ARIA (Adaptive Reasoning & Intelligent Automation) is a production-grade agentic AI system that handles sensitive operations including browser automation, credential management, and system interactions. Security is a fundamental design principle, not an afterthought.

This document outlines our security policies, vulnerability reporting process, and best practices for secure deployment and usage.

We provide security updates for the following versions:

Note: We follow semantic versioning. Security patches are released as PATCH versions (x.x.X).

ARIA is designed with the following security principles:

• Sensitive actions (login, payment, CAPTCHA) require explicit human approval
• No autonomous execution of irreversible or high-risk operations
• Configurable safety gates per operation type

• Complete audit trail of all agent actions via Kafka/Redpanda
• Immutable event log enables forensic analysis
• Replay capability for security incident investigation

• Credentials never logged or stored in event streams
• Environment-based secret management
• Support for external secret stores (future: HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)

• Plugins run with minimal required permissions
• Browser automation sandboxed via Playwright
• Desktop automation requires explicit user consent

• Local LLM support eliminates data exfiltration to third-party APIs
• Sensitive screenshots can be masked or excluded from logging
• PII detection and redaction capabilities

We take all security bugs seriously. Please report any vulnerability in:

• Core ARIA components (Brain, Eye, Hand, Memory)
• API endpoints (FastAPI, WebSocket)
• Authentication & authorization mechanisms
• Credential handling & storage
• Plugin security boundaries
• Event sourcing & replay security
• Dependency vulnerabilities (if exploitable in ARIA context)

The following are generally not considered security vulnerabilities:

• Bugs in third-party services (LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.) - report to the service provider
• Social engineering attacks targeting end users
• Vulnerabilities requiring physical access to the host machine
• Known limitations documented in README or architecture docs
• Issues in example code or test fixtures (unless they expose production code vulnerabilities)

⚠️ DO NOT create a public GitHub issue for security vulnerabilities.

Instead, please email security reports to:

📧 mahdinavaei1367@gmail.com

Subject: [SECURITY] Brief description of vulnerability

Please provide:

1. Description of the vulnerability
2. Steps to reproduce (ideally with a minimal example)
3. Impact assessment (what can an attacker do?)
4. Affected versions (if known)
5. Suggested fix (if you have one)
6. Your name/handle (for attribution, if desired)

We maintain a Security Hall of Fame below. Researchers who responsibly disclose vulnerabilities will be credited (unless they prefer to remain anonymous).

Never commit .env files to version control:

# Already in .gitignore, but verify:
git ls-files | grep .env  # Should return nothing

Use strong, unique credentials:

# Generate secure API keys
python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(32))"

Rotate credentials regularly:

• API keys every 90 days
• Service passwords every 180 days
• Review access logs monthly

Restrict API access:

# config/api.yaml
api:
  host: "127.0.0.1"  # Only localhost, not 0.0.0.0
  allowed_origins:
    - "http://localhost:8501"  # Streamlit only

Use HTTPS in production:

# Behind reverse proxy (nginx/Caddy)
uvicorn aria.api.main:app --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

Firewall configuration:

# Example: Allow only localhost connections
sudo ufw deny 8000/tcp
sudo ufw allow from 127.0.0.1 to any port 8000

Keep dependencies updated:

# Check for security updates
pip list --outdated

# Update with caution (test first)
pip install --upgrade package-name

Audit dependencies regularly:

# Use pip-audit or safety
pip install pip-audit
pip-audit

# Or use safety
pip install safety
safety check

Pin critical dependencies:

# requirements.txt
langchain==0.1.0  # Pin exact version for reproducibility
playwright>=1.40.0,<2.0.0  # Allow patches, not majors

Never hardcode secrets:

# ❌ BAD
OPENAI_API_KEY = "sk-..."

# ✅ GOOD
OPENAI_API_KEY = os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")
if not OPENAI_API_KEY:
    raise ValueError("OPENAI_API_KEY not set")

Use .env for local development:

# .env (never commit!)
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
REDIS_PASSWORD=...

Use secret stores in production:

# Example: AWS Secrets Manager
aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id aria/prod/openai-key

Run containers as non-root:

# Dockerfile
USER aria:aria  # Not root

Limit container capabilities:

# docker-compose.yml
security_opt:
  - no-new-privileges:true
cap_drop:
  - ALL
cap_add:
  - NET_BIND_SERVICE  # Only if needed

Use read-only filesystems where possible:

read_only: true
tmpfs:
  - /tmp

Scan images regularly:

docker scan mahdinavaei/aria:latest

Sanitize logs:

# Logs should never contain credentials
logger.info(f"Logged in as {username}")  # ✅ OK
logger.info(f"Password: {password}")     # ❌ NEVER

Encrypt sensitive data at rest:

# Example: Encrypt profile data
from cryptography.fernet import Fernet

key = os.getenv("ENCRYPTION_KEY")
cipher = Fernet(key)
encrypted = cipher.encrypt(profile_data.encode())

Use HTTPS for all external API calls:

# Verify SSL certificates
import requests
response = requests.get(url, verify=True)  # Default, but be explicit

Disable unnecessary permissions:

# playwright launch args
browser = await playwright.chromium.launch(
    args=[
        "--disable-dev-shm-usage",
        "--no-sandbox",  # Only in Docker
        "--disable-geolocation",
        "--disable-notifications",
    ]
)

Clear browser state after runs:

# Clean up cookies/storage
await context.clear_cookies()
await context.clear_permissions()

Validate URLs before navigation:

from urllib.parse import urlparse

def is_safe_url(url: str) -> bool:
    parsed = urlparse(url)
    return parsed.scheme in ("http", "https") and parsed.netloc

Before submitting PRs, verify:

• No hardcoded credentials or API keys
• Input validation on all user-provided data
• No SQL/Command injection vulnerabilities
• Proper error handling (no stack traces to users)
• Logging doesn't expose sensitive data
• Dependencies are up-to-date and audited

Validate all inputs:

from pydantic import BaseModel, validator

class TaskRequest(BaseModel):
    url: str
    
    @validator("url")
    def validate_url(cls, v):
        if not v.startswith(("http://", "https://")):
            raise ValueError("Invalid URL scheme")
        return v

Avoid command injection:

# ❌ DANGEROUS
os.system(f"echo {user_input}")

# ✅ SAFE
subprocess.run(["echo", user_input], check=True)

Prevent path traversal:

from pathlib import Path

def safe_file_access(user_path: str, base_dir: Path) -> Path:
    full_path = (base_dir / user_path).resolve()
    if not full_path.is_relative_to(base_dir):
        raise ValueError("Path traversal attempt detected")
    return full_path

Write security-focused tests:

def test_api_requires_authentication():
    """Unauthenticated requests should fail"""
    response = client.get("/api/tasks")
    assert response.status_code == 401

def test_sql_injection_prevented():
    """SQL injection attempts should be sanitized"""
    malicious = "'; DROP TABLE users; --"
    response = client.post("/api/search", json={"query": malicious})
    assert response.status_code == 400  # Rejected

Risk: LLM models may generate malicious code or commands.

Mitigation:

• Human-in-the-loop approval for all system commands
• Sandboxed execution environments
• Output validation and sanitization

Risk: Automated browser could be hijacked to visit malicious sites.

Mitigation:

• URL allowlist/blocklist configuration
• Human approval for navigation outside approved domains
• Browser isolation via Playwright contexts

Risk: Credentials stored in Redis could be exposed if Redis is compromised.

Mitigation:

• Encrypt credentials at rest (planned for v2.0)
• Use Redis authentication (requirepass)
• Network isolation (Redis only accessible from ARIA containers)

Risk: Event logs may contain sensitive UI screenshots or form data.

Mitigation:

• Configurable PII redaction
• Screenshot masking for sensitive fields
• Event retention policies (auto-delete after N days)

Risk: Unauthenticated API access could allow unauthorized task execution.

Mitigation:

• API authentication required (API key or OAuth)
• Rate limiting per client
• IP allowlisting for production deployments

If a security incident occurs:

• Monitor logs for suspicious activity
• Set up alerts for failed authentication attempts
• Review event streams for anomalies

• Immediately rotate compromised credentials
• Disable affected API endpoints if necessary
• Isolate affected containers/services

• Apply security patches
• Remove malicious code/data
• Audit all related systems

• Restore services from clean backups
• Verify system integrity before bringing back online
• Monitor closely for 48 hours post-incident

• Conduct root cause analysis
• Update security policies and controls
• Communicate with affected users (if applicable)
• Document lessons learned

We are actively working on:

• API Authentication (OAuth 2.0, JWT)
• Credential Encryption (at rest in Redis)
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) for multi-user deployments
• Audit Log Export (SIEM integration)
• PII Detection & Redaction (automatic)
• Secret Store Integration (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)
• Container Security Scanning (CI/CD pipeline)
• Penetration Testing (third-party audit)

ARIA aims to align with:

• OWASP Top 10 (Web Application Security Risks)
• CWE Top 25 (Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses)
• NIST Cybersecurity Framework (Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover)
• GDPR (for European users - data minimization, right to erasure)

We thank the following researchers for responsibly disclosing vulnerabilities:

• OWASP Cheat Sheet Series
• Python Security Best Practices
• Docker Security Best Practices
• FastAPI Security Documentation

For security-related questions (non-vulnerabilities), please email:

📧 mahdinavaei1367@gmail.com

For general questions, use GitHub Discussions or Issues.