Improve the security of your software supply chain with Amazon CodeArtifact package group configuration

Beginning at present, directors of package deal repositories can handle the configuration of a number of packages in a single single place with the brand new AWS CodeArtifact package deal group configuration functionality. A package deal group means that you can outline how packages are up to date by inside builders or from upstream repositories. Now you can enable or block inside builders to publish packages or enable or block upstream updates for a bunch of packages.

CodeArtifact is a completely managed package deal repository service that makes it straightforward for organizations to securely retailer and share software program packages used for utility improvement. You should use CodeArtifact with common construct instruments and package deal managers reminiscent of NuGet, Maven, Gradle, npm, yarn, pip, twine, and the Swift Bundle Supervisor.

CodeArtifact helps on-demand importing of packages from public repositories reminiscent of npmjs.com, maven.org, and pypi.org. This permits your group’s builders to fetch all their packages from one single supply of fact: your CodeArtifact repository.

Easy purposes routinely embrace dozens of packages. Giant enterprise purposes may need tons of of dependencies. These packages assist builders pace up the event and testing course of by offering code that solves frequent programming challenges reminiscent of community entry, cryptographic features, or knowledge format manipulation. These packages could be produced by different groups in your group or maintained by third events, reminiscent of open supply initiatives.

To reduce the dangers of provide chain assaults, some organizations manually vet the packages which might be out there in inside repositories and the builders who’re licensed to replace these packages. There are 3 ways to replace a package deal in a repository. Chosen builders in your group would possibly push package deal updates. That is usually the case to your group’s inside packages. Packages may additionally be imported from upstream repositories. An upstream repository could be one other CodeArtifact repository, reminiscent of a company-wide supply of permitted packages or exterior public repositories providing common open supply packages.

Here’s a diagram displaying completely different potentialities to show a package deal to your builders.

When managing a repository, it’s essential to outline how packages might be downloaded and up to date. Permitting package deal set up or updates from exterior upstream repositories exposes your group to typosquatting or dependency confusion assaults, for instance. Think about a nasty actor publishing a malicious model of a well known package deal underneath a barely completely different identify. For instance, as an alternative of coffee-script, the malicious package deal is cofee-script, with just one “f.” When your repository is configured to permit retrieval from upstream exterior repositories, all it takes is a distracted developer working late at night time to kind npm set up cofee-script as an alternative of npm set up coffee-script to inject malicious code into your techniques.

CodeArtifact defines three permissions for the three doable methods of updating a package deal. Directors can enable or block set up and updates coming from inside publish instructions, from an inside upstream repository, or from an exterior upstream repository.

Till at present, repository directors needed to handle these essential safety settings package deal by package deal. With at present’s replace, repository directors can outline these three safety parameters for a bunch of packages without delay. The packages are recognized by their kind, their namespace, and their identify. This new functionality operates on the area stage, not the repository stage. It permits directors to implement a rule for a package deal group throughout all repositories of their area. They don’t have to take care of package deal origin controls configuration in each repository.

Let’s see intimately the way it works
Think about that I handle an inside package deal repository with CodeArtifact and that I need to distribute solely the variations of the AWS SDK for Python, often known as boto3, which were vetted by my group.

I navigate to the CodeArtifact web page within the AWS Administration Console, and I create a python-aws repository that can serve vetted packages to inside builders.

This creates a staging repository along with the repository I created. The exterior packages from pypi will first be staged within the pypi-store inside repository, the place I’ll confirm them earlier than serving them to the python-aws repository. Right here is the place my builders will connect with obtain them.

By default, when a developer authenticates in opposition to CodeArtifact and kinds pip set up boto3, CodeArtifact downloads the packages from the general public pypi repository, phases them on pypi-store, and copies them on python-aws.

Now, think about I need to block CodeArtifact from fetching package deal updates from the upstream exterior pypi repository. I need python-aws to solely serve packages that I permitted from my pypi-store inside repository.

With the brand new functionality that we launched at present, I can now apply this configuration for a bunch of packages. I navigate to my area and choose the Bundle Teams tab. Then, I choose the Create Bundle Group button.

I enter the Bundle group definition. This expression defines what packages are included on this group. Packages are recognized utilizing a mixture of three parts: package deal format, an optionally available namespace, and identify.

Listed here are just a few examples of patterns that you should use for every of the allowed mixtures:

• All package deal codecs: /*
• A selected package deal format: /npm/*
• Bundle format and namespace prefix: /maven/com.amazon~
• Bundle format and namespace: /npm/aws-amplify/*
• Bundle format, namespace, and identify prefix: /npm/aws-amplify/ui~
• Bundle format, namespace, and identify: /maven/org.apache.logging.log4j/log4j-core$

I invite you to learn the documentation to be taught all the probabilities.

In my instance, there isn’t any idea of namespace for Python packages, and I need the group to incorporate all packages with names beginning with boto3 coming from pypi. Subsequently, I write /pypi//boto3~.

Then, I outline the safety parameters for my package deal group. On this instance, I don’t need my group’s builders to publish updates. I additionally don’t need CodeArtifact to fetch new variations from the exterior upstream repositories. I need to authorize solely package deal updates from my inside staging listing.

I uncheck all Inherit from father or mother group bins. I choose Block for Publish and Exterior upstream. I go away Permit on Inside upstream. Then, I choose Create Bundle Group.

As soon as outlined, builders are unable to put in completely different package deal variations than those licensed within the python-aws repository. After I, as a developer, attempt to set up one other model of the boto3 package deal, I obtain an error message. That is anticipated as a result of the newer model of the boto3 package deal is just not out there within the upstream staging repo, and there’s block rule that forestalls fetching packages or package deal updates from exterior upstream repositories.

Equally, let’s think about your administrator desires to guard your group from dependency substitution assaults. All of your inside Python package deal names begin together with your firm identify (mycompany). The administrator desires to dam builders for by chance downloading from pypi.org packages that begin with mycompany.

Administrator creates a rule with the sample /pypi//mycompany~ with publish=enable, exterior upstream=block, and inside upstream=block. With this configuration, inside builders or your CI/CD pipeline can publish these packages, however CodeArtifact won’t import any packages from pypi.org that begin with mycompany, reminiscent of mycompany.foo or mycompany.bar. This prevents dependency substitution assaults for these packages.

Bundle teams can be found in all AWS Areas the place CodeArtifact is on the market, at no further price. It lets you higher management how packages and package deal updates land in your inside repositories. It helps to forestall varied provide chain assaults, reminiscent of typosquatting or dependency confusion. It’s one further configuration that you would be able to add at present into your infrastructure-as-code (IaC) instruments to create and handle your CodeArtifact repositories.

Go and configure your first package deal group at present.

— seb