info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
questions are based in part on the [OWASP Application Security Verification Standard Project](https://owasp.org/www-project-application-security-verification-standard/)
- There are significant dependencies on the system-installed OpenSSH daemon (Geo
requires users to set up custom authentication methods) and the omnibus or
system-provided PostgreSQL daemon (it must be configured to listen on TCP,
additional users and replication slots must be added, etc).
- The process for dealing with security updates (for example, if there is a
significant vulnerability in OpenSSH or other services, and the customer
wants to patch those services on the OS) is identical to the non-Geo
situation: security updates to OpenSSH would be provided to the user via the
usual distribution channels. Geo introduces no delay there.
## Infrastructure Monitoring
### What network and system performance monitoring requirements have been defined?
- None specific to Geo.
### What mechanisms exist to detect malicious code or compromised application components?
- None specific to Geo.
### What network and system security monitoring requirements have been defined?
- None specific to Geo.
## Virtualization and Externalization
### What aspects of the application lend themselves to virtualization?
- All.
## What virtualization requirements have been defined for the application?
- Nothing Geo-specific, but everything in GitLab needs to have full
functionality in such an environment.
### What aspects of the product may or may not be hosted via the cloud computing model?
- GitLab is “cloud native” and this applies to Geo as much as to the rest of the
product. Deployment in clouds is a common and supported scenario.
## If applicable, what approach(es) to cloud computing will be taken (Managed Hosting versus "Pure" Cloud, a "full machine" approach such as AWS-EC2 versus a "hosted database" approach such as AWS-RDS and Azure, etc)?
- To be decided by our customers, according to their operational needs.
## Environment
### What frameworks and programming languages have been used to create the application?
- Ruby on Rails, Ruby.
### What process, code, or infrastructure dependencies have been defined for the application?
- Nothing specific to Geo.
### What databases and application servers support the application?
### How will database connection strings, encryption keys, and other sensitive components be stored, accessed, and protected from unauthorized detection?
- There are some Geo-specific values. Some are shared secrets which must be
securely transmitted from the **primary** node to the **secondary** node at setup time. Our
documentation recommends transmitting them from the **primary** node to the system
administrator via SSH, and then back out to the **secondary** node in the same manner.
In particular, this includes the PostgreSQL replication credentials and a secret
key (`db_key_base`) which is used to decrypt certain columns in the database.
The `db_key_base` secret is stored unencrypted on the filesystem, in
`/etc/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json`, along with a number of other secrets. There is
no at-rest protection for them.
## Data Processing
### What data entry paths does the application support?
- Data is entered via the web application exposed by GitLab itself. Some data is
also entered using system administration commands on the GitLab servers (e.g.,
`gitlab-ctl set-primary-node`).
- **Secondary** nodes also receive inputs via PostgreSQL streaming replication from the **primary** node.
### What data output paths does the application support?
- **Primary** nodes output via PostgreSQL streaming replication to the **secondary** node.
Otherwise, principally via the web application exposed by GitLab itself, and via
SSH `git clone` operations initiated by the end-user.
### How does data flow across the application's internal components?
- **Secondary** nodes and **primary** nodes interact via HTTP/HTTPS (secured with JSON web
tokens) and via PostgreSQL streaming replication.
- Within a **primary** node or **secondary** node, the SSOT is the filesystem and the database
(including Geo tracking database on **secondary** node). The various internal components
are orchestrated to make alterations to these stores.
### What data input validation requirements have been defined?
- **Secondary** nodes must have a faithful replication of the **primary** node’s data.
### What data does the application store and how?
- Git repositories and files, tracking information related to the them, and the GitLab database contents.
### What data is or may need to be encrypted and what key management requirements have been defined?
- Neither **primary** nodes or **secondary** nodes encrypt Git repository or filesystem data at
rest. A subset of database columns are encrypted at rest using the `db_otp_key`.
- A static secret shared across all hosts in a GitLab deployment.
- In transit, data should be encrypted, although the application does permit
communication to proceed unencrypted. The two main transits are the **secondary** node’s
be protected using TLS, with the keys for that managed via Omnibus per existing
configuration for end-user access to GitLab.
### What capabilities exist to detect the leakage of sensitive data?
- Comprehensive system logs exist, tracking every connection to GitLab and PostgreSQL.
### What encryption requirements have been defined for data in transit - including transmission over WAN, LAN, SecureFTP, or publicly accessible protocols such as http: and https:?
- Data must have the option to be encrypted in transit, and be secure against
both passive and active attack (e.g., MITM attacks should not be possible).
## Access
### What user privilege levels does the application support?
- Geo adds one type of privilege: **secondary** nodes can access a special Geo API to
download files over HTTP/HTTPS, and to clone repositories using HTTP/HTTPS.
### What user identification and authentication requirements have been defined?
- **Secondary** nodes identify to Geo **primary** nodes via OAuth or JWT authentication
based on the shared database (HTTP access) or a PostgreSQL replication user (for
database replication). The database replication also requires IP-based access
controls to be defined.
### What user authorization requirements have been defined?
- **Secondary** nodes must only be able to *read* data. They are not currently able to mutate data on the **primary** node.
### What session management requirements have been defined?
- Geo JWTs are defined to last for only two minutes before needing to be regenerated.
- Geo JWTs are generated for one of the following specific scopes:
- Geo API access.
- Git access.
- LFS and File ID.
- Upload and File ID.
- Job Artifact and File ID.
### What access requirements have been defined for URI and Service calls?
- **Secondary** nodes make many calls to the **primary** node's API. This is how file
replication proceeds, for instance. This endpoint is only accessible with a JWT token.
- The **primary** node also makes calls to the **secondary** node to get status information.
## Application Monitoring
### What application auditing requirements have been defined? How are audit and debug logs accessed, stored, and secured?
- Structured JSON log is written to the filesystem, and can also be ingested
