ARCP Security Overview¶

This document provides a detailed overview of the security architecture, features, and best practices implemented in ARCP to protect against modern threats and ensure secure operations.

🛡️ Security Architecture Overview¶

ARCP implements a multi-layered security architecture designed to protect against various threat vectors while maintaining operational efficiency. The security framework is built around the principle of Defense in Depth with multiple independent layers of protection.

Core Security Principles¶

• Zero Trust Architecture: Never trust, always verify
• Principle of Least Privilege: Minimal access rights by default
• Defense in Depth: Multiple security layers
• Secure by Default: Security-first configuration
• Comprehensive Monitoring: Full audit trail and real-time threat detection

🔐 Authentication & Authorization System¶

Multi-Tier Authentication Model¶

ARCP implements a hierarchical authentication system with four distinct privilege levels:

JWT Token Security¶

Implementation Features: - Algorithm: Configurable (HS256/HS384/HS512) with algorithm confusion protection - Expiration: Configurable token lifetime (default: 1 hour) - Validation: Comprehensive token validation with tamper detection - Rotation: Automatic token refresh capabilities

Security Measures:

# Token validation includes:
- Signature verification
- Expiration checking
- Algorithm validation (prevents algorithm confusion attacks)
- Payload integrity verification
- Blacklist checking for revoked tokens

Session Management¶

Admin Session Security: - Client Fingerprinting: Unique browser/client identification - Session Binding: Tokens bound to specific client sessions - PIN Protection: Additional PIN layer for critical operations - Session Timeout: Configurable session expiration - Concurrent Session Limits: Maximum active sessions per user

Session Validation:

// Client-side session validation
- Token validity checking every 5 minutes
- Automatic logout on token expiration
- Session fingerprint verification
- Real-time session status monitoring

🚨 Rate Limiting & Brute Force Protection¶

Advanced Rate Limiting System¶

ARCP implements a sophisticated rate limiting system with multiple protection mechanisms:

Rate Limiting Tiers: - Login Endpoints: 5 attempts per 15 minutes - PIN Operations: 3 attempts per 10 minutes
- General API: 100 requests per minute (configurable)

Protection Features: - Progressive Delays: Exponential backoff for failed attempts - Temporary Lockouts: Automatic account lockouts after repeated failures - Anti-Bypass Protection: IP header spoofing detection - Distributed Storage: Redis-backed attempt tracking

Lockout Algorithm:

# Progressive lockout duration calculation
base_duration = 5 minutes
lockout_duration = base_duration * (2 ^ (lockout_count - 1))
max_lockout = 1 hour

Client-Side Rate Limiting¶

JavaScript Security Manager: - Real-time attempt tracking - Progressive delay enforcement - Local storage persistence - User experience optimization

🔍 Input Validation & Sanitization¶

Comprehensive Input Security¶

Validation Layers: 1. Pydantic Models: Type and format validation 2. Custom Validators: Business logic validation
3. Security Sanitizers: XSS and injection prevention 4. Length Limits: Buffer overflow protection

Security Sanitization:

# Dangerous pattern detection and filtering
DANGEROUS_PATTERNS = [
    r"<[^>]*>",           # HTML tags
    r"javascript:",       # JavaScript URLs
    r"on\w+\s*=",        # Event handlers
    r"expression\s*\(",   # CSS expressions
    r"\.\./",            # Path traversal
    # ... and more
]

Input Validation Examples: - Agent IDs: Alphanumeric, underscore, hyphen only - Usernames: 3-50 characters, specific character set - Passwords: 1-200 characters, full Unicode support - PINs: 4-32 characters, numeric or alphanumeric

🌐 Network Security¶

HTTP Security Headers¶

ARCP implements comprehensive security headers following OWASP recommendations:

# Security Headers Applied
Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'...
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-Frame-Options: DENY
X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload
Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin
Permissions-Policy: geolocation=(), microphone=(), camera=()...

Content Security Policy (CSP)¶

Configurable CSP Settings: - Development: Permissive for local development - Production: Strict policy with minimal trusted sources - WebSocket Support: Secure WebSocket connections - External Resources: Controlled CDN access for dependencies

IP Filtering & Access Control¶

IP-Based Security: - Allowlist Mode: Only specified IP ranges allowed - Blocklist Mode: Specific IPs denied access - CIDR Support: Network range specifications - Header Validation: X-Forwarded-For protection

🔒 WebSocket Security¶

Multi-Tier WebSocket Authentication¶

ARCP provides three types of WebSocket connections with different security levels:

WebSocket Security Features¶

Authentication Flow:

// Dashboard WebSocket authentication
ws.onopen = function() {
    ws.send(JSON.stringify({
        type: 'auth',
        token: jwt_token,
        fingerprint: client_fingerprint
    }));
};

Security Measures: - Token Validation: JWT verification for each connection - Ping/Pong Monitoring: Connection health verification - Rate Limiting: Message frequency limits - Connection Limits: Maximum concurrent connections - Automatic Reconnection: Secure reconnection handling

🛡️ Content Filtering & XSS Protection¶

Response Sanitization¶

Security Sanitizer Features: - HTML Entity Encoding: Prevents script injection - Dangerous String Filtering: Removes malicious patterns - Length Limits: Prevents buffer overflow - Error Message Sanitization: Prevents information disclosure

Content Risk Detection:

# JSON response content scanning
ContentRiskDetector.scan_json_for_risk(payload)
# Flags potentially dangerous content without modifying response

Error Handling Security¶

RFC 9457 Problem Details: - Standardized error responses - Information leakage prevention - Sanitized error messages - Structured error format

📊 Security Monitoring & Logging¶

Comprehensive Audit Trail¶

Security Event Types: - Authentication attempts (success/failure) - Authorization failures - Rate limit violations - Suspicious activity detection - Session management events - Token validation failures

Logging Levels: - INFO: Successful operations - WARNING: Suspicious activities - ERROR: Security violations - CRITICAL: System compromises

Real-Time Security Monitoring¶

Dashboard Security Features: - Live security event monitoring - Failed authentication tracking - Rate limit status display - Session health monitoring - Alert generation and notification

Client-Side Security Manager:

// Security event tracking and logging
SecurityManager.logSecurityEvent('failed_login', 'Invalid credentials', {
    username: sanitized_username,
    ip_address: client_ip,
    timestamp: new Date().toISOString()
});

🔧 Security Configuration¶

Environment-Based Security¶

Development vs Production:

# Development (Permissive)
ENVIRONMENT=development
CSP_ALLOW_CONNECT_HTTP=true
RATE_LIMIT_RPM=100
LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG

# Production (Strict)
ENVIRONMENT=production
CSP_ALLOW_CONNECT_HTTP=false
RATE_LIMIT_RPM=60
SECURITY_LOGGING=true
IP_DEFAULT_DENY=true

Security Configuration Options¶

Authentication Settings:

# JWT Configuration
JWT_SECRET=your-256-bit-secret-key-here
JWT_ALGORITHM=HS256
JWT_EXPIRE_MINUTES=60

# Admin Credentials
ADMIN_USERNAME=secure_admin_user
ADMIN_PASSWORD=complex_password_here

# Agent Registration Keys
AGENT_KEYS=key1,key2,key3

Rate Limiting:

# Rate Limit Configuration
RATE_LIMIT_RPM=100          # Requests per minute
RATE_LIMIT_BURST=20         # Burst allowance
SESSION_TIMEOUT=30          # Minutes
MAX_SESSIONS=5              # Concurrent sessions

Network Security:

# CORS and Origins
ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://dashboard.example.com,https://monitor.example.com
TRUSTED_HOSTS=dashboard.example.com,api.example.com

# IP Filtering
IP_DEFAULT_DENY=false
BLOCKED_IPS=192.168.1.10,10.0.0.5
ALLOWED_IP_RANGES=10.0.0.0/8,192.168.0.0/16

🔍 Security Testing & Validation¶

Penetration Testing Suite¶

ARCP includes a comprehensive security testing framework:

Automated Security Tests: - Authentication bypass attempts - JWT token manipulation attacks
- Rate limiting bypass techniques - Input validation and injection testing - Session fixation and hijacking tests - XSS and CSRF protection validation

Security Test Categories:

# Included security tests
1. Authentication Bypass Tests
2. JWT Token Manipulation  
3. Rate Limiting Bypass
4. Session Hijacking Attempts
5. Input Validation & Injection
6. Authorization Boundary Tests
7. WebSocket Security Tests
8. Advanced Attack Vectors

Security Validation Tools¶

Built-in Security Scanner:

# Run comprehensive security tests
python tests/security/security_pentest.py --target http://localhost:8001 --verbose

# Save results to a report file
python tests/security/security_pentest.py --target http://localhost:8001 --output security_report.txt

Metrics Security Best Practices¶

To enhance security, ensure that metrics scraping is done via a secure token and restrict access to the /metrics endpoint to admin users only.

🔧 Advanced Security Configuration¶

High-Security Environment Setup¶

Maximum Security Configuration:

# Ultra-secure production setup
ENVIRONMENT=production

# Strong authentication
JWT_SECRET=<256-bit-random-key-here>
JWT_ALGORITHM=HS384
JWT_EXPIRE_MINUTES=30

# Restrictive rate limiting
RATE_LIMIT_RPM=30
RATE_LIMIT_BURST=10
MAX_SESSIONS=3

# Strict network security
IP_DEFAULT_DENY=true
ALLOWED_IP_RANGES=<your-office-network>/24
CSP_ALLOW_CONNECT_HTTP=false
CSP_ALLOW_CONNECT_HTTPS=true

# Enhanced monitoring
SECURITY_LOGGING=true
LOG_LEVEL=INFO
CONTENT_FILTERING=true

Security Headers Customization¶

Custom Security Headers:

# Additional security headers for high-security environments
CUSTOM_SECURITY_HEADERS = {
    "X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies": "none",
    "X-Robots-Tag": "noindex, nofollow, nosnippet, noarchive",
    "X-Download-Options": "noopen",
    "Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy": "require-corp",
    "Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy": "same-origin",
    "Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy": "same-origin"
}

Multi-Factor Authentication Integration¶

MFA Implementation Considerations: - TOTP (Time-based One-Time Password) support - Hardware token integration (YubiKey, etc.) - SMS/Email verification backup - Recovery code generation and management - MFA enforcement for admin accounts

Threat Detection & Response¶

Automated Threat Detection¶

Security Alert Triggers: - Multiple failed login attempts (>3 in 5 minutes) - JWT token manipulation attempts - Rate limiting violations - Unusual access patterns - Session hijacking indicators - Input validation failures - WebSocket connection anomalies

Real-time Security Monitoring:

// Dashboard security monitoring
- Live authentication failure tracking
- Rate limit status visualization  
- Session health monitoring
- Alert generation with severity levels
- Automated response actions

Security Metrics & KPIs¶

Key Security Indicators: - Authentication success/failure rates - Average session duration - Rate limiting effectiveness - Token validation failure rates - Security event frequency by type - Response time to security incidents - Security patch deployment time

Security Notifications¶

Monitor the following for security updates: - GitHub Security Advisories - Release notes for security fixes - Dependency security updates - CVE notifications for used libraries

Security Resources¶

• OWASP Security Guidelines
• RFC 9457 Problem Details
• JWT Security Best Practices
• WebSocket Security

This security overview provides a comprehensive understanding of ARCP's security architecture. For implementation details, refer to the individual component documentation and configuration guides.

Last Updated: September 2025
Version: ARCP 2.0.3