@inproceedings{amirmoh-skalka-plas16,
author = {Sepehr Amir-Mohammadian and Christian Skalka},
title = {In-Depth Enforcement of Dynamic Integrity Taint Analysis},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Workshop on Programming Languages and Analysis for Security ({PLAS})},
year = 2016,
month = {October},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/plas16.pdf},
abstract = {Dynamic taint analysis can be used as a defense against
low-integrity data in applications with untrusted user interfaces.
An important example is defense against XSS and injection attacks
in programs with web interfaces. Data sanitization is commonly used
in this context, and can be treated as a precondition for endorsement
in a dynamic integrity taint analysis. However, sanitization is often
incomplete in practice. We develop a model of dynamic integrity taint
analysis for Java that addresses imperfect sanitization with an in-depth
approach. To avoid false positives, results of sanitization are endorsed
for access control (aka prospective security), but are tracked and logged
for auditing and accountability (aka retrospective security). We show how
this heterogeneous prospective/retrospective mechanism can be specified
as a uniform policy, separate from code. We then use this policy to
establish correctness conditions for a program rewriting algorithm that
instruments code for the analysis. The rewriting itself is a model of
existing, efficient Java taint analysis tools.}
}
@inproceedings{amirmoh-chong-skalka-post16,
author = {Sepehr Amir-Mohammadian and Stephen Chong and Christian Skalka},
title = {Correct Audit Logging: Theory and Practice},
booktitle = {International Conference on Principles of Security and Trust ({POST})},
year = 2016,
month = {April},
organization = {Springer},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/post16.pdf},
abstract = {Retrospective security has become increasingly important to the
theory and practice of cyber security, with auditing a crucial component
of it. However, in systems where auditing is used, programs are
typically instrumented to generate audit logs using manual, ad-hoc
strategies. This is a potential source of error even if log analysis
techniques are formal, since the relation of the log itself to program
execution is unclear. This paper focuses on provably correct program
rewriting algorithms for instrumenting formal logging specifications.
Correctness guarantees that the execution of an instrumented program
produces sound and complete audit logs, properties defined by an
information containment relation between logs and the program's logging
semantics. We also propose a program rewriting approach to
instrumentation for audit log generation, in a manner that guarantees
correct log generation even for untrusted programs. As a case study, we
develop such a tool for OpenMRS, a popular medical records management
system, and consider instrumentation of break the glass policies.}
}
@inproceedings{amirmoh-chong-skalka-law15,
author = {Sepehr Amir-Mohammadian and Stephen Chong and Christian Skalka},
title = {Foundations for auditing assurance},
booktitle = {Layered Assurance Workshop (LAW)},
year = 2015,
month = {December},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/law15.pdf},
abstract = {Retrospective security is an important element of layered
security systems. Auditing is central to the theory and practice of
retrospective security, however, in systems where auditing is used,
programs are typically instrumented to generate audit logs using manual,
ad-hoc strategies. This is a potential source of error even if log auditing
techniques are formal, since the relation of the log itself to program
execution is unclear. This paper focuses on provably correct program
rewriting algorithms for instrumenting formal logging specifications.
Correctness guarantees that execution of an instrumented program produces
sound and complete audit logs, properties defined by an information
containment relation between logs and the program's logging semantics. As
an application example, we consider auditing for break the glass policies,
wherein authorization is replaced by auditing in emergency conditions.}
}
@article{amirmoh-fallah-clss13,
author = {Sepehr Amir-Mohammadian and Mehran S. Fallah},
title = {Noninterference in a predicative polymorphic calculus for access control},
journal = {Computer Languages, Systems \& Structures},
year = 2013,
month = {October},
volume = 39,
number = 3,
pages = {109-120},
issn = {1477-8424},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/clss13.pdf},
abstract = {Polymorphic programming languages have been adapted for
constructing distributed access control systems, where a program represents
a proof of eligibility according to a given policy. As a security
requirement, it is typically stated that the programs of such languages
should satisfy noninterference. However, this property has not been defined
and proven semantically. In this paper, we first propose a semantics based
on Henkin models for a predicative polymorphic access control language
based on lambda-calculus. A formal semantic definition of noninterference
is then proposed through logical relations. We prove a type soundness
theorem which states that any well-typed program of our language meets the
noninterference property defined in this paper. In this way, it is
guaranteed that access requests from an entity do not interfere with those
from unrelated or more trusted entities.}
}
@techreport{amirmoh-chong-skalka-tr15,
author = {Sepehr Amir-Mohammadian and Stephen Chong and Christian Skalka},
title = {The theory and practice of correct audit logging},
institution = {University of Vermont},
year = 2015,
month = {October},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/tr15.pdf},
abstract = {Auditing has become increasingly important to the theory and
practice of cyber security. However, in systems where auditing is used,
programs are typically instrumented to generate audit logs using manual,
ad-hoc strategies. This is a potential source of error even if log
auditing techniques are formal, since the relation of the log itself to
program execution is unclear. This work focuses on provably correct
program rewriting algorithms for instrumenting formal logging
specifications. Correctness guarantees that the execution of an
instrumented program produces sound and complete audit logs, properties
defined by an information containment relation between logs and the
program's logging semantics. Logging semantics is sufficiently general,
so that the guarantees extend to various approaches of audit logging. As a
case study, we demonstrate the incorporation of the proposed techniques
and features in healthcare informatics. In particular, we consider
auditing for break the glass policies, wherein authorization is replaced
by auditing in emergency conditions.}
}
@phdthesis{amirmoh-phd-thesis,
author = {Sepehr Amir-Mohammadian},
title = {A Formal Approach to Combining Prospective and Retrospective Security},
school = {The University of Vermont},
year = {2017},
month = {July},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/thesis.pdf},
abstract = {The major goal of this dissertation is to enhance software security by
provably correct enforcement of in-depth policies. In-depth security
policies allude to heterogeneous specification of security strategies
that are required to be followed \textit{before} and \textit{after}
sensitive operations. Prospective security is the enforcement of
security, or detection of security violations before the execution of
sensitive operations, e.g., in authorization, authentication and
information flow. Retrospective security refers to security checks
after the execution of sensitive operations, which is accomplished
through accountability and deterrence. Retrospective security frameworks
are built upon \emph{auditing} in order to provide sufficient evidence
to hold users accountable for their actions and potentially support
other remediation actions. Correctness and efficiency of audit logs play
significant roles in reaching the accountability goals that are required
by retrospective, and consequently, in-depth security policies. This
dissertation addresses correct audit logging in a formal framework.
Leveraging retrospective controls beside the existing prospective
measures enhances security in numerous applications. This dissertation
focuses on two major application spaces for in-depth enforcement. The
first is to enhance prospective security through surveillance and
accountability. For example, authorization mechanisms could be improved
by guaranteed retrospective checks in environments where there is a
high cost of access denial, e.g., healthcare systems. The second
application space is the amelioration of potentially flawed prospective
measures through retrospective checks. For instance, erroneous
implementations of input sanitization methods expose vulnerabilities in
taint analysis tools that enforce direct flow of data integrity policies.
In this regard, we propose an in-depth enforcement framework to mitigate
such problems. We also propose a general semantic notion of explicit flow
of information integrity in a high-level language with sanitization.
This dissertation studies the ways by which prospective and retrospective
security could be enforced uniformly in a provably correct manner to handle
security challenges in legacy systems. Provable correctness of our results
relies on the formal Programming Languages-based approach that we have
taken in order to provide software security assurance. Moreover, this
dissertation includes the implementation of such in-depth enforcement
mechanisms for a medical records web application.}
}
@inproceedings{kari-chen-amirmoh-vivek-icnc19,
author = {Chadi Kari and
Sixia Chen and
Sepehr Amir{-}Mohammadian and
Vivek K. Pallipuram},
title = {Data Migration in Large Scale Heterogeneous Storage Systems with Nodes
to Spare},
booktitle = {International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications,
{ICNC} 2019, Honolulu, HI, USA, February 18-21, 2019},
publisher = {{IEEE}},
year = {2019},
month = {February},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/icnc19.pdf},
abstract = {In large scale storage systems such as data centers, the layout of data
on storage disks needs to be frequently reconfigured for load
balancing purposes or in the event of system failure/upgrades.
This reconfiguration event, referred to as \textit{data migration},
must be completed efficiently as the system tends to perform sub-optimally
during such process. The data-migration problem has been studied extensively
in the literature with efficient algorithms presented for homogeneous
(all storage disks have similar capabilities) and heterogeneous
(storage disks can have different capabilities) cases.
In this paper, we investigate adding \textit{data forwarding} to existing
algorithms for the heterogeneous data migration problem. In data forwarding,
we introduce additional storage nodes (called bypass nodes) during the
migration process. Our simulations show that adding as few as 2 bypass
nodes with limited capabilities can improve the performance by up to 15\%
and adding more bypass nodes with heterogeneous capabilities can improve
the migration performance by 25\%. We then present a novel algorithm that
makes intrinsic use of bypass nodes and show that the algorithm can always
achieve an optimal migration schedule while adding no more than
$ \alpha \times n/3$ bypass nodes where $n$ is the numbers of disks and
$\alpha$ is a term defined to reflect the heterogeneity factor of disks.}
}
@article{skalka-amirmoh-clark-jcs20,
author = {Christian Skalka and
Sepehr Amir{-}Mohammadian and
Samuel Clark},
title = {Maybe tainted data: {T}heory and a case study},
journal = {Journal of {C}omputer {S}ecurity},
year = 2020,
month = {April},
volume = 28,
number = 3,
pages = {295-335},
doi = {10.3233/JCS-191342},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/jcs20.pdf},
abstract = {Dynamic taint analysis is often used as a defense against
low-integrity data in applications with untrusted user interfaces.
An important example is defense against XSS and injection attacks
in programs with web interfaces. Data sanitization is commonly used
in this context, and can be treated as a precondition for endorsement
in a dynamic integrity taint analysis. However, sanitization is often
incomplete in practice. We develop a model of dynamic integrity taint
analysis for Java that addresses imperfect sanitization with an in-depth
approach. To avoid false positives, results of sanitization are endorsed
for access control (aka prospective security), but are tracked and logged
for auditing and accountability (aka retrospective security). We show how
this heterogeneous prospective/retrospective mechanism can be specified
as a uniform policy, separate from code. We then use this policy to
establish correctness conditions for a program rewriting algorithm that
instruments code for the analysis. These conditions synergize our previous
work on the semantics of audit logging with explicit integrity which is an
analogue of noninterference for taint analysis. A technical contribution of
our work is the extension of explicit integrity to a high-level functional
language setting with structured data, vs. previous systems that only address
low level languages with unstructured data. Our approach considers endorsement
which is crucial to address sanitization. An implementation of our rewriting
algorithm is presented that hardens the OpenMRS medical records software system
with in-depth taint analysis, along with an empirical evaluation of the overhead
imposed by instrumentation. Our results show that this instrumentation is
practical.}
}
@article{amirmoh-kari-lsfa20,
title = {Correct audit logging in concurrent systems},
author = {Sepehr Amir-Mohammadian and Chadi Kari},
journal = {Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science},
year = 2020,
month = {September},
volume = 351,
pages = {115-141},
doi = {10.1016/j.entcs.2020.08.007},
publisher = {Elsevier},
note = {Part of Special Issue: Proceedings of LSFA 2020, the 15th International Workshop on
Logical and Semantic Frameworks, with Applications},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/lsfa20.pdf},
abstract = {Audit logging provides post-facto analysis of runtime behavior for
different purposes, including error detection, amelioration of system
operations, and the establishment of security in depth. This necessitates
some level of assurance on the quality of the generated audit logs, i.e.,
how well the audit log represents the events transpired during the execution.
Information-algebraic techniques have been proposed to formally specify this
relation and provide a framework to study correct audit log generation in a
provable fashion. However, previous work fall short on how to guarantee this
property of audit logging in concurrent environments. In this paper, we study
an implementation model in a concurrent environment. We propose an algorithm
that instruments a concurrent system according to a formal specification of
audit logging requirements, so that any instrumented concurrent system
guarantees correct audit log generation. As an application, we consider systems
with microservices architecture, where logging an event by a microservice is
conditioned on the occurrence of a collection of events that take place in
other microservices of the system.}
}
@inproceedings{amirmoh-cpss21,
author = {Sepehr Amir{-}Mohammadian},
title = {A semantic framework for direct information flows in hybrid-dynamic systems},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 7th ACM Cyber-Physical System Security Workshop (CPSS 2021)},
publisher = {{Association for Computing Machinery}},
year = {2021},
month = {June},
pages = {5--15},
doi = {10.1145/3457339.3457981},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/cpss21.pdf},
abstract = {Hybrid-dynamic models provide an underlying framework to study the
evergrowing cyber-physical systems with an emphasis on the integration
of their discrete computational steps and the associated continuous physical
dynamics. Ubiquity of cyber-physical systems necessitates some level of
assurance about the secure flow of information through different discrete and
continuous components. In recent years, different logical frameworks have
been proposed to analyze indirect information flows in cyber-physical systems.
While these frameworks are used to verify secure flow of information in a
metalevel, they naturally fall short in support of implementing information flow
analyzers that could effectively enforce policies at runtime. This practical
limitation has triggered the implementation of direct information flow analyzers
in different language settings. In this paper, we focus on direct flows of
information confidentiality in hybrid-dynamic environments and propose a
semantic framework through which we can judge about such flows. This
semantic framework can be used to study the correctness of enforced policies
by these analyzers, and in particular taint tracking tools. In this regard, we
specify a dynamic taint tracking policy for hybrid dynamic systems and prove
its soundness based on the proposed semantic framework. As a case study,
we consider the flow of information in a public transportation control system,
and the effectiveness of our enforced policy on this system. }
}
@inproceedings{bajpai-amirmoh-itip21,
author = {Akshat Bajpai and Sepehr Amir{-}Mohammadian},
title = {Towards an indoor navigation system using monocular visual {SLAM}},
booktitle = {Proceedings of IT in Practice (ITiP) Symposium, the 45th Annual IEEE Computers,
Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC 2021)},
year = {2021},
month = {July},
pages = {520--525},
doi = {10.1109/COMPSAC51774.2021.00077},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/itip21.pdf},
abstract = {This paper presents a novel implementation of an augmented reality-aided indoor
navigation system for mobile devices. The proposed system uses the device’s camera
to scan the environment, generate an abstracted 3D map of the indoor environment,
and transfer it to a remote server. The 3D map of the indoor environment is achieved
through a tracking and mapping ARKit module. Once the indoor map is stored in the
server, it can be accessed simultaneously by multiple devices for localization and
navigation. Leveraging Unity assets and the directions retrieved from the server,
the application computes the shortest distance between the source and destination,
and displays AR-based direction markers for navigation assistance. }
}
@inproceedings{amirmoh-zowj-stpsa21,
author = {Sepehr Amir{-}Mohammadian and Afsoon Yousefi Zowj},
title = {Towards concurrent audit logging in microservices},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 15th IEEE International Workshop on Security,
Trust & Privacy for Software Applications (STPSA 2021), as part of the 45th Annual
IEEE Computers, Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC 2021)},
year = {2021},
month = {July},
pages = {1357--1362},
doi = {10.1109/COMPSAC51774.2021.00191},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/stpsa21.pdf},
abstract = {Information-algebraic models have been shown as effective semantic frameworks in the
specification of audit logging requirements. These semantic frameworks underlie
implementation models that formally guarantee correctness of audit logs. Recently,
one such implementation model has been proposed for concurrent systems. In this paper,
we study the deployment of an instrumentation tool based on this implementation model,
aiming at microservices-based applications that are built by Java Spring framework.
This tool instruments these applications according to a given logging specification,
described in JSON. A set of events in one or more microservices may necessitate the
generation of log entries in a specific microservice. Instrumentation of an application
enables different microservices of that application to concurrently generate audit logs.}
}
@techreport{amirmoh-tr21,
author = {Sepehr Amir-Mohammadian},
title = {Correct audit logging in concurrent systems with negative triggers},
institution = {University of the Pacific},
year = 2021,
month = {June},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/tr21.pdf},
abstract = {In previous work, we had proposed the semantics of correct audit logging in concurrent
systems using information algebra, and then had proposed an implementation model in
$\pi$-calculus that instruments programs to generate correct audit logs according to
the proposed semantic framework. The proposed instrumentation algorithm receives audit
logging requirements specified in Horn clause logic that specify a collection of events
(positive triggers) as preconditions to log. In this work, we extend the formal
specification of audit logging requirements with negative triggers (along with positive
ones) to boost the expressivity of the audit logging policies, i.e., a collection of
events that should not happen as precondition to log. This way, our language of audit
logging requirement specifications goes beyond Horn clauses. We show that the original
instrumentation algorithm is potent enough to emit programs that
generate correct audit logs at runtime.}
}
@inproceedings{salehi-noroozi-amirmoh-securware21,
author = {Khayyam Salehi and Ali A. Noroozi and Sepehr Amir{-}Mohammadian},
title = {Quantifying information leakage of probabilistic programs using the {PRISM} model checker},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Emerging Security
Information, Systems and Technologies (SECURWARE 2021)},
year = {2021},
month = {November},
pages = {47--52},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/securware21.pdf},
abstract = {Information leakage is the flow of information from secret inputs of a program to its public
outputs. One effective approach to identify information leakage and potentially preserve
the confidentiality of a program is to quantify the flow of information that is associated
with the execution of that program, and check whether this value meets predefined thresholds.
For example, the program may be considered insecure, if this quantified value is higher than
the threshold. In this paper, an automated method is proposed to compute the information leakage
of probabilistic programs. We use Markov chains to model these programs, and reduce the problem
of measuring the information leakage to the problem of computing the joint probabilities of
secrets and public outputs. The proposed method traverses the Markov chain to find the secret
inputs and the public outputs and subsequently, calculate the joint probabilities. The method has
been implemented into a tool called PRISM-Leak, which uses the PRISM model checker to build the
Markov chain of input programs. The applicability of the proposed method is highlighted by
analyzing a probabilistic protocol and quantifying its leakage.}
}
@inproceedings{ahn-amirmoh-stpsa22,
author = {Nicolas D. Ahn and Sepehr Amir{-}Mohammadian},
title = {Instrumenting microservices for concurrent audit logging: Beyond {H}orn clauses},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 16th IEEE International Workshop on Security,
Trust & Privacy for Software Applications (STPSA 2022), as part of the 46th Annual
IEEE Computers, Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC 2022)},
year = {2022},
month = {June},
pages = {1762--1767},
doi = {10.1109/COMPSAC54236.2022.00280},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/stpsa22.pdf},
abstract = {Instrumenting legacy code is an effective approach to enforce security policies.
Formal correctness of this approach in the realm of audit logging relies on semantic
frameworks that leverage information algebra to model and compare the information
content of the generated audit logs and the program at runtime. Previous work has
demonstrated the applicability of instrumentation techniques in the enforcement of
audit logging policies for systems with microservices architecture. However, the
specified policies suffer from the limited expressivity power as they are confined to
Horn clauses being directly used in logic programming engines. In this paper, we explore
audit logging specifications that go beyond Horn clauses in certain aspects, and the ways
in which these specifications are automatically enforced in microservices. In particular,
we explore an instrumentation tool that rewrites Java-based microservices according to a
JSON specification of audit logging requirements, where these logging requirements are not
limited to Horn clauses. The rewritten set of microservices are then automatically enabled
to generate audit logs that are shown to be formally correct.}
}
@inproceedings{salehi-noroozi-amirmoh-mohagheghi-qest22,
author = {Khayyam Salehi and Ali A. Noroozi and Sepehr Amir{-}Mohammadian and Mohammadsadegh Mohagheghi},
title = {An Automated Quantitative Information Flow Analysis for Concurrent Programs},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Quantitative Evaluation of SysTems (QEST 2022)},
year = {2022},
month = {September},
pages = {43--63},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16336-4_3},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/qest22.pdf},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
abstract = {Quantitative information flow is a rigorous approach for evaluating the security of a system.
It is used to quantify the amount of secret information leaked to the public outputs. In this
paper, we propose an automated approach for quantitative information flow analysis of concurrent
programs that are running under the control of a probabilistic scheduler. Markovian processes
are used to model the behavior of these programs. To this end, we assume that the attacker is
capable of observing the internal behavior of the program and propose an equivalence relation,
back-bisimulation, to capture the attacker's view of the program behavior. Two partition refinement
algorithms are developed to construct the back-bisimulation quotient of the program model and then
a quantification method is proposed for computing the information leakage using the quotient. We
have implemented our proposed approach as a leakage quantification tool, called PRISM-Leak. It is
built on the probabilistic model checker PRISM. Finally, two protocols, dining cryptographers and
single preference voting, are analyzed as case studies to show applicability and scalability of the
proposed approach compared to other available tools.}
}
@inproceedings{amirmoh-zowj-didit24,
author = {Sepehr Amir{-}Mohammadian and Afsoon Yousefi{-}Zowj},
title = {An Implementation Model for Correct Audit Logging in Cyber{-}Physical Systems},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Distributed Digital Twins (DiDiT 2024), as part of the 19th International Federated Conference on Distributed Computing Techniques (DisCoTec 2024), Groningen, The Netherlands},
year = {2024},
month = {June},
pdf = {https://sepehram.github.io/pubs/didit24.pdf},
abstract = {The widespread presence of cyber-physical systems necessitates a reliable assurance mechanism for
audit logging across various discrete and continuous components of these systems. This paper explores
an implementation model for cyber-physical systems. We introduce an algorithm designed to equip such
systems in accordance with a formal specification of audit logging requirements, which provably ensures
the generation of accurate audit logs in any instrumented system. The accuracy of the audit log is studied
within an information-algebraic semantic framework of audit logging.}
}
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