OVSTA
Consultant's Security and Telecommunications Test Report
Liberty Vote ImageCast 5.2 Remote Accessible Vote by Mail
Read the report at Liberty Vote Systems ↗
Dominion Democracy Suite ImageCast
Remote 5.2 RAVBMS
Security and Telecommunications Test Report
DOM-18001-RSECTR-01
Prepared for:
Vendor Name Dominion Voting
Vendor System Democracy Suite ImageCast Remote 5.2
Prepared by:
4720 Independence St.
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
303-422-1566
www.SLICompliance.com
Accredited by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) for Selected Voting System Test
Methods or Services
Dominion DS ICR 5.2 RAVBMS
Security & Telecomm Test Report
Copyright 2018 by SLI ComplianceSM, a Division of Gaming Laboratories International, LLC
Revision History
Date Release Author Revision Summary
3.30.2018 v1.0 J. Peterson, M. Santos Initial Release
4.10.2018 v1.1 M. Santos Updates for CASOS comments
Disclaimer
The information reported herein must not be used by the client to claim product
certification, approval, or endorsement by NVLAP, NIST, or any agency of the Federal
Government.
Trademarks
SLI is a registered trademark of SLI Compliance.
All products and company names are used for identification purposes only and may
be trademarks of their respective owners.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PHASE I – DOCUMENTATION REVIEW ..................................................................................................... 4
5.5 VOTE SECRECY ON DRE AND EBM SYSTEMS ......................................................................................... 5
6.1.2 DATA TRANSMISSIONS ......................................................................................................................... 5
6.2 DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, AND MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS ................................................................. 5
6.2.1 CONFIRMATION ................................................................................................................................... 6
7.1.1 ELEMENTS OF SECURITY OUTSIDE MANUFACTURERS CONTROL............................................................. 6
7.2 ACCESS CONTROL .................................................................................................................................. 6
7.2.1 GENERAL ACCESS CONTROL ............................................................................................................... 7
7.2.2 ACCESS CONTROL IDENTIFICATION ...................................................................................................... 7
7.4.5 SOFTWARE REFERENCE INFORMATION ................................................................................................. 8
7.4.6 SOFTWARE SETUP VALIDATION ............................................................................................................ 8
7.8 TESTING – SECURITY ............................................................................................................................. 8
PHASE II – FUNCTIONAL SECURITY TESTING ........................................................................................ 9
5.5 VOTE SECRECY ON DRE AND EBM SYSTEMS ....................................................................................... 10
7.2.1 GENERAL ACCESS CONTROL ............................................................................................................. 10
7.2.2 ACCESS CONTROL IDENTIFICATION .................................................................................................... 11
7.2.4 ACCESS CONTROL AUTHORIZATION ................................................................................................... 11
7.4.5 SOFTWARE REFERENCE INFORMATION ............................................................................................... 11
7.4.6 SOFTWARE SETUP VALIDATION .......................................................................................................... 12
7.6 TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND DATA TRANSMISSION ................................................................................. 12
7.8 TESTING – SECURITY ........................................................................................................................... 12
7.8.1 ACCESS CONTROL ............................................................................................................................ 13
7.8.2 DATA INTERCEPTION AND DISRUPTION ............................................................................................... 14
PHASE III – TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND DATA TRANSMISSION TESTING ................................... 14
6.1.2 DATA TRANSMISSION ......................................................................................................................... 15
6.2 DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, AND MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS ............................................................... 15
6.2.1 CONFIRMATION ................................................................................................................................. 16
POTENTIAL VULNERABILITIES ............................................................................................................... 16
7.2.1 GENERAL ACCESS CONTROL ............................................................................................................. 17
7.4.5 SOFTWARE REFERENCE INFORMATION ............................................................................................... 18
7.8 TESTING – SECURITY ........................................................................................................................... 18
SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................. 21
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INTRODUCTION
The California Voting Systems Standards (CVSS) were written in such a way to be
applicable to a wide variety of voting technology. Therefore, the relevant portions of
the CVSS are reviewed as the relate to the Remote Accessible Vote By Mail
(RAVBM) system for the purposes of this report. The use of “voting system” shall
apply to the RAVBM system.
This report outlines the testing SLI Compliance (SLI) followed when performing
Security and Telecommunications Testing on the Dominion Democracy Suite
ImageCast Remote 5.2 (RAVBM) system (DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system) against
the California Voting System Standards (CVSS).
The DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system enables the voter to mark their ballot using a
secure web-based interface, and generate and download a PDF representation of
choice selections. Voters then print that ballot, and then return it to their clerk.
Phase I – Documentation Review
During Phase I testing of the Dominion DS ICR 5.2 RAVBMS (DS ICR 5.2
RAVBM system), documentation was reviewed to verify and validate the following
requirements:
Top-level system design and architecture
System documentation and procedures
During Phase I testing, documentation was reviewed to verify and validate in
accordance with the following CVSS requirements:
5.5 Vote Secrecy on Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) and Electronic
Ballot Marking (EBM) Systems
6.1.2 Data Transmissions
6.2 Design, Construction, and Maintenance Requirements
6.2.1 Confirmation
7.1.1 Elements of Security outside Manufacturers Control
7.2 Access control
7.2.1 General Access Control
7.2.2 General Access Control
7.4.5 Software Reference Information
7.4.6 Software Setup Validation
7.8 Testing – Security
See the applicable section below for more details on these requirements and
the review results.
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5.5 Vote Secrecy on DRE and EBM Systems
All DRE and EBM systems shall ensure vote secrecy by:
a. Immediately after the ballot is recorded to persistent electronic storage or
printed, erasing the selections from the device’s display, working memory,
and all other storage, including all forms of temporary storage
b. Immediately after the voter chooses to cancel his or her ballot, erasing the
selections from the display and all other storage, including buffers and other
temporary storage
Results: Review of the Technical Data Package (TDP) validated that the
requirement was satisfactorily covered.
6.1.2 Data Transmissions
These requirements apply to the use of telecommunications to transmit data for the
preparation of the system for an election, the execution of an election, and the
preservation of the system data and audit trails during and following an election.
While this section does not assume a specific model of voting system operations
and does not assume a specific model for the use of telecommunications to
support such operations, it does address the following types of data, where
applicable:
Voter Authentication: Coded information that confirms the identity of a
voter for security purposes for a system that transmits votes individually
Ballot Definition: Information that describes to a voting machine the
content and appearance of the ballots to be used in an election
Vote Count: Information representing the tabulation of votes at any level
within the control of the jurisdiction, such as the polling place, precinct or
central count
List of Voters: A listing of the individual voters who have cast ballots in a
specific election
Additional data transmissions used to operate a voting system in the conduct of an
election, but not explicitly listed above, are also subject to the requirements of this
section.
Results: Review of the Technical Data Package (TDP) validated that the
requirement was satisfactorily covered.
6.2 Design, Construction, and Maintenance Requirements
Design, construction, and maintenance requirements for telecommunications
represent the operational capability of both system hardware and software. These
capabilities shall be considered basic to all data transmissions.
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Results: Review of the Technical Data Package (TDP) validated that the
requirement was satisfactorily covered.
6.2.1 Confirmation
Confirmation occurs when the system notifies the user of the successful or
unsuccessful completion of the data transmission, where successful completion is
defined as accurate receipt of the transmitted data. To provide confirmation, the
telecommunications components of a voting system shall notify the user of the
successful or unsuccessful completion of the data transmission. In the event of
unsuccessful transmission the user shall be notified of the action to be taken.
Results: Review of the Technical Data Package (TDP) validated that the
requirement was satisfactorily covered.
7.1.1 Elements of Security outside Manufacturers Control
The requirements of this section apply to the capabilities of a voting system that
must be provided by the manufacturer. However, an effective security program
requires well defined security practices by the purchasing jurisdiction and the
personnel managing and operating the system. These practices include:
Administrative and management controls for the voting system and election
management, including access controls
Internal security procedures
Adherence to, and enforcement of, operational procedures (e.g., effective
password management)
Security of physical facilities
Organizational responsibilities and personnel screening
Results: Review of the Technical Data Package (TDP) validated that the
requirement was satisfactorily covered.
7.2 Access control
Access controls are procedures and system capabilities that detect or limit access
to system components in order to guard against loss of system integrity,
availability, confidentiality, and accountability. Access controls provide reasonable
assurance that system resources such as data files, application programs, and
computer-related facilities and equipment are protected against unauthorized
operation, modification, disclosure, loss or impairment. Unauthorized operations
include modification of compiled or interpreted code, run-time alteration of flow
control logic or of data, and abstraction of raw or processed voting data in any form
other than a standard output report by an authorized operator.
Access controls may include physical controls, such as keeping computers in
locked rooms to limit physical access, and technical controls, such as security
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software programs designed to prevent or detect unauthorized access to sensitive
files. The access controls described in this section are limited to those controls
required to be provided by system manufacturers.
Results: Review of the Technical Data Package (TDP) validated that the
requirement was satisfactorily covered.
7.2.1 General Access Control
General requirements address the high-level functionality of a voting system.
These are the fundamental access control requirements upon which other
requirements in this section are based.
a. Voting system equipment shall provide access control mechanisms
designed to permit authorized access to the voting system and to prevent
unauthorized access to the voting system.
i. Access control mechanisms on the EMS shall be capable of identifying
and authenticating individuals permitted to perform operations on the
EMS.
b. Voting system equipment shall provide controls that permit or deny access
to the device’s software and files.
c. The default access control permissions shall implement the minimum
permissions needed for each role or group identified by a device.
d. The voting device shall prevent a lower-privileged process from modifying a
higher-privileged process.
e. An administrator of voting system equipment shall authorize privileged
operations.
f. Voting system equipment shall prevent modification to or tampering with
software or firmware through any means other than the documented
procedure for software upgrades.
Results: Review of the Technical Data Package (TDP) validated that the
requirement was satisfactorily covered.
7.2.2 Access Control Identification
Identification requirements provide controls for accountability when operating
and administering a voting system.
a. The voting system shall identify users and processes to which access is
granted and the specific functions and data to which each entity holds
authorized access.
Results: Review of the Technical Data Package (TDP) validated that the
requirement was satisfactorily covered.
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7.4.5 Software Reference Information
a. The manufacturer shall provide the NSRL, any California certified escrow
facility, pursuant to Title 2, Division 7, Chapter 6 of the California Code of
Regulation, and the Office of the Secretary of State with a copy of the
software installation disk, including the executable binary images of all third
party software. Further, the manufacturer shall deposit the source code,
tools, and documentation, to allow the complete and successful compilation
of a system in its production/operation environment.
i. The manufacturer shall document that the process used to verify the
software distributed on unalterable storage media is the certified
software by using the reference information provided by the NSRL or
other designated repository before installing the software.
c. The manufacturers shall document to whom they provide voting system
software.
Results: Review of the Technical Data Package (TDP) determined the
documentation doesn’t describe a process used to verify the software distributed is
the software provided by the NSRL or designated repository. The documentation
doesn’t provide a procedure or functionality to verify that the software is the
certified software by comparison.
7.4.6 Software Setup Validation
g. Setup validation methods shall verify the contents of all system storage
locations (e.g., system registers, variables, files, etc.) containing election
specific information (e.g., ballot style, candidate registers, measure
registers, etc.).
Results: Review of the Technical Data Package (TDP) determined the
documentation doesn’t reference any type of digital verification on software prior to
installation. No documentation on the method provided by external interface or
equipment used to verify software on the system. No documentation about a
mechanism for detecting unauthorized software.
7.8 Testing – Security
The S-ATA shall design and perform test procedures that test the security
capabilities of the voting system against the requirements. These procedures shall
focus on the ability of the system to detect, prevent, log, and recover from the
broad range of security risks identified. These procedures shall also examine
system capabilities and safeguards claimed by the manufacturer in the TDP to go
beyond these risks. The range of risks tested is determined by the design of the
system and potential exposure to risk. Regardless of system design and risk
profile, all systems shall be tested for effective access control and physical data
security.
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The S-ATA may meet these testing requirements by confirming proper
implementation of proven commercial security software. In this case, the
manufacturer must provide the published standards and methods used by the U.S.
Government to test and accept this software, or it may provide references to free,
publicly available publications of these standards and methods, such as
government web sites.
At its discretion, the S-ATA may conduct or simulate attacks on the system to
confirm the effectiveness of the system's security capabilities.
7.8.1 Access Control
The accredited testing laboratory shall conduct tests of system capabilities and
review the access control policies and procedures submitted by the manufacturer
to identify and verify the access control features implemented as a function of the
system. For those access control features built in as components of the voting
system, the S-ATA shall design tests to confirm that these security elements work
as specified.
Specific activities to be conducted by the S-ATA shall include:
a. A review of the manufacturer’s access control policies, procedures and
system capabilities to confirm that all requirements have been addressed
completely
Results: Review of the Technical Data Package (TDP) validated that the
requirement was satisfactorily covered.
Phase II – Functional Security Testing
Phase II testing included:
Testing of relevant software and operating system configuration for pertinent
vulnerabilities
Testing of hardware, including examination of unused hardware ports and
security measures applied to those ports
During Phase II, tests were exercised in order to verify and validate functional
security in accordance with the following CVSS requirements:
5.5 Vote Secrecy on DRE and EBM Systems
7.2.1 General Access Control
7.2.2 Access Control Identification
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7.2.4 Access Control Authorization
7.4.5 Software Reference Information
7.4.6 Software Setup Validation
7.6 Telecommunications and Data Transmission
7.8 Testing – Security
7.8.1 Access Control
7.8.2 Data Interception and Disruption
See the applicable section below for more details on these requirements and the
review results.
An issue log of any errors, anomalies, or omissions encountered during Phase II
testing was maintained.
5.5 Vote Secrecy on DRE and EBM Systems
All DRE and EBM systems shall ensure vote secrecy by:
a. Immediately after the ballot is recorded to persistent electronic storage or
printed, erasing the selections from the device’s display, working memory,
and all other storage, including all forms of temporary storage
b. Immediately after the voter chooses to cancel his or her ballot, erasing the
selections from the display and all other storage, including buffers and other
temporary storage
Testing performed: Testing was performed to verify how the system handled a
ballot being printed and the browser closed, as well as when the ballot is closed
prior to being printed. Attempts were made to resume a ballot, as well as to
determine if any ballot information resided in history or cache. Verified that no
traces of marked ballot information existed in browser history or cache.
7.2.1 General Access Control
General requirements address the high-level functionality of a voting system.
These are the fundamental access control requirements upon which other
requirements in this section are based.
a. Voting system equipment shall provide access control mechanisms
designed to permit authorized access to the voting system and to prevent
unauthorized access to the voting system.
Testing performed: The DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system uses an N-tier architecture
that consists of separate client applications, application server components,
database components, and a central document repository.
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Authentication included methods for both the voter facing application as well as the
administrative application.
Security was tested on the architecture pieces, client application, and
administrative application, which were accessible remotely.
Physical security was not able to be observed as this was hosted at a data center.
7.2.2 Access Control Identification
Identification requirements provide controls for accountability when operating
and administering a voting system.
a. The voting system shall identify users and processes to which access is
granted and the specific functions and data to which each entity holds
authorized access.
Testing performed: The DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system uses a client server system
to authenticate registered voters and serve up the correct ballot for a particular
voter using predefined ballot rules and voters that can be imported by the
jurisdiction.
Role based access controls are in place for administrative login purposes.
7.2.4 Access Control Authorization
a. Voting systems shall ensure that only authorized roles, groups, or
individuals have access to election data.
b. Voting systems shall explicitly authorize subject’s access based on access
control lists or policies.
c. Voting systems shall explicitly deny subject’s access based on access
control lists or policies
Testing performed: All access to the DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system is controlled by
Voter ID number and an associated pin number which is created during
registration.
All administrative access is controlled by username/password combinations and
there is a role-based administrative access in place.
The ability to assign voters to different electoral groups/electoral districts gives the
ability to assign ballots to voters in accordance with specific rules.
7.4.5 Software Reference Information
b. The voting system equipment shall be designed to allow the voting system
administrator to verify that the software is the certified software by
comparing it to reference information produced by the NSRL or other
designated repository.
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Testing performed: No methods or procedures for verification if the system is
running certified unmodified code were presented.
Testing was unable to successfully modify the server code to verify if a protection
method was in place and viable.
7.4.6 Software Setup Validation
c. Setup validation methods shall include a software verification method that
ensures that the voting system software has not been modified illegitimately.
i. The voting systems shall include any supporting software and hardware
necessary to conduct the software verification method.
ii. The manufacturer shall document the process used to conduct the
software verification method.
iii. The software verification method shall not modify the voting system
software on the voting system.
Testing performed: The DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system does not have a built in
hash verification method for the system which provides a method to verify that the
source code is not running modified code.
Testing was unable to successfully modify the server code to verify if a protection
method was in place and viable.
7.6 Telecommunications and Data Transmission
There are four areas that must be addressed by telecommunications and data
transmission security capabilities: access control, data integrity, detection and
prevention of data interception, and protection against external threats.
Testing performed: Tests were performed to verify that the system utilizes
electrical or optical transmission, and that the ballot is sent via SSL and no receipt
is utilized to verify. The client generates a blank ballot which does not contain
voting selections. Once the blank ballot is delivered, and until the ballot package is
saved, there are no external communications between the voter and the ballot
delivery system; all interactions remain local to the voter’s environment.
7.8 Testing – Security
The state-approved testing agency (S-ATA) shall design and perform test
procedures that test the security capabilities of the voting system against the
requirements. These procedures shall focus on the ability of the system to detect,
prevent, log, and recover from the broad range of security risks identified. These
procedures shall also examine system capabilities and safeguards claimed by the
manufacturer in the TDP to go beyond these risks. The range of risks tested is
determined by the design of the system and potential exposure to risk. Regardless
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of system design and risk profile, all systems shall be tested for effective access
control and physical data security.
The S-ATA may meet these testing requirements by confirming proper
implementation of proven commercial security software. In this case, the
manufacturer must provide the published standards and methods used by the U.S.
Government to test and accept this software, or it may provide references to free,
publicly available publications of these standards and methods, such as
government web sites.
At its discretion, the S-ATA may conduct or simulate attacks on the system to
confirm the effectiveness of the system's security capabilities.
Testing performed: Confirmed that the DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system does not
have, nor require, internet access once the ballot has been downloaded. There are
no external connections from the ballot to any outside server or service. With the
exception of printing or saving the ballot package there are no external calls to or
from the ballot.
7.8.1 Access Control
For those access control features built in as components of the voting system, the
S-ATA shall design tests to confirm that these security elements work as
specified.
Specific activities to be conducted by the S-ATA shall include:
b. Specific tests designed by the S-ATA to verify the correct operation of all
documented access control procedures and capabilities, including tests
designed to circumvent controls provided by the manufacturer. These tests
shall include:
i. Performing the activities that the jurisdiction will perform in specific
accordance with the manufacturer’s access control policy and
procedures to create a secure system, including procedures for software
and firmware installation
ii. Performing tests intended to bypass or otherwise defeat the resulting
security environment. These tests shall include simulation of attempts to
physically destroy components of the voting system in order to validate
the correct operation of system redundancy and backup capabilities
This review applies to the full scope of system functionality. It includes functionality
for defining the ballot and other pre-voting functions, as well as functions for
casting and storing votes, vote canvassing, vote reporting, and maintenance of the
system’s audit trail.
Testing performed: Testing was performed to confirm that DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM
system access control was maintained. Attempted XSS attacks, SQL Injection
attacks, directory listings/scans, attempted to pull directory file lists, scanned for
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default http login pages, scanned for robots_txt file, and pulled SSL certificate
information.
A full WMAP Web vulnerability scan was performed.
Burp Suite was utilized to fully scan, spider, and intercept both the Voter facing
application and the Administrative application.
A Nessus scan of the system was also performed.
Review of the requirement validated that the requirement was satisfactorily
covered.
7.8.2 Data Interception and Disruption
For systems that use telecommunications, as provided for in section 6 of the
Standards and consistent with California law, to transmit official voting data, the S-
ATA shall review, and conduct tests of, the data interception and prevention
safeguards specified by the manufacturer in its TDP. The S-ATA shall evaluate
safeguards provided by the manufacturer to ensure their proper operation,
including the proper response to the detection of efforts to monitor data or
otherwise compromise the system.
Testing performed: Verified that this system does not utilize telecommunications
for the transmission of official voting data; only for delivery of a blank ballot that
does not contain voter data or choice selections.
Phase III – Telecommunications and Data Transmission
Testing
Phase III consisted of the testing of system communications, including encryption
of data, as well as protocols and procedures for access authorization
During Phase III, tests were exercised in order to verify and validate
telecommunications and data transmission in accordance with the following CVSS
requirements:
6.1.2 Data Transmission
6.2 Design, Construction, and Maintenance Requirements
6.2.1 Confirmation
See the applicable section below for more details on these requirements and the
review results.
An issue log of any errors, anomalies, or omissions encountered during Phase III
testing was maintained.
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6.1.2 Data Transmission
These requirements apply to the use of telecommunications to transmit data for the
preparation of the system for an election, the execution of an election, and the
preservation of the system data and audit trails during and following an election.
While this section does not assume a specific model of voting system operations
and does not assume a specific model for the use of telecommunications to
support such operations, it does address the following types of data, where
applicable:
Voter Authentication: Coded information that confirms the identity of a voter
for security purposes for a system that transmits votes individually
Ballot Definition: Information that describes to a voting machine the content
and appearance of the ballots to be used in an election
Vote Count: Information representing the tabulation of votes at any level within
the control of the jurisdiction, such as the polling place, precinct or central count
List of Voters: A listing of the individual voters who have cast ballots in a
specific election
Additional data transmissions used to operate a voting system in the conduct of an
election, but not explicitly listed above, are also subject to the requirements of this
section.
Testing performed: Web Vulnerability scans were performed on the DS ICR 5.2
RAVBM system web server to determine if there were any basic web server
vulnerabilities in the initial serving of the in-browser application that houses the DS
ICR 5.2 RAVBM system ballot.
After the interactive ballot application is launched, connectivity to and from the
ballot were confirmed to be nonexistent, with the exception of calls to the local
system for print functionality.
6.2 Design, Construction, and Maintenance Requirements
Design, construction, and maintenance requirements for telecommunications
represent the operational capability of both system hardware and software. These
capabilities shall be considered basic to all data transmissions.
Testing performed: Verified that DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system consists of a
generated ballot which is typically used for absentee and mail in ballot marking.
The DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system does not utilize specific telecommunications
channels once the ballot has been downloaded and opened on the voter’s
machine.
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6.2.1 Confirmation
Confirmation occurs when the system notifies the user of the successful or
unsuccessful completion of the data transmission, where successful completion is
defined as accurate receipt of the transmitted data. To provide confirmation, the
telecommunications components of a voting system shall notify the user of the
successful or unsuccessful completion of the data transmission. In the event of
unsuccessful transmission the user shall be notified of the action to be taken.
Testing performed: Testing verified that the DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system ballot
package only allows the voter to mark and confirm marked ballots prior to printing
and or saving out a ballot package
There are no live connections from the application to a remote server after the
voter receives the generated ballot.
All selections are cleared after the browser has been closed.
This requirement was determined to be not applicable.
Potential Vulnerabilities
For any potential vulnerabilities discovered, SLI was tasked with identifying the
particular standards applicable to each vulnerability.
To the extent possible, reported vulnerabilities include an indication of whether the
exploitation of the vulnerability would require access by a:
Voter: Usually has low knowledge of the voting machine design and
configuration. Some may have more advanced knowledge. May carry out
attacks designed by others. They have access to the machine(s) for less
than an hour.
Poll worker: Usually has low knowledge of the voting machine design and
configuration. Some may have more advanced knowledge. May carry out
attacks designed by others. They have access to the machine(s) for up to
one week, but all physical security has been put into place before the
machines are received.
Elections official insider: Wide range of knowledge of the voting machine
design and configuration. May have unrestricted access to the machine for
long periods of time. Their designated activities include:
o Set up and pre-election procedures;
o Election operation;
o Post-election processing of results; and
o Archiving and storage operations.
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Vendor insider: With great knowledge of the voting machine design and
configuration. They have unlimited access to the machine before it is
delivered to the purchaser and, thereafter, may have unrestricted access
when performing warranty and maintenance service, and when providing
election administration services.
SLI will not verify or demonstrate exploitability of the vulnerability but the report of
the vulnerability will identify factors involved in the exploitation.
Any vulnerability theories developed by the security team shall, to the extent
possible, be referred to the Secretary of State staff.
7.2.1 General Access Control
General requirements address the high-level functionality of a voting system.
These are the fundamental access control requirements upon which other
requirements in this section are based.
a. Voting system equipment shall provide access control mechanisms
designed to permit authorized access to the voting system and to prevent
unauthorized access to the voting system.
i. Access control mechanisms on the EMS shall be capable of identifying
and authenticating individuals permitted to perform operations on the
EMS.
b. Voting system equipment shall provide controls that permit or deny access
to the device’s software and files.
c. The default access control permissions shall implement the minimum
permissions needed for each role or group identified by a device.
d. The voting device shall prevent a lower-privileged process from modifying a
higher-privileged process.
e. An administrator of voting system equipment shall authorize privileged
operations.
f. Voting system equipment shall prevent modification to or tampering with
software or firmware through any means other than the documented
procedure for software upgrades.
On the administrative application it was found that the password field has
autocomplete enabled, allowing the browser to cache and store passwords for
future visits to the application. Stored credentials can be captured by an attacker if
the user’s computer is compromised.
For the vulnerability in question, the level of access required to take advantage of
this potential vulnerability would be inclusive to the following actors:
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Election official insider, who could attempt to steal other’s credential to
access the administrative application in an unauthorized manner.
Vendor Insider, who could attempt to steal other’s credential to access the
administrative application in an unauthorized manner.
7.4.5 Software Reference Information
a. The manufacturer shall provide the NSRL, any California certified escrow
facility, pursuant to Title 2, Division 7, Chapter 6 of the California Code of
Regulation, and the Office of the Secretary of State with a copy of the
software installation disk, including the executable binary images of all third
party software. Further, the manufacturer shall deposit the source code,
tools, and documentation, to allow the complete and successful compilation
of a system in its production/operation environment.
i. The manufacturer shall document that the process used to verify the
software distributed on unalterable storage media is the certified
software by using the reference information provided by the NSRL or
other designated repository before installing the software.
b. The voting system equipment shall be designed to allow the voting system
administrator to verify that the software is the certified software by
comparing it to reference information produced by the NSRL or other
designated repository.
c. The manufacturers shall document to whom they provide voting system
software.
No verification methods were provided to ensure that the server that provides the
application to the voter to generate his/her ballots is running unmodified code.
For the vulnerability in question, the level of access required to take advantage of
this potential vulnerability would be inclusive to the following actors:
Voter, who can attempt to modify the server code remotely.
Election official insider, who could attempt to modify the server code
remotely.
Vendor Insider, who could attempt to locally modify the server code.
7.8 Testing – Security
Target: www.uocava.com (Voter facing application)
Potential Cross Site Scripting opportunity in select components of the
system. (High Severity)
Potential Instances of Cross site Request Forgery in select components of
the System. (Medium Severity)
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Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerabilities may arise when
applications rely solely on HTTP cookies to identify the user that has issued
a particular request. Because browsers automatically add cookies to
requests regardless of their origin, it may be possible for an attacker to
create a malicious web site that forges a cross-domain request to the
vulnerable application. For a request to be vulnerable to CSRF, the following
conditions must hold:
o The request can be issued cross-domain, for example using an HTML
form. If the request contains non-standard headers or body content, then
it may only be issuable from a page that originated on the same domain.
o The application relies solely on HTTP cookies or Basic Authentication to
identify the user that issued the request. If the application places
session-related tokens elsewhere within the request, then it may not be
vulnerable.
o The request performs some privileged action within the application,
which modifies the application's state based on the identity of the issuing
user.
o The attacker can determine all the parameters required to construct a
request that performs the action. If the request contains any values that
the attacker cannot determine or predict, then it is not vulnerable
Potential Open Redirection (DOM-Based) (Low Severity) may be a false
Positive.
DOM-based vulnerabilities arise when a client-side script reads data from a
controllable part of the DOM (for example, the URL) and processes this data
in an unsafe way.
DOM-based open redirection arises when a script writes controllable data
into the target of a redirection in an unsafe way. An attacker may be able to
use the vulnerability to construct a URL that, if visited by another application
user, will cause a redirection to an arbitrary external domain. This behavior
can be leveraged to facilitate phishing attacks against users of the
application. The ability to use an authentic application URL, targeting the
correct domain and with a valid SSL certificate (if SSL is used), lends
credibility to the phishing attack because many users, even if they verify
these features, will not notice the subsequent redirection to a different
domain.
Note: If an attacker is able to control the start of the string that is passed to
the redirection API, then it may be possible to escalate this vulnerability into
a JavaScript injection attack, by using a URL with the JavaScript: pseudo-
protocol to execute arbitrary script code when the URL is processed by the
browser.
Target: https://admin.uocava.com (Administrative portal)
Potential instances of SQL Injection. (High severity)
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SQL injection vulnerabilities arise when user-controllable data is
incorporated into database SQL queries in an unsafe manner. An attacker
can supply crafted input to break out of the data context in which their input
appears and interfere with the structure of the surrounding query.
A wide range of damaging attacks can often be delivered via SQL injection,
including reading or modifying critical application data, interfering with
application logic, escalating privileges within the database and taking control
of the database server.
SSL Certificate Not trusted: (Medium Severity)
This issue may just be an issue with the tool’s Root CA Store not having a
cloudFlare Trusted Root Certificate. It’s suggested that the server use a
certificate from a widely known and trusted Certificate authority.
SSL (or TLS) helps to protect the confidentiality and integrity of information
in transit between the browser and server, and to provide authentication of
the server's identity. To achieve this, the server must present an SSL
certificate that is valid for the server's hostname, is issued by a trusted
authority, and is valid for the current date. If any one of these requirements
is not met, SSL connections to the server will not provide the full protection
for which SSL is designed.
Potential Open Redirection (DOM-Based) (Low Severity) may be a false
Positive.
DOM-based vulnerabilities arise when a client-side script reads data from a
controllable part of the DOM (for example, the URL) and processes this data
in an unsafe way.
DOM-based open redirection arises when a script writes controllable data
into the target of a redirection in an unsafe way. An attacker may be able to
use the vulnerability to construct a URL that, if visited by another application
user, will cause a redirection to an arbitrary external domain. This behavior
can be leveraged to facilitate phishing attacks against users of the
application. The ability to use an authentic application URL, targeting the
correct domain and with a valid SSL certificate (if SSL is used), lends
credibility to the phishing attack because many users, even if they verify
these features, will not notice the subsequent redirection to a different
domain.
Note: If an attacker is able to control the start of the string that is passed to
the redirection API, then it may be possible to escalate this vulnerability into
a JavaScript injection attack, by using a URL with the JavaScript: pseudo-
protocol to execute arbitrary script code when the URL is processed by the
browser.
Password Field with Autocomplete enabled (Low Severity)
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Most browsers have a facility to remember user credentials that are entered
into HTML forms. This function can be configured by the user and also by
applications that employ user credentials. If the function is enabled, then
credentials entered by the user are stored on their local computer and
retrieved by the browser on future visits to the same application.
The stored credentials can be captured by an attacker who gains control
over the user's computer. Further, an attacker who finds a separate
application vulnerability such as cross-site scripting may be able to exploit
this to retrieve a user's browser-stored credentials.
Strict Transport Security not enforced (Low Severity)
The application fails to prevent users from connecting to it over unencrypted
connections. An attacker able to modify a legitimate user's network traffic
could bypass the application's use of SSL/TLS encryption and use the
application as a platform for attacks against its users. This attack is
performed by rewriting HTTPS links as HTTP so that if a targeted user
follows a link to the site from an HTTP page, their browser never attempts to
use an encrypted connection. The sslstrip tool automates this process.
To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must be suitably positioned to
intercept and modify the victim's network traffic. This scenario typically
occurs when a client communicates with the server over an insecure
connection such as public Wi-Fi, or a corporate or home network that is
shared with a compromised computer. Common defenses such as switched
networks are not sufficient to prevent this. An attacker situated in the user's
ISP or the application's hosting infrastructure could also perform this attack.
Note that an advanced adversary could potentially target any connection
made over the Internet's core infrastructure.
Summary
The DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system is an application that allows voters to access
ballots remotely as controlled by the jurisdiction. The ballot, once generated and
accessed, is self-contained within the individual voter’s browser. This means that
once the initial server call for the application is processed the entire application
runs in the current browser session. Since the application doesn’t utilize incoming
or outgoing connections once the ballot is loaded, this reduces the possibility of
interception or manipulation through network attack vectors.
This, however, poses a risk of server side compromise. To help mitigate this, the
vendor should provide high level documentation about the processes/procedures
and security to mitigate these risks. Including but not limited to
Secure hosting
Physical security of hosting sites
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Network security
Inventory and configuration management
Access control
Monitoring and logging
Security testing of the server side hosting security included application scanning,
and Nessus vulnerability scanning. The results of this scanning turned up a small
selection of High, Medium, and Low vulnerabilities that have minimal impact on the
overall security of the applications being tested.
It was determined that the DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system utilizes Cloudflare to serve
the ballot. Cloudflare provides redundant DDOS Protection, DNS, Database
services, network load balancing, in addition to IDS/IPS services. During
vulnerability scanning and Proof of concept application analysis it was noted that
CloudFlare was blocking and recording specific attempts at commonly known
vulnerabilities. Including but not limited to SQL injection.
Voter privacy is ensured by removing client side storage of marked selections in
browser history, allowing the voter to verify and save a ballot package for printing
for use in a currently setup jurisdiction Absentee/ Mail-in voting program.
The ability to tamper with the client side application is always present due to the
fact there are no server side verifications or validations in place after the ballot has
been generated. In this context, however, the ability to affect large numbers of
ballots is reliant upon server side compromise (initial DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system
ballot launch) which may also include; DDoS attacks, and the failure of the
absentee/mail-in ballot system. The voter is given the ability to proof and confirm
ballot selections within the DS ICR 5.2 RAVBM system interactive ballot system as
well as the printed paper ballot.
Review of documentation showed that the TDP did not cover requirements 7.4.5 –
Software Reference Information, or 7.4.6 Software Setup Validation.
Functional testing showed that requirements 7.4.5 – Software Reference
Information, or 7.4.6 – Software Setup Validation, were not able to be verified to
ensure that the system is running the correct software.
Potential vulnerability findings included potential issues for requirements 7.2.1. –
General Access Control, where password autocomplete is enabled, 7.4.5 –
Software Reference Information, where these is no verification method to ensure
the correct applications are being run, and 7.8 Testing – Security, where potential
cross site scripting, cross site request forgery, open redirection, SQL injection,
untrusted SSL certificate, and strict transport security are not being enforced.
As per the direction given by the California Secretary of State, this security testing
report does not include any recommendation as to whether or not the system
should be approved.
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