BanGUI/Docs/Tasks.md

TASK-012 — SetupGuard fires duplicate API calls on mount

Severity: Low

Where found

Frontend setup guard component — the setup status check is performed by multiple consumers independently on mount, resulting in duplicate GET /api/setup requests.

Why this is needed

Duplicate API calls on mount create unnecessary backend load and introduce potential race conditions where both calls return slightly different states. It also increases perceived load time.

Goal

Deduplicate the setup status check so all consumers share a single in-flight request.

What to do

1. Move the setup status fetch into a shared React Query (useQuery) call keyed by "setupStatus".
2. Any component that needs the setup status reads from the same query cache — React Query deduplicates concurrent requests automatically.
3. Remove any direct fetch calls for setup status that bypass the shared query.

Possible traps and issues

• React Query must be installed and configured at the app root.
• The cache TTL for setup status should be relatively short (e.g., 30 seconds) or invalidated after a successful setup completion.

Docs changes needed

• Web-Development.md — data-fetching conventions (use React Query, not raw fetch).

Doc references

• Web-Development.md — data fetching patterns

---

TASK-013 — nginx missing security response headers

Severity: High

Where found

Docker/nginx.conf — the server block has no Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy, or Strict-Transport-Security headers.

Why this is needed

Without these headers:

• No CSP — injected scripts can run freely (XSS).
• No X-Frame-Options — the app can be embedded in an iframe on an attacker-controlled page (clickjacking).
• No X-Content-Type-Options — browsers may MIME-sniff responses and execute text/plain as JavaScript.
• No Referrer-Policy — internal URLs are leaked in the Referer header to third-party resources.
• No HSTS — even with HTTPS configured, browsers will still attempt HTTP first unless told otherwise.

Goal

Add all OWASP-recommended security headers to the nginx server block.

What to do

Add to the server block in nginx.conf:

add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; img-src 'self' data:; font-src 'self'; connect-src 'self'; frame-ancestors 'none';" always;
add_header X-Frame-Options "DENY" always;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
add_header Referrer-Policy "no-referrer" always;
add_header Permissions-Policy "geolocation=(), microphone=(), camera=()" always;
# Only add HSTS when HTTPS is confirmed:
# add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload" always;

Possible traps and issues

• Fluent UI v9 uses inline style attributes — style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' is required for now. A stricter CSP using nonces would require server-side rendering of the HTML shell.
• HSTS must only be added when HTTPS is fully configured and working — it is irreversible for the configured max-age.
• Use always on add_header so headers are also included in error responses (4xx, 5xx).

Docs changes needed

• Architekture.md — document the nginx security header configuration.

Doc references

• Architekture.md — nginx configuration

---

TASK-014 — add_log_path passes arbitrary paths to fail2ban — no allowlist

Severity: High

Where found

backend/app/services/config_service.py — add_log_path(). backend/app/models/config.py — AddLogPathRequest.log_path: str.

Why this is needed

An authenticated user can instruct fail2ban to monitor any file path on the system (e.g., log_path: "/etc/shadow"). fail2ban runs as root and opens the file for reading. Even if fail2ban cannot meaningfully parse it, repeated log monitoring of sensitive files can leak their contents via fail2ban's own logging, and the feature represents an unintended read primitive into arbitrary root-readable files.

Goal

Restrict monitored log paths to a configurable set of safe directories.

What to do

1. Add a @field_validator("log_path") to AddLogPathRequest that:
   • Calls Path(log_path).resolve() to canonicalize.
   • Checks resolved.is_relative_to(Path("/var/log")) or any path in settings.allowed_log_dirs (a new configurable list).
   • Raises ValueError if the path is outside allowed prefixes.
2. Add BANGUI_ALLOWED_LOG_DIRS to Settings as list[str] defaulting to ["/var/log", "/config/log"].
3. Note: use is_relative_to(), not startswith() — the latter is bypassable with /var/log_evil.

Possible traps and issues

• The validator runs on the Pydantic model before the service is called — the resolved path check happens at request time, not at the OS level. The allowed list must match the actual Docker volume mount paths.
• Custom log file locations (e.g., /home/app/logs) need to be added to BANGUI_ALLOWED_LOG_DIRS.

Docs changes needed

• Features.md — document the log path restrictions.
• Backend-Development.md — input validation for path parameters.

Doc references

• Features.md — jail log monitoring
• Backend-Development.md — path validation

---

TASK-015 — GlobalConfigUpdate.log_target/log_level have no validation

Severity: High

Where found

backend/app/models/config.py — GlobalConfigUpdate. backend/app/services/config_service.py — update_global_config().

Why this is needed

log_target is forwarded raw to fail2ban via the Unix socket. fail2ban (running as root) creates or opens the file at that path if it does not exist. log_level is forwarded raw without checking it is a valid fail2ban log level. Both fields represent an injection path into fail2ban's internal state from an authenticated but potentially compromised account.

Goal

Validate both fields before forwarding to fail2ban.

What to do

1. Change log_target in GlobalConfigUpdate to accept only:
   • Literal["STDOUT", "STDERR", "SYSLOG"], or
   • A path validated the same way as AddLogPathRequest.log_path (see TASK-014).
2. Change log_level to Literal["CRITICAL", "ERROR", "WARNING", "NOTICE", "INFO", "DEBUG"].
3. Apply the same restrictions in get_global_config responses for consistency.

Possible traps and issues

• The allowlist for log_target paths must be consistent with TASK-014 (BANGUI_ALLOWED_LOG_DIRS).
• Existing deployments using non-standard log_target values (e.g., /var/log/fail2ban.log) must still work — ensure /var/log is in the default allowlist.

Docs changes needed

• Features.md — document valid values for log_target and log_level.
• Backend-Development.md — Pydantic Literal types for constrained string fields.

Doc references

• Features.md — global fail2ban configuration
• Backend-Development.md — model validation

---

TASK-016 — delete_log_path query parameter unvalidated

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/routers/jail_config.py — DELETE /api/config/jails/{name}/logpath — log_path: str = Query(...).

Why this is needed

The log_path query parameter is passed directly to the fail2ban socket command ["set", name, "dellogpath", log_path] without any path validation. An attacker could pass traversal strings or paths to sensitive files, instructing fail2ban to stop monitoring them and potentially confusing fail2ban's internal state.

Goal

Apply the same allowlist validation as add_log_path (TASK-014) to delete_log_path.

What to do

1. Extract the log path validation logic from TASK-014 into a shared helper function in backend/app/utils/path_utils.py (e.g., validate_log_path(path: str, allowed_dirs: list[str]) -> str).
2. Call the helper from both AddLogPathRequest validator and the delete_log_path route handler.
3. Return 422 with a descriptive error if validation fails.

Possible traps and issues

• Query parameters cannot have Pydantic field validators directly in FastAPI — use a Depends dependency that validates and returns the resolved path, or validate explicitly at the start of the route handler.

Docs changes needed

• Backend-Development.md — path validation helper usage.

Doc references

• Backend-Development.md — input validation patterns

---

TASK-017 — ip LIKE ? without escaping % and _ wildcards

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/repositories/fail2ban_db_repo.py and backend/app/repositories/history_archive_repo.py — SQL queries using ip LIKE ? with f"{ip_filter}%" interpolation.

Why this is needed

SQLite's LIKE operator treats % (any sequence of characters) and _ (any single character) as wildcards. If an IP filter value contains these characters — unusual for well-formed IPs, but possible via crafted input — the query matches unintended rows. For example, ip_filter = "10.0.0_" would match 10.0.0.1 through 10.0.0.9.

Goal

Escape LIKE metacharacters in all LIKE query parameters.

What to do

1. Escape % → \% and _ → \_ in the filter string before use.
2. Add ESCAPE '\' to the SQL: ip LIKE ? ESCAPE '\'.
3. Extract this into a helper: def escape_like(s: str) -> str: return s.replace("\\", "\\\\").replace("%", "\\%").replace("_", "\\_").

Possible traps and issues

• The backslash escape character itself must also be escaped first to avoid double-escaping. Process in the order: \ → \\, then % → \%, then _ → \_.
• Test with IPs that contain dots — dots are not LIKE wildcards in SQLite, so they do not need escaping.

Docs changes needed

• Backend-Development.md — database query conventions (LIKE escaping).

Doc references

• Backend-Development.md — database access patterns

---

TASK-018 — _write_conf_file and _create_conf_file not atomic

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/services/config_file_helpers.py lines ~190 (_write_conf_file) and ~226 (_create_conf_file) — both use target.write_text(content, encoding="utf-8") directly.

Why this is needed

Path.write_text() overwrites the file in place. If the process is killed mid-write, the config file is left in a truncated or corrupt state. fail2ban config files are critical — a corrupt jail.d/sshd.conf prevents fail2ban from reloading and may disable active protection.

Goal

Make all config file writes atomic using write-to-temp + rename.

What to do

1. Replace target.write_text(content) with:

   import tempfile, os
   tmp_fd, tmp_path = tempfile.mkstemp(dir=target.parent, suffix=".tmp")
   try:
       with os.fdopen(tmp_fd, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
           f.write(content)
       os.replace(tmp_path, target)
   except Exception:
       os.unlink(tmp_path)
       raise
   

2. Apply to both _write_conf_file and _create_conf_file.
3. This pattern is already used correctly in jail_config_service.py — follow that exact implementation.

Possible traps and issues

• The temp file must be in the same directory as the target (dir=target.parent) so os.replace() is atomic (same filesystem, single rename syscall).
• On Windows, os.replace() may fail if the target is open — not relevant for Linux containers, but worth noting.

Docs changes needed

• Backend-Development.md — atomic file write conventions.

Doc references

• Backend-Development.md — file I/O patterns

---

TASK-019 — session_secret has no minimum-length enforcement

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/config.py — session_secret: str = Field(..., description="..."). No min_length constraint.

Why this is needed

session_secret is the HMAC key used to sign all session tokens. A secret shorter than 32 characters (256 bits) significantly weakens HMAC-SHA256. The app currently accepts any non-empty string, including a single character.

Goal

Enforce a minimum secret length of 32 characters at startup.

What to do

1. Add min_length=32 to the session_secret Field definition.
2. Update the error message to explain: "session_secret must be at least 32 characters. Generate one with: python -c \"import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))\"".

Possible traps and issues

• This is a breaking change for any existing deployment where the secret is shorter than 32 characters. Include a migration note in the changelog.
• The debug compose file uses dev-secret-do-not-use-in-production (42 chars) — this already passes the 32-char check, so dev environments are unaffected.

Docs changes needed

• Backend-Development.md — document the session_secret constraint.

Doc references

• Backend-Development.md — configuration reference

---

TASK-020 — log_target accepts arbitrary paths — root file write via fail2ban (CRITICAL)

Severity: Critical

Where found

backend/app/models/config.py — GlobalConfigUpdate.log_target: str | None. backend/app/services/config_service.py — update_global_config() forwards the value to fail2ban without validation.

Why this is needed

fail2ban runs as root. When log_target is set to a path, fail2ban opens (and if necessary creates) that file for writing. An authenticated user can send PUT /api/config/global with {"log_target": "/etc/cron.d/bangui-pwned"}, causing fail2ban to create that file as root. With crafted content appended via fail2ban's own logging, this escalates to a root write primitive and potentially to Remote Code Execution.

Goal

Block all log_target values that are not "STDOUT", "STDERR", "SYSLOG", or a path under the configured allowed log directories.

What to do

1. Immediate: Add a strict @field_validator("log_target") to GlobalConfigUpdate that enforces the allowlist (see TASK-015 — this task and TASK-015 share the same fix).
2. Defense in depth: Before sending the command to fail2ban in update_global_config(), validate again at the service layer (not just the model layer).
3. Add a regression test: POST /api/config/global with log_target="/etc/passwd" must return 422.

Possible traps and issues

• This must be fixed before TASK-015 since it is the more severe variant. The fixes are identical — implement them together.
• Pydantic model validators run before the service receives the value, but an integration test confirming the full request path is essential.

Docs changes needed

• Features.md — document valid log_target values.
• Backend-Development.md — critical input validation requirement for config endpoints.

Doc references

• Features.md — fail2ban global configuration
• Backend-Development.md — input validation

---

TASK-021 — set_jail_config_enabled and write_jail_config_file not atomic

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/services/raw_config_io_service.py lines ~268 (set_jail_config_enabled) and ~344 (write_jail_config_file) — both use path.write_text(updated) directly.

Why this is needed

Same root cause as TASK-018. A process kill mid-write leaves the jail config file corrupted, disabling that jail on next fail2ban reload.

Goal

Atomic writes for set_jail_config_enabled and write_jail_config_file.

What to do

Same as TASK-018: replace path.write_text(content) with the NamedTemporaryFile + os.replace() pattern in both functions. This is most efficiently done as part of TASK-018 by extracting a shared atomic_write(path, content) helper in config_file_helpers.py.

Possible traps and issues

• Same as TASK-018.
• Extracting the helper makes TASK-018 and TASK-021 a single coordinated change.

Docs changes needed

• Backend-Development.md — atomic write helper documentation.

Doc references

• Backend-Development.md — file I/O conventions

---

TASK-022 — Session tokens stored in plaintext in SQLite

Severity: High

Where found

backend/app/db.py — sessions table schema: token TEXT NOT NULL UNIQUE. backend/app/repositories/session_repo.py — INSERT INTO sessions (token, ...) and SELECT ... WHERE token = ? both use the raw token value.

Why this is needed

If the BanGUI SQLite database file is exposed (volume mount misconfiguration, backup leak, path traversal via another vulnerability), all active session tokens are immediately usable — no cracking required. The attacker can directly use the token in the bangui_session cookie or Authorization: Bearer header.

Goal

Store a one-way hash of the session token in the database so that the DB file alone is not sufficient to hijack a session.

What to do

1. In session_repo.create_session(), store hashlib.sha256(token.encode()).hexdigest() instead of token in the token column.
2. In session_repo.get_session() and delete_session(), hash the supplied token before the SQL lookup.
3. The Session model's token field returned to the service layer still contains the raw token (for use in signing and response) — only the DB column changes.
4. Add a migration (_MIGRATIONS[2]) that renames the existing sessions table to sessions_old, creates a new one, and drops sessions_old (or simply truncates all sessions on upgrade, since they are all compromised anyway once the DB was readable in plaintext).

Possible traps and issues

• Coordinate with TASK-025 (HMAC bypass) — both fixes invalidate all existing sessions. Do them in the same release.
• The migration must be atomic (see TASK-023).
• The Session.token field name is slightly misleading once it stores a hash — consider renaming the DB column to token_hash.

Docs changes needed

• Architekture.md — update session data model description.
• Backend-Development.md — document the session token hashing pattern.

Doc references

• Architekture.md — authentication and session model
• Backend-Development.md — security patterns

---

TASK-023 — Database migration is non-atomic

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/db.py — _apply_migration(): calls db.executescript(migration_script) (which auto-commits per SQLite Python driver behavior) and then separately db.execute("INSERT INTO schema_migrations ...") + db.commit().

Why this is needed

executescript() issues an implicit COMMIT before executing the script, so the schema change and the migration record insertion are in two separate transactions. A process crash between them leaves the database in a migrated-but-unrecorded state. On next startup, the migration is re-applied. For a migration that is not idempotent (e.g., INSERT without OR IGNORE, ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN without IF NOT EXISTS), this causes a runtime error or data duplication.

Goal

Wrap each migration's DDL and its schema_migrations record in a single atomic transaction.

What to do

1. Replace db.executescript(migration_script) with individual await db.execute(stmt) calls for each DDL statement in the migration (split on ;).
2. Wrap the entire migration (all DDL statements + the INSERT INTO schema_migrations) in an explicit BEGIN IMMEDIATE ... COMMIT transaction.
3. Test: verify that a simulated crash mid-migration (mocked execute that raises on the second statement) leaves the DB at its prior version.

Possible traps and issues

• SQLite DDL in WAL mode: CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS and CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS are safe to re-run. ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN is not — it must be guarded with a PRAGMA table_info check if used in future migrations.
• Splitting a migration script on ; must handle semicolons inside string literals and comments. Consider storing each migration as a list[str] of individual statements instead of a single script string.

Docs changes needed

• Backend-Development.md — migration authoring guidelines.

Doc references

• Backend-Development.md — database schema and migrations

---

TASK-024 — No CSRF protection on state-mutating endpoints

Severity: High

Where found

All POST, PUT, DELETE routes in backend/app/routers/. Only SameSite=Lax on the session cookie provides any CSRF protection.

Why this is needed

SameSite=Lax blocks cross-site <form> POST requests but does not block fetch(..., {credentials: "include"}) initiated by JavaScript on a subdomain or a same-origin XSS injection. Without a CSRF token or Origin header check, a compromised subdomain can issue authenticated requests on behalf of the logged-in user.

Goal

Add explicit CSRF protection for all cookie-authenticated state-mutating endpoints.

What to do

Option A (recommended — custom header check):

1. Add a middleware that, for all POST/PUT/DELETE/PATCH requests authenticated via cookie (not Authorization: Bearer), requires the presence of a custom header: X-BanGUI-Request: 1.
2. The frontend API client (frontend/src/api/client.ts) already uses a shared request() function — add "X-BanGUI-Request": "1" to the default headers there.
3. Cross-site fetch() calls cannot set custom headers without CORS preflight, which the backend rejects (CORS is only configured for allowed origins).

Option B — Origin header validation: Add middleware that checks Origin or Referer matches the configured allowed origin for all mutating requests.

Possible traps and issues

• The Bearer-token path (Authorization: Bearer) does not use cookies and is therefore not CSRF-vulnerable — do not apply the check to those requests.
• Detecting cookie-vs-bearer authentication in middleware requires reading request headers before the auth dependency runs — check for Cookie: bangui_session= presence.
• Do not apply CSRF checks to GET, HEAD, OPTIONS requests.

Docs changes needed

• Architekture.md — document the CSRF protection mechanism.
• Backend-Development.md — CSRF middleware.
• Web-Development.md — document the X-BanGUI-Request header requirement.

Doc references

• Architekture.md — security architecture
• Backend-Development.md — security patterns
• Web-Development.md — API client conventions

---

TASK-025 — unwrap_session_token legacy fallback bypasses HMAC check entirely

Severity: High

Where found

backend/app/services/auth_service.py — unwrap_session_token() lines 44–49:

if SESSION_TOKEN_SIGNATURE_SEPARATOR not in token:
    return token  # HMAC check skipped entirely

Why this is needed

Any token that does not contain the separator character is returned unchanged as a "valid" token — the HMAC signature is never verified. Combined with TASK-022 (plaintext DB), an attacker who reads the database can take a raw token (no separator) and use it directly, bypassing the HMAC layer entirely. The signing mechanism provides zero additional security once the DB is readable.

Goal

Remove the HMAC bypass. All tokens must carry a valid signature.

What to do

1. Remove the early-return branch: if SESSION_TOKEN_SIGNATURE_SEPARATOR not in token: return token.
2. If the separator is absent, raise ValueError("Invalid session token.").
3. This invalidates all sessions created before HMAC signing was introduced — coordinate with TASK-022 (all sessions should be invalidated during that migration anyway).
4. Update all tests that use raw unsigned tokens.

Possible traps and issues

• Any test that constructs a raw token without a signature will start failing — this is intentional, update the tests.
• The unwrap_session_token docstring mentions "backward compatibility with existing raw session tokens stored in the DB" — remove this rationale once TASK-022 hashes the DB column (raw tokens will no longer be in the DB).

Docs changes needed

• Backend-Development.md — document the session token format (signed only).

Doc references

• Backend-Development.md — authentication internals

---

TASK-026 — OpenAPI docs (/docs, /redoc) exposed without authentication in production

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/main.py — FastAPI(title="BanGUI", ...) with no docs_url, redoc_url, or openapi_url override.

Why this is needed

FastAPI serves interactive API documentation at /docs (Swagger UI) and /redoc by default, accessible to any unauthenticated user. These pages expose every endpoint URL, all request and response schemas, and allow direct API invocation from the browser. An attacker can enumerate all available routes, understand input/output models, and attempt attacks without any prior knowledge of the API.

Goal

Disable API docs in production, or protect them behind authentication.

What to do

1. Add a BANGUI_ENABLE_DOCS: bool = Field(default=False, ...) setting to Settings.
2. In create_app():

   docs_url = "/api/docs" if resolved_settings.enable_docs else None
   redoc_url = "/api/redoc" if resolved_settings.enable_docs else None
   openapi_url = "/api/openapi.json" if resolved_settings.enable_docs else None
   app = FastAPI(..., docs_url=docs_url, redoc_url=redoc_url, openapi_url=openapi_url)
   

3. In compose.debug.yml, set BANGUI_ENABLE_DOCS: "true".
4. Production (compose.prod.yml) leaves BANGUI_ENABLE_DOCS unset (defaults to false).

Possible traps and issues

• The SetupRedirectMiddleware must allow /api/docs and /api/openapi.json in _ALWAYS_ALLOWED (or behind auth — a protected docs endpoint requires a custom Starlette route with require_auth).
• If you want protected docs (only accessible when logged in), use a custom route that returns the Swagger HTML after require_auth.

Docs changes needed

• Backend-Development.md — document the BANGUI_ENABLE_DOCS flag.

Doc references

• Backend-Development.md — configuration options

---

TASK-027 — Debug compose hardcodes a publicly known weak session secret

Severity: Medium

Where found

Docker/compose.debug.yml line ~63:

BANGUI_SESSION_SECRET: "${BANGUI_SESSION_SECRET:-dev-secret-do-not-use-in-production}"

Why this is needed

The fallback value dev-secret-do-not-use-in-production is now publicly visible in the repository. If compose.debug.yml is used in any environment where BANGUI_SESSION_SECRET is not set (e.g., a CI environment or a staging server that uses the debug compose file), all session tokens can be forged by anyone who has seen this repository.

Goal

Remove the insecure default. Require the secret to be set explicitly before the container starts.

What to do

1. Change to BANGUI_SESSION_SECRET: "${BANGUI_SESSION_SECRET:?BANGUI_SESSION_SECRET must be set — generate with: python -c 'import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))'}".
2. Create a .env.example file at the project root with placeholder values and generation instructions.
3. Add .env to .gitignore (verify it is already there).

Possible traps and issues

• This will break docker compose -f Docker/compose.debug.yml up without a .env file. Add a clear error message and setup instructions to the README or Instructions.md.
• docker-compose.yml (the legacy file) already uses the :? pattern — follow the same approach.

Docs changes needed

• Instructions.md — add first-run setup instructions for the .env file.

Doc references

• Instructions.md — developer setup

---

TASK-028 — Fire-and-forget asyncio.create_task() silently discards exceptions

Severity: Low

Where found

backend/app/services/ban_service.py line ~614:

asyncio.create_task(  # noqa: RUF006
    geo_cache.lookup_batch(uncached, http_session, db=app_db),
    name="geo_bans_by_country",
)

Why this is needed

The task reference is immediately discarded. Any exception raised inside geo_cache.lookup_batch() — network errors, aiohttp timeouts, DB write failures — becomes an unhandled task exception. In Python 3.11+ this emits a RuntimeWarning to stderr but is otherwise silently swallowed. Errors in background geo resolution are invisible in structured logs.

Goal

Ensure exceptions in fire-and-forget tasks are always logged.

What to do

1. Wrap the task body in a logging wrapper:

   async def _logged_task(coro: Coroutine[Any, Any, Any], name: str) -> None:
       try:
           await coro
       except Exception:
           log.exception("background_task_failed", task_name=name)
   
   asyncio.create_task(_logged_task(geo_cache.lookup_batch(...), "geo_bans_by_country"))
   

2. Extract _logged_task into backend/app/utils/async_utils.py as a reusable helper so the same pattern is used for all fire-and-forget tasks.

Possible traps and issues

• The done callback must not re-raise the exception — only log it.
• log.exception() inside a callback/task captures the traceback automatically with structlog.

Docs changes needed

• Backend-Development.md — fire-and-forget task conventions.

Doc references

• Backend-Development.md — async patterns

---

TASK-029 — Fail2BanConnectionError leaks socket path in HTTP error responses

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/exceptions.py — Fail2BanConnectionError.__init__() formats the message as f"{message} (socket: {socket_path})". backend/app/main.py — _fail2ban_connection_handler() returns {"detail": f"Cannot reach fail2ban: {exc}"} verbatim.

Why this is needed

Every 502 response caused by fail2ban being unreachable includes the full socket path (e.g., Cannot reach fail2ban: [Errno 2] No such file or directory (socket: /var/run/fail2ban/fail2ban.sock)) in the JSON error body. This discloses internal infrastructure details to unauthenticated users who can trigger the error. Similarly, _fail2ban_protocol_handler includes raw exception details that may expose internal parsing logic.

Goal

Return generic, user-friendly error messages in HTTP responses. Log full details server-side only.

What to do

1. In _fail2ban_connection_handler(), replace:

   content={"detail": f"Cannot reach fail2ban: {exc}"}
   

   with:

   content={"detail": "Cannot reach the fail2ban service. Check the server status page."}
   

2. In _fail2ban_protocol_handler(), similarly return a generic message.
3. Both handlers already log error=str(exc) server-side — this is correct and should remain.

Possible traps and issues

• Update any tests that assert the exact detail string in 502 responses.
• If the frontend displays this error message directly to the user, ensure it still makes sense after genericizing.

Docs changes needed

• Backend-Development.md — error message hygiene (no internal paths/details in responses).

Doc references

• Backend-Development.md — error handling

---

TASK-030 — ip-api.com geo lookups use plain HTTP — IP addresses sent unencrypted

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/services/geo_cache.py lines ~41–46:

_API_URL = "http://ip-api.com/json/{ip}?fields=..."
_BATCH_API_URL = "http://ip-api.com/batch?fields=..."

Why this is needed

All banned and monitored IP addresses are transmitted to ip-api.com in cleartext over HTTP. These are potentially sensitive data (PII under GDPR/CCPA — IP addresses identify users). Any network path between the BanGUI server and ip-api.com's servers can observe or modify the traffic. Forged responses would corrupt the geo database silently.

Goal

Use encrypted transport for all geo API calls, or switch to a local resolver.

What to do

ip-api.com's free tier does not support HTTPS. The recommended approach:

1. Promote the existing geoip_db_path setting (MaxMind GeoLite2-Country MMDB) to the primary resolver.
2. Use ip-api.com as a secondary fallback only when the MMDB is unavailable or returns no result.
3. Add documentation and compose file examples for downloading and mounting the GeoLite2 MMDB.
4. If ip-api.com HTTP is retained as a fallback, add a config flag BANGUI_GEOIP_ALLOW_HTTP_FALLBACK (default false) and warn clearly at startup when enabled.

Possible traps and issues

• The MaxMind GeoLite2 database requires a free account and a license key to download — document the setup process.
• The GeoLite2-Country MMDB does not include ASN or organisation data — these fields will be null when using the local resolver. The GeoInfo model must handle nullable asn and org.

Docs changes needed

• Features.md — document the geo resolution mechanism and MMDB setup.
• Architekture.md — update the external API dependency section.
• Backend-Development.md — configuration for geoip_db_path.

Doc references

• Features.md — geolocation
• Architekture.md — external API dependencies

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TASK-031 — bcrypt 72-byte truncation not enforced — long passwords silently equivalent to their prefix

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/models/auth.py — LoginRequest.password: str = Field(...) (no max_length). backend/app/models/setup.py — SetupRequest.master_password has min_length=8 but no max_length.

Why this is needed

bcrypt silently truncates all input at 72 bytes before hashing. A user who sets a 100-character password can be authenticated by supplying only the first 72 characters. The extra characters provide no additional security. An attacker who has reduced the search space to 72 characters can brute-force the password more efficiently than the user intended.

Goal

Enforce a maximum password length of 72 bytes, or pre-hash before bcrypt to remove the limit entirely.

What to do

Option A (simple):

1. Add max_length=72 to SetupRequest.master_password and LoginRequest.password.
2. Update the setup wizard UI to reflect the 72-character maximum.

Option B (removes the 72-byte limit entirely):

1. Pre-hash the password with HMAC-SHA256 using the session_secret as the key before passing to bcrypt:

   pre_hashed = hmac.new(secret.encode(), password.encode(), hashlib.sha256).digest()
   bcrypt.hashpw(pre_hashed, bcrypt.gensalt())
   

2. Apply consistently in both run_setup() and _check_password().

Option A is recommended as the simpler, lower-risk fix. Option B is architecturally cleaner but requires a stored hash migration.

Possible traps and issues

• Option A: Users who already have passwords longer than 72 characters will need to reset. For a single-admin app this is acceptable.
• Option B: If the session_secret changes, all stored password hashes become invalid (since the pre-hash key changes). This is a hidden coupling — document it explicitly.

Docs changes needed

• Features.md — document the password length constraint.
• Backend-Development.md — bcrypt usage notes.

Doc references

• Features.md — authentication and setup
• Backend-Development.md — password hashing

---

TASK-032 — geo_cache table grows unboundedly — no eviction or purge

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/repositories/geo_cache_repo.py — has upsert_entry, bulk_upsert_entries, upsert_neg_entry — but no DELETE functions. backend/app/db.py — geo_cache table has no last_seen or created_at column.

Why this is needed

Every unique IP address ever seen by fail2ban gets a row in geo_cache. The table is never trimmed. A BanGUI instance monitoring a busy server can accumulate millions of rows over months, increasing the DB file size and degrading query performance on every geo lookup.

Goal

Implement a retention policy that prunes geo cache entries not referenced recently.

What to do

1. Add a migration (_MIGRATIONS[2]) that adds a last_seen TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP column to geo_cache.
2. Update upsert_entry and bulk_upsert_entries to set last_seen = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP on every upsert.
3. Add delete_stale_entries(db: aiosqlite.Connection, cutoff_iso: str) -> int to geo_cache_repo.py.
4. Create backend/app/tasks/geo_cache_cleanup.py — a nightly task that calls delete_stale_entries with a 90-day cutoff.
5. Register the task in startup_shared_resources.

Possible traps and issues

• Adding a column requires a migration. Coordinate with TASK-023 (migration atomicity) and TASK-022 (session hash migration) — all three migrations must be sequenced correctly as _MIGRATIONS[2], [3], etc.
• IPs that have not been seen in 90 days will lose their geo data — on their next appearance they will be re-resolved from ip-api.com or the MMDB. This is acceptable.

Docs changes needed

• Architekture.md — update the geo_cache table description and add the cleanup task.
• Backend-Development.md — document the geo cache retention policy.

Doc references

• Architekture.md — application database schema
• Backend-Development.md — background tasks

---

TASK-033 — Session token returned in JSON body alongside HttpOnly cookie

Severity: Medium

Where found

backend/app/routers/auth.py — login() returns LoginResponse(token=signed_token, expires_at=expires_at) in the JSON body and sets the HttpOnly cookie. backend/app/models/auth.py — LoginResponse.token field.

Why this is needed

The LoginResponse JSON body contains the full signed session token. JavaScript running on the page (including third-party analytics scripts or a future XSS injection) can read the response body from a fetch() call and store the token in localStorage or a non-HttpOnly cookie. The Bearer-header authentication path (Authorization: Bearer <token>) then allows using that extracted token, completely bypassing the protections provided by the HttpOnly cookie.

Goal

Prevent the session token from being accessible to JavaScript when using cookie-based authentication.

What to do

1. For browser SPA consumers: Remove the token field from LoginResponse. The HttpOnly cookie is the only token the browser needs.
2. If an API-first (non-browser) token flow is required, create a separate endpoint POST /api/auth/token that returns a token in the body and does not set a cookie. Document this endpoint as "for programmatic API clients only, not for browser use".
3. Update the frontend — verify that AuthProvider does not use response.token (confirmed: it currently does not).

Possible traps and issues

• Any existing API client that relies on the token in the LoginResponse body will break. Check tests.
• The expires_at field in LoginResponse is useful for the frontend to know when to prompt for re-login — this can remain.
• The Bearer-token path in require_auth (Authorization: Bearer) remains functional for programmatic clients using the dedicated token endpoint.

Docs changes needed

• Features.md — document the authentication flow (cookie for browser, token endpoint for API clients).
• Backend-Development.md — authentication endpoint design.
• Web-Development.md — document that the frontend uses only the HttpOnly cookie.

Doc references

• Features.md — authentication
• Backend-Development.md — auth router design
• Web-Development.md — AuthProvider