KrakenD Security Auditor

Purpose

Performs comprehensive security audits of KrakenD configurations using the native krakend audit command with intelligent fallback and automatic Flexible Configuration support. Identifies authentication gaps, authorization issues, exposure risks, and security best practices violations with actionable remediation steps.

When to activate

• User asks to audit security: "check security", "security audit", "is this secure"
• User mentions security concerns: "secure my api", "security issues", "vulnerabilities"
• User wants to review authentication/authorization: "check auth", "review authentication"
• User wants to find security problems: "security scan", "find security issues"
• After completing configuration changes to verify security posture
• Before production deployment (proactively suggest)

What this skill does

1. Performs comprehensive security audit using smart three-tier approach:

   • Native krakend audit command (most comprehensive)
   • Docker-based audit (fallback)
   • Basic security checks (last resort: CORS, auth, rate limiting, debug endpoints)

2. Auto-detects Flexible Configuration (CE and EE variants) and adjusts audit accordingly

3. Categorizes issues by severity: Critical → High → Medium → Low → Info

4. Provides specific remediation with:

   • Exact location (JSON path)
   • Step-by-step fix instructions
   • Example configuration snippets
   • Links to relevant documentation

5. Checks common vulnerabilities:

   • Missing or weak authentication/authorization
   • Exposed sensitive endpoints
   • Missing rate limiting (DoS protection)
   • Lack of CORS configuration
   • Debug endpoints in production
   • Insecure headers
   • Overly permissive configurations

Security Categories

Understanding these helps interpret audit results:

• authentication: Missing or weak authentication mechanisms
• authorization: Authorization bypasses or inadequate access controls
• exposure: Exposed sensitive information or debug endpoints
• dos-protection: Lack of rate limiting or abuse prevention
• security-headers: Missing security-related HTTP headers
• encryption: Weak or missing encryption (TLS, JWT signing)
• injection: Potential injection vulnerabilities
• best-practice: Security best practice violations

Tools used

• audit_security - Comprehensive security audit (smart 3-tier fallback: native → Docker → basic checks)
• list_features - Browse available security features and edition requirements
• get_feature_config_template - Get configuration templates for security features
• search_documentation - Find relevant security documentation
• validate_config - Validate configuration structure alongside security checks

Security Audit Workflow

Step 1: Prepare Audit

• Read the configuration file
• Detect Flexible Configuration (CE or EE variant)
• Determine required edition (CE or EE)
• Check for LICENSE file if EE features detected

Step 2: Run Security Audit

Use audit_security tool which automatically:

• Selects best audit method (native → Docker → basic)
• Handles FC detection and configuration
• Infers version from $schema field
• Categorizes findings by severity
• Generates remediation guidance

Step 3: Analyze Results

• Group findings by severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low, Info)
• Identify quick wins vs. long-term improvements
• Highlight authentication/authorization gaps first
• Note edition-specific recommendations

Step 4: Present Report

• Show severity summary upfront
• Detail critical and high severity issues first
• Provide specific remediation steps
• Include configuration examples
• Link to relevant documentation

Audit Commands

When showing users how to manually audit, provide command based on: (1) Version from $schema, (2) Edition (CE/EE by features), (3) FC detection, (4) LICENSE for EE.

Examples:

# CE audit
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/etc/krakend krakend:VERSION audit -c /etc/krakend/krakend.json

# EE audit (LICENSE file present)
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/etc/krakend krakend/krakend-ee:VERSION audit -c /etc/krakend/krakend.json

Accuracy: Native krakend audit (most comprehensive) > Docker > Basic checks (limited scope). Images: krakend:VERSION (CE), krakend/krakend-ee:VERSION (EE).

Output format

Provide a clear, actionable security report:

# KrakenD Security Audit Report

## Summary
🔍 Audit Method: Native KrakenD (most comprehensive)
⚠️ Issues Found: 3 high, 2 medium, 1 low
🎯 Priority: Address high severity issues immediately

## Critical Issues
None found ✓

## High Severity Issues

### 1. Missing Authentication on Sensitive Endpoints
**Severity**: HIGH
**Category**: authentication
**Location**: $.endpoints[2] (POST /api/users)

**Issue**:
Endpoint accepts POST requests without any authentication mechanism. This allows anonymous users to create resources.

**Remediation**:
1. Add JWT validation to the endpoint:
```json
"extra_config": {
  "auth/validator": {
    "alg": "RS256",
    "audience": ["https://api.example.com"],
    "jwk_url": "https://auth.example.com/.well-known/jwks.json"
  }
}

References:

• https://www.krakend.io/docs/authorization/jwt-validation/
• https://www.krakend.io/docs/enterprise/authentication/api-keys/

---

2. Debug Endpoint Enabled

Severity: HIGH Category: exposure Location: $.extra_config["debug_endpoint"]

Issue: Debug endpoint is enabled, exposing internal application state and metrics to potential attackers.

Remediation: Remove or disable the debug endpoint in production:

"extra_config": {
  "debug_endpoint": false
}

Or remove the entire "debug_endpoint" configuration block.

References:

• https://www.krakend.io/docs/service-settings/debug-endpoint/

Medium Severity Issues

3. Missing CORS Configuration

Severity: MEDIUM Category: security-headers Location: $.extra_config (root level)

Issue: No CORS configuration found. This may cause browser requests to fail or allow all origins by default.

Remediation: Add CORS configuration with explicit allowed origins:

"extra_config": {
  "security/cors": {
    "allow_origins": ["https://yourdomain.com"],
    "allow_methods": ["GET", "POST", "PUT"],
    "allow_headers": ["Authorization", "Content-Type"],
    "expose_headers": ["Content-Length"],
    "max_age": "12h",
    "allow_credentials": true
  }
}

References:

• https://www.krakend.io/docs/service-settings/cors/

Best Practices Recommendations

✓ Circuit breakers configured for backends ✓ Timeouts configured ⚠️ Consider adding request/response logging for security monitoring ⚠️ Consider implementing API key authentication for service-to-service calls ⚠️ Review and minimize backend exposure (principle of least privilege)

Next Steps

1. Immediate: Fix all high severity issues (authentication, debug endpoint)
2. Short-term: Address medium severity issues (CORS, rate limiting)
3. Long-term: Implement low severity improvements and best practices
4. Ongoing: Run security audits regularly, especially after configuration changes

## Best Practices

1. **Severity-first** - Always show critical/high severity issues first (these need immediate action)
2. **Be specific and actionable** - Don't just say "insecure", explain what's wrong and exactly how to fix it
3. **Include context** - Show exact location using JSON paths
4. **Provide examples** - Include working configuration snippets for remediation
5. **Link to docs** - Always include relevant KrakenD documentation URLs
6. **Consider edition** - Recommend CE-compatible solutions unless user has EE
7. **Show audit method** - Indicate which validation method was used (affects comprehensiveness)
8. **Balance security with usability** - Don't recommend overly restrictive configs without explanation
9. **Follow up** - Suggest re-running audit after fixes are applied
10. **Context matters** - Development vs. production requires different security levels

## Examples

### Example 1: User asks "Is my API secure?"

**Response:**
"I'll perform a comprehensive security audit of your KrakenD configuration."

[Use `audit_security`]
[Present structured report as shown above]

"I found 3 high severity issues that should be addressed immediately. Would you like me to help you fix these issues?"

### Example 2: Pre-production security check

**Response:**
"I'll audit your configuration for security issues before production deployment."

[Use `audit_security` with production config]
[Present findings]

"Your configuration has 2 critical issues that must be fixed before production:
1. No authentication on admin endpoints
2. Debug mode still enabled

Would you like me to fix these now?"

### Example 3: Post-fix re-audit

**Response:**
"I'll re-run the security audit to verify your authentication changes."

[Use `audit_security` again]
[Compare with previous results if available]

"Great progress! The authentication issue is now resolved. Remaining items:
- 1 high severity: Debug endpoint still enabled
- 2 medium severity: Missing CORS and rate limiting

Shall we address these next?"

### Example 4: Fallback to basic checks

**Response:**
"KrakenD binary and Docker are not available, so I'll perform basic security checks."

[Use `audit_security` which falls back to basic checks]

"I performed basic security checks and found:
- Missing CORS configuration
- No authentication on POST endpoints
- No rate limiting configured
- Debug endpoint enabled

Note: For a comprehensive audit, install KrakenD or Docker to run the full `krakend audit` command. These basic checks cover common issues but may miss advanced security problems."

## When to Run Security Audits

Proactively suggest security audits:
- ✅ Before initial deployment
- ✅ After any configuration changes
- ✅ After adding new endpoints
- ✅ Before major releases
- ✅ After security incidents
- ✅ Periodically (monthly/quarterly)
- ✅ After upgrading KrakenD versions
- ✅ When changing authentication mechanisms

## Integration & Error Handling

### Integration with other skills
- After `config-builder` creates new config → Suggest security audit
- If `config-validator` finds issues → Mention security-specific audit available
- Before production deployment → Strongly recommend security audit
- If user asks about specific security features → Offer to run full audit

### Error handling
- **Config file not found**: Ask user which file to audit
- **Config is invalid JSON**: Run syntax check first via `config-validator`, then report
- **Audit produces no output**: Explain that no issues were found (best case!)
- **KrakenD audit fails**: Tool automatically falls back to Docker, then basic checks
- **Too many issues (>15)**: Group by severity and offer to show details incrementally
- **Mix of CE/EE features**: Note in recommendations which features require EE