS for user "bugs". I wrote up the Keystone advice back when I knew far less about security than I do now : )

  3. Lock down /etc/inetd.conf. Heck, disable inet entirely on this box. It should only listen to port 25 for Sendmail and port 80 for Apache.

  4. Do not run Apache as "nobody". This will require very lax permissions in your Bugzilla directories. Run it, instead, as a user with a name, set via your httpd.conf file.

  5. Ensure you have adequate access controls for $BUGZILLA_HOME/data/, $BUGZILLA_HOME/localconfig, and $BUGZILLA_HOME/shadow directories. The localconfig file stores your "bugs" user password, which would be terrible to have in the hands of a criminal. Also some files under $BUGZILLA_HOME/data store sensitive information.

    On Apache, you can use .htaccess files to protect access to these directories, as outlined in Bug 57161 for the localconfig file, and Bug 65572 for adequate protection in your data/ and shadow/ directories.

    Note the instructions which follow are Apache-specific. If you use IIS, Netscape, or other non-Apache web servers, please consult your system documentation for how to secure these files from being transmitted to curious users.

    Place the following text into a file named ".htaccess", readable by your web server, in your $BUGZILLA_HOME/data directory.

          <Files comments>
          allow from all
          </Files>
          deny from all
        

    Place the following text into a file named ".htaccess", readable by your web server, in your $BUGZILLA_HOME/ directory.

          <Files localconfig>
          deny from all
          </Files>
          allow from all
        

    Place the following text into a file named ".htaccess", readable by your web server, in your $BUGZILLA_HOME/shadow directory.

          deny from all