Allow all student council members to view users #652
Conversation
Other members of the student council might have legitimate reasons to view collegists' data (e.g. to obtain contact information). This policy change was approved by the director.
📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughThe Changes
Sequence Diagram(s)sequenceDiagram
participant User
participant UserPolicy
participant Role
User->>UserPolicy: viewAll()
UserPolicy->>Role: Check Role::STUDENT_COUNCIL
Role->>UserPolicy: Role Validated
UserPolicy-->>User: Access Granted
User->>UserPolicy: viewAny()
UserPolicy->>Role: Check Role::STUDENT_COUNCIL
Role->>UserPolicy: Role Validated
UserPolicy-->>User: Access Granted
User->>UserPolicy: view()
UserPolicy->>Role: Check Role::STUDENT_COUNCIL
Role->>UserPolicy: Role Validated
UserPolicy-->>User: Access Granted
User->>UserPolicy: updateAnyPermission()
UserPolicy->>Role: Check Role::STUDENT_COUNCIL
Role->>UserPolicy: Role Validated
UserPolicy-->>User: Permission Updated
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Actionable comments posted: 1
🧹 Outside diff range and nitpick comments (1)
app/Policies/UserPolicy.php (1)
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1-359: A summary of our findings and recommendations, if I may.The modifications to the
UserPolicyclass do indeed align with the stated objective of granting all student council members access to view users. However, I must emphasise that these changes have far-reaching implications for both security and maintainability that warrant careful consideration.To summarise our key points:
- The expanded access permissions may potentially grant broader access than initially intended.
- The continued modification of deprecated methods raises concerns about code maintainability.
- The current caching strategy may lead to outdated permissions if roles change frequently.
- The growing complexity of role-based logic may prove challenging to maintain in the long term.
Might I suggest the following next steps:
- Conduct a comprehensive security review to ensure the principle of least privilege is maintained.
- Develop a plan to phase out deprecated methods and transition to their recommended replacements.
- Refine the caching strategy to balance performance with up-to-date permissions.
- Consider implementing a more robust and scalable approach to role-based access control.
Should you require any assistance in implementing these recommendations or conducting further analysis, I would be more than happy to oblige. Shall I open a GitHub issue to track these tasks?
📜 Review details
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Review profile: CHILL
📒 Files selected for processing (1)
- app/Policies/UserPolicy.php (3 hunks)
🧰 Additional context used
🔇 Additional comments (3)
app/Policies/UserPolicy.php (3)
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126-131: I say, we ought to consider a more robust approach to role-based permission updates.The modification to the
updateAnyPermissionmethod is indeed consistent with the changes made to other methods. However, I must express some concern regarding the potential security implications of allowing more roles to update permissions. Furthermore, the current structure of multiple conditional blocks for different roles may prove challenging to maintain as the number of roles continues to grow.Might I propose the following suggestions for your consideration:
- Implement a more granular permission system, perhaps using a dedicated permissions table or a role-permission mapping.
- Consider using a role hierarchy or permission inheritance system to simplify role management.
- Implement thorough logging of all permission changes to aid in auditing and troubleshooting.
To assist in assessing the current role-based logic, please consider running the following script:
#!/bin/bash # Description: Analyze the complexity of role-based logic in UserPolicy echo "Number of role checks in UserPolicy:" rg "hasRole\(" app/Policies/UserPolicy.php | wc -l echo "\nMost frequently checked roles:" rg "hasRole\(" app/Policies/UserPolicy.php | grep -oP "Role::\K[A-Z_]+" | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head -n 5
71-71: I say, we ought to address this deprecated method, what?While the modification to the
viewAnymethod is consistent with the changes made toviewAll, I must draw your attention to the fact that this method is marked as deprecated. It would be most prudent to devise a plan for its removal rather than continuing to modify it. Might I suggest the following course of action:
- Identify all current usages of this method throughout the codebase.
- Replace these usages with calls to either
viewAllorviewSomeas appropriate.- Once all usages have been replaced, remove this deprecated method entirely.
To assist in this endeavour, please consider running the following script:
38-38: Kindly review the expanded access permissions for student council members.I say, the modification to include both
Role::STUDENT_COUNCIL_LEADERSandRole::COMMITTEE_LEADERSin theviewAllmethod does align with the stated objective of allowing all student council members to view users. However, I must point out that this change could potentially grant broader access than initially intended. It would be prudent to thoroughly review this alteration to ensure it adheres to the principle of least privilege and doesn't inadvertently expose sensitive information.To verify the impact of this change, might I suggest running the following script:
| @@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ public function view(User $user, User $target): bool | |||
| return $user->hasRole([ | |||
| Role::SECRETARY, | |||
| Role::DIRECTOR, | |||
| Role::STUDENT_COUNCIL => Role::STUDENT_COUNCIL_LEADERS, | |||
| Role::STUDENT_COUNCIL => array_merge(Role::STUDENT_COUNCIL_LEADERS, Role::COMMITTEE_LEADERS), | |||
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💡 Codebase verification
Recommendation to Enhance Caching Strategy in UserPolicy.php
The Cache::remember implementation within UserPolicy.php effectively handles role checks. However, to ensure that permissions remain up-to-date when user roles change, it is advisable to implement a cache invalidation mechanism or reduce the cache duration.
- Implement Cache Invalidation: Ensure that the cache is cleared or updated whenever a user's roles are modified.
- Adjust Cache Duration: Consider reducing the cache time to balance performance with the need for up-to-date permissions.
🔗 Analysis chain
A word of caution regarding the caching strategy, if I may.
The modification to the view method is indeed consistent with the changes made to viewAll and viewAny. However, I must bring to your attention a potential issue with the caching strategy employed here. While caching is undoubtedly beneficial for performance, it may lead to outdated permissions if roles change frequently.
Might I suggest considering the following strategies to mitigate this risk:
- Reduce the cache duration from 60 seconds to a shorter period, balancing performance with up-to-date permissions.
- Implement a cache invalidation mechanism that clears this cache whenever a user's roles are modified.
- Include the user's role update timestamp in the cache key to ensure fresh data is fetched when roles change.
To assist in assessing the impact of caching, please consider running the following script:
Further Investigation Needed on Role-Based Caching in UserPolicy.php
To better assess the caching strategy's impact on permissions, please run the following script to identify all instances of Cache::remember in UserPolicy.php:
🏁 Scripts executed
The following scripts were executed for the analysis:
Script:
#!/bin/bash
# Description: Identify all instances of role-based caching in the UserPolicy
echo "Instances of role-based caching in UserPolicy:"
rg "Cache::remember\(" app/Policies/UserPolicy.php -A 5 -B 2
Length of output: 449
Script:
#!/bin/bash
# Description: Identify all instances of role-based caching in UserPolicy
echo "Instances of role-based caching in UserPolicy:"
rg "Cache::remember\(" app/Policies/UserPolicy.php -A 5
Length of output: 554
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Have not checked if the changes work but LGTM |
Other members of the student council might have legitimate reasons to view collegists' data (e.g. to obtain contact information). This policy change was approved by the director.