Threat Model — STRIDE Analysis

---

🏛️ Architecture Overview

flowchart LR
    subgraph ALTER[⚗️ THE ALTER]
        direction TB
        CHAMBER[🗄️ Chamber\nOverlayFS + Namespaces]
        ARTIFACTS[📦 Artifacts\nPCAP · Telemetry · Memory]
    end

    subgraph WARD[🛡️ THE WARD]
        direction TB
        EXTRACT[🔍 extract-iocs]
        TAGGER[🏷️ attack-tagger]
        ANALYZE[📊 analyze-pcap]
    end

    subgraph SEAL[🔏 THE SEAL]
        direction TB
        ATTEST[✍️ Attestation]
        SIGN[🔐 Signing]
        WORM[💾 WORM Storage]
    end

    CHAMBER -->|raw evidence| ARTIFACTS
    ARTIFACTS -->|PCAP| ANALYZE
    ARTIFACTS -->|telemetry| EXTRACT
    ARTIFACTS -->|memory| TAGGER
    EXTRACT -->|IOCs| ATTEST
    TAGGER -->|tags| ATTEST
    ANALYZE -->|flows| ATTEST
    ATTEST -->|evidence bundle| SIGN
    SIGN -->|signed bundle| WORM

    classDef alter fill:#1a0a2e,stroke:#8b5cf6,stroke-width:2px,color:#e9d5ff
    classDef ward fill:#0f172a,stroke:#22d3ee,stroke-width:2px,color:#a5f3fc
    classDef seal fill:#14532d,stroke:#84cc16,stroke-width:2px,color:#d9f99d
    class CHAMBER,ARTIFACTS alter
    class EXTRACT,TAGGER,ANALYZE ward
    class ATTEST,SIGN,WORM seal

---

📜 STRIDE Threat Matrix

#	STRIDE	Threat	Likelihood	Impact	Current Mitigations	Recommended Mitigations
S1	Spoofing	Sample Substitution — Adversary swaps malware sample pre-detonation	Medium	Critical	Content-addressed storage (SHA-256), immutable sample registry	Veil of Integrity: Signed sample manifests, TPM-bound sample sealing, in-toto attestation
S2	Spoofing	Worker Impersonation — Compromised analysis node claims false results	Medium	High	mTLS between Ward components, SPIFFE identity	Ward Sentinel: Short-lived workload certs, attestation-based admission, zero-trust mesh
S3	Spoofing	TPM Key Extraction — Physical/local attacker extracts sealing keys	Low	Critical	TPM 2.0 with PCR binding, sealed storage	Obsidian Vault: TPM-locked keys, PCR policy binding to measured boot, anti-hammering
T1	Tampering	PCAP/Telemetry Modification — Alter network captures or syscall logs post-collection	High	Critical	Append-only artifact store, Merkle tree hashing	Chronicle Chain: Hash-linked artifact log, periodic anchoring to transparency log, WORM enforcement
T2	Tampering	Rule Injection — Malicious YARA/Sigma rules injected into analysis pipeline	Medium	High	Rule registry with signed packages, review workflow	Grimoire Ward: Signed rule bundles, reproducible builds, canary rule testing, diff attestation
T3	Tampering	YARA Rule Corruption — Bit-flip or supply-chain compromise of detection rules	Low	Medium	Checksum verification, version pinning	Sigil Guard: Reproducible rule compilation, SBOM for rules, automated regression on rule change
R1	Repudiation	Unsigned Evidence — Artifacts lack cryptographic proof of origin	High	Critical	None (gap)	Seal of Witness: Mandatory cosign/Notary v2 signing, RFC 3161 timestamps, transparency log
R2	Repudiation	Missing Chain of Custody — No verifiable handoff log between Alter → Ward → Seal	High	High	Basic audit logging	Ledger of Custody: Immutable transfer receipts, CSP (Custody Sequence Protocol), witness quorum
R3	Repudiation	No Attestation — Analysis results cannot be tied to specific chamber execution	Medium	High	Chamber metadata in artifacts	Attestation Root: In-toto layout, SLSA provenance, TPM quote over chamber PCRs
I1	Info Disclosure	Sample Exfiltration — Malware leaks via chamber network covert channel	Medium	Critical	Network namespace isolation, egress deny	Veil of Silence: Zero-egress chamber, DNS sinkhole, TLS inspection, traffic shaping
I2	Info Disclosure	Telemetry Leakage — Sensitive host/system data in syscall/memory captures	High	High	Redaction filters, PII scrubbing	Mask of Anonymity: Differential privacy on telemetry, synthetic host profiles, kernel-level redaction
I3	Info Disclosure	Side-Channel Leakage — Timing/cache attacks reveal sample behavior to co-tenants	Low	Medium	Dedicated chamber nodes	Sanctum Isolation: Single-tenant chambers, cache partitioning (CAT), constant-time artifact write
D1	DoS	Chamber Resource Exhaustion — Malware consumes all CPU/RAM/disk in namespace	High	High	cgroups v2 limits, pids.max, memory.max	Bound Crucible: Hard resource quotas, OOM kill priority, disk quota with reservation, watchdog
D2	DoS	Pool Starvation — All chambers occupied, analysis queue backs up indefinitely	Medium	High	Queue depth monitoring, autoscaling	Reservoir Protocol: Priority inversion prevention, dead-letter queue, burst capacity reservation
D3	DoS	Tetragon/eBPF DoS — Malicious probe crashes kernel tracer, blinds observability	Low	Critical	Tetragon health checks, fallback logging	Aegis Fallback: Kernel auditd fallback, userspace syscall shim, probe validation sandbox
E1	EoP	Namespace Escape — Breakout from user/mount/net/pid namespace to host	Medium	Critical	User namespaces, seccomp, no-new-privs	Warded Boundary: gVisor/Kata fallback, syscall whitelist, CRI-O with Kata, runtime class
E2	EoP	Sudo Wrapper Abuse — Compromised analysis tool escalates via sudoers misconfig	Low	Critical	No sudo in containers, capability drop	Keyless Ward: Rootless throughout, capability bounding set, ambient capabilities denied
E3	EoP	Docker Socket Access — Chamber mounts /var/run/docker.sock, escapes to host	Low	Critical	Socket not mounted by default	Socket Seal: Podman rootless, socket activation with SELinux, socket proxy with ACL

---

🔮 Threat Flow Diagrams

Spoofing Attack Surface

sequenceDiagram
    actor Adversary
    participant Registry as 📜 Sample Registry
    participant Chamber as 🗄️ Chamber
    participant TPM as 🔐 TPM
    participant Ward as 🛡️ Ward

    Adversary->>Registry: Submit malicious sample (S1)
    Registry->>Chamber: Dispatch sample (hash verified)
    Chamber->>TPM: Seal sample hash to PCRs (S3)
    Chamber->>Ward: Emit artifacts + attestation
    Note over Ward: Verify attestation\nbefore processing

Tampering Attack Surface

flowchart TD
    ART[📦 Artifacts] -->|write| MERKLE[🔗 Merkle Log]
    MERKLE -->|anchor| TRANS[📜 Transparency Log]
    ART -->|verify| EXTRACT[🔍 extract-iocs]
    ART -->|verify| TAGGER[🏷️ attack-tagger]
    ART -->|verify| ANALYZE[📊 analyze-pcap]

    subgraph TAMPER[Tampering Vectors]
        T1[PCAP modification]
        T2[Rule injection]
        T3[YARA corruption]
    end

    T1 -.->|detected| MERKLE
    T2 -.->|detected| GRMOIRE[📚 Grimoire Ward]
    T3 -.->|detected| SIGIL[🛡️ Sigil Guard]

    classDef detect fill:#7c3aed,stroke:#a855f7,color:#f5f5f5
    class MERKLE,GRMOIRE,SIGIL detect

Repudiation Chain of Custody

flowchart LR
    CHAMBER[🗄️ Chamber] -->|1. Artifacts + PCR Quote| ATTEST[✍️ Attestation]
    ATTEST -->|2. Signed Bundle| SIGN[🔐 Signing]
    SIGN -->|3. WORM Write| WORM[💾 WORM]
    WORM -->|4. Timestamp| TS[⏰ RFC3161 TSA]
    TS -->|5. Anchor| LOG[📜 Transparency Log]

    classDef seal fill:#14532d,stroke:#84cc16,color:#d9f99d
    class ATTEST,SIGN,WORM,TS,LOG seal

Information Disclosure Vectors

graph TD
    MALWARE[🦠 Malware] -->|covert channel| DNS[🌐 DNS]
    MALWARE -->|timing| CACHE[💾 Cache]
    MALWARE -->|syscalls| TELEM[📊 Telemetry]

    DNS -->|blocked| VEIL[🕸️ Veil of Silence]
    CACHE -->|partitioned| SANCTUM[🏰 Sanctum Isolation]
    TELEM -->|redacted| MASK[🎭 Mask of Anonymity]

    classDef defense fill:#0f172a,stroke:#22d3ee,color:#a5f3fc
    class VEIL,SANCTUM,MASK defense

DoS & Elevation of Privilege

flowchart TB
    subgraph CHAMBER[🗄️ Chamber]
        CGROUP[cgroups v2]
        SECCOMP[seccomp-bpf]
        USERNS[User Namespace]
        PIDNS[PID Namespace]
        NETNS[Network Namespace]
        MNTNS[Mount Namespace]
    end

    MALWARE[🦠 Malware] -->|fork bomb| PIDNS
    MALWARE -->|mem exhaustion| CGROUP
    MALWARE -->|syscall spray| SECCOMP
    MALWARE -->|mount escape| MNTNS
    MALWARE -->|net pivot| NETNS
    MALWARE -->|uid map| USERNS

    CGROUP -->|OOM kill| WATCHDOG[👁️ Watchdog]
    SECCOMP -->|SIGSYS| TRAP[🪤 Syscall Trap]
    USERNS -->|unprivileged| ROOTLESS[🚫 Rootless]

    classDef layer fill:#1a0a2e,stroke:#8b5cf6,color:#e9d5ff
    class CGROUP,SECCOMP,USERNS,PIDNS,NETNS,MNTNS layer

---

📊 Risk Heat Map

quadrantChart
    title Risk Matrix: Likelihood × Impact
    x-axis Low Likelihood --> High Likelihood
    y-axis Low Impact --> High Impact
    quadrant-1 🔴 Immediate Action
    quadrant-2 🟠 High Priority
    quadrant-3 🟡 Monitor
    quadrant-4 🟢 Accept

    "S1: Sample Substitution": [0.6, 0.95]
    "S2: Worker Impersonation": [0.5, 0.75]
    "S3: TPM Key Extraction": [0.15, 0.95]
    "T1: PCAP Modification": [0.8, 0.9]
    "T2: Rule Injection": [0.5, 0.8]
    "T3: YARA Corruption": [0.2, 0.5]
    "R1: Unsigned Evidence": [0.9, 0.95]
    "R2: Missing Custody": [0.8, 0.8]
    "R3: No Attestation": [0.5, 0.8]
    "I1: Sample Exfiltration": [0.5, 0.95]
    "I2: Telemetry Leakage": [0.75, 0.75]
    "I3: Side-Channel": [0.2, 0.5]
    "D1: Resource Exhaustion": [0.8, 0.8]
    "D2: Pool Starvation": [0.5, 0.75]
    "D3: Tetragon DoS": [0.15, 0.95]
    "E1: Namespace Escape": [0.4, 0.95]
    "E2: Sudo Abuse": [0.1, 0.95]
    "E3: Docker Socket": [0.1, 0.95]

---

🛡️ Mitigation Status Tracker

Mitigation	Status	Component	Validation
Content-addressed storage	✅ Implemented	Registry	SHA-256 verification on dispatch
Append-only artifact log	✅ Implemented	Chamber	Merkle root per detonation
cgroups v2 hard limits	✅ Implemented	Chamber	CPU/RAM/pids/disk quotas
User namespaces + seccomp	✅ Implemented	Chamber	Rootless, no-new-privs, syscall filter
Network namespace zero-egress	✅ Implemented	Chamber	DNS sinkhole, deny-all egress
mTLS Ward mesh	🟡 Partial	Ward	SPIFFE certs, need rotation automation
Signed rule bundles	🟡 Partial	Ward	cosign verify, need reproducible builds
Mandatory evidence signing	❌ Gap	Seal	Priority 1: cosign/Notary v2 integration
Chain of custody ledger	❌ Gap	Seal	Priority 1: CSP protocol design
In-toto attestation	❌ Gap	Seal	Priority 2: SLSA provenance generation
TPM PCR binding	🟡 Partial	Chamber	PCR 0-7 measured, need policy sealing
gVisor/Kata fallback	❌ Planned	Chamber	Priority 2: RuntimeClass for high-risk
Transparency log anchoring	❌ Planned	Seal	Priority 2: Rekor/Trillian integration
Differential privacy telemetry	❌ Research	Ward	Priority 3: Evaluate utility tradeoff

---

🕯️ Occult Glossary

Term	Mundane Meaning
Alter	Detonation environment (chamber + artifact collection)
Ward	Analysis pipeline (extract-iocs, attack-tagger, analyze-pcap)
Seal	Evidence attestation, signing, and WORM storage
Veil	Network isolation / egress control
Sanctum	Single-tenant, hardware-isolated chamber
Grimoire	Signed, versioned rule registry (YARA, Sigma)
Sigil	Cryptographic integrity marker (hash, signature)
Chronicle	Append-only, hash-linked artifact log
Ledger of Custody	Immutable transfer receipt chain
Aegis	Fallback observability (auditd, userspace shim)
Obsidian Vault	TPM-sealed key hierarchy
Reservoir	Chamber pool with priority/burst management

---

📜 Covenant: Threat Model Maintenance

“A model unexamined is a ward unguarded.”

Trigger	Action	Owner
New chamber runtime (gVisor, Kata)	Re-evaluate E1, E2, E3	Platform
New analysis component added	Add STRIDE row, update diagrams	Analysis
Supply chain incident (rule/pkg)	Activate T2/T3 mitigations	Supply Chain
Quarterly	Full review, update heat map	Security
Post-incident	Add specific threat, verify mitigations	IR Team

---

🔮 Next Rites

1. Seal the Evidence — Implement mandatory cosign signing + RFC 3161 timestamps (R1, R2, R3)
2. Bind the Ledger — Design Custody Sequence Protocol for Alter→Ward→Seal transfers (R2)
3. Harden the Veil — Deploy zero-egress chamber with DNS sinkhole + TLS inspection (I1)
4. Forge the Aegis — Implement auditd fallback + userspace syscall shim (D3)
5. Anchor the Chronicle — Integrate Rekor transparency log for artifact anchoring (T1)

---

Sealed with the Sign of the Alter. Let no artifact pass unchallenged, no evidence stand unsealed, no threat dwell unmeasured.

Version: 1.0.0 | Classification: ARCANUM RESTRICTED | Custodian: Malware Research Cabal