Security News
Research
Data Theft Repackaged: A Case Study in Malicious Wrapper Packages on npm
The Socket Research Team breaks down a malicious wrapper package that uses obfuscation to harvest credentials and exfiltrate sensitive data.
MacawFramework is a lightweight, easy-to-use web framework for Ruby designed to simplify the development of small to medium-sized web applications. With support for various HTTP methods, caching, and session management, MacawFramework provides developers with the essential tools to quickly build and deploy their applications.
Install the gem and add it to the application's Gemfile by executing:
$ bundle add macaw_framework
If bundler is not being used to manage dependencies, install the gem by executing:
$ gem install macaw_framework
We evaluated MacawFramework (Version 1.2.0) to assess its ability to handle simultaneous requests under heavy load. Disabling non-essential features, such as cache and logging, we observed remarkable results. The framework demonstrated efficient memory usage (243.3 MB average) and handled an impressive 600,000 HTTP requests with an average response time of just 1 millisecond. Throughput reached an outstanding 10,196.45 requests per second. These findings suggest that MacawFramework is well-equipped to handle substantial HTTP traffic without significant performance degradation. For detailed results, please refer to the full report.
MacawFramework is built to be highly compatible, since it uses only native Ruby code:
MRI: MacawFramework is compatible with Matz's Ruby Interpreter (MRI), version 3.0.0 and onwards. If you are using this version or a more recent one, you should not encounter any compatibility issues.
TruffleRuby: TruffleRuby is another Ruby interpreter that is fully compatible with MacawFramework. This provides developers with more flexibility in their choice of Ruby interpreter.
JRuby: MacawFramework is also compatible with JRuby, a version of Ruby that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
MacawFramework includes a built-in web server based on Ruby's TCPServer class, providing a lightweight yet robust solution for serving your web applications. It incorporates features such as SSL security and a thread-based architecture, offering a balance of simplicity, performance, and robustness.
SSL Security: Our server integrates SSL security, offering secure communication for your applications. By providing a valid SSL context, the built-in TCPServer will be wrapped in OpenSSL's SSLServer, adding an essential secure transport layer to your web server.
Thread-based Architecture: We employ a thread-based model where a specified number of worker threads are used to handle client connections. Incoming connections are queued in a work queue, where they are then processed by the worker threads, ensuring fair scheduling and load distribution.
Thread Pool Management: We make use of Ruby's built-in synchronization constructs, using a Mutex to safely manage the worker threads pool. A maintenance routine periodically checks the health of the worker threads, respawning any that have died, ensuring consistent server performance.
Graceful Shutdown: Our server is designed to gracefully shut down when required, making sure all pending connections in the work queue are processed before closing the worker threads and the server itself. This ensures that no client requests are abruptly terminated, providing a smooth user experience.
It's worth noting that while our threading model is simple and effective, it has some limitations. The number of concurrent connections it can handle is limited by the number of worker threads, and it could be susceptible to slow clients, which could tie up a worker thread and reduce the server's capacity. However, for JRuby and TruffleRuby users, this threading model can leverage true system-level threading due to the lack of a Global Interpreter Lock (GIL), potentially providing better performance on multi-core systems and handling larger numbers of concurrent connections more efficiently.
Despite these trade-offs, MacawFramework's built-in web server offers a good balance for most web applications, particularly for small to medium scale deployments. For larger-scale applications with high concurrency demands, consider supplementing the built-in server with an event-driven architecture or utilizing a third-party server solution better suited for such scenarios.
In summary, MacawFramework's built-in web server provides a straightforward, efficient, and secure solution for running your web applications, requiring minimal configuration and making deployment a breeze.
require 'macaw_framework'
m = MacawFramework::Macaw.new
m.get('/hello_world') do |_context|
return "Hello, World!", 200, {"Content-Type" => "text/plain"}
end
m.post('/submit_data/:path_variable') do |context|
context[:body] # Client body data
context[:params] # Client params, like URL parameters or variables
context[:headers] # Client headers
context[:params][:path_variable] # The defined path variable can be found in :params
context[:client] # Client session
end
m.start!
m = MacawFramework::Macaw.new
m.get('/cached_data', cache: ["header_to_cache", "query_param_to_cache"]) do |context|
# Retrieve data
end
Observation: To activate caching, you also have to set its properties in the application.json
file. If you don't, the caching strategy will not work. See the Configuration section below for more details.
Another method of cache is the manual cache via the MacawFramework::Cache
class. You can manually
call the read
and write
methods of this singleton to save and recover values inside your methods.
MacawFramework::Cache.write(:name, 'Maria', expires_in: 1800)
# Your code
MacawFramework::Cache.read(:name) # Maria
Manual cache does not need any additional configuration.
Session will only be enabled if it's configurations exists in the application.json
file.
The session mechanism works by recovering the Session ID from a client sent header. The default
header is X-Session-ID
, but it can be changed in the application.json
file.
This header will be sent back to the user on every response if Session is enabled. Also, the session ID will be automatically generated and sent to a client if this client does not provide a session id in the HTTP request. In the case of the client sending an ID of an expired session the framework will return a new session with a new ID.
m = MacawFramework::Macaw.new
m.get('/login') do |context|
# Authenticate user
context[:client][:user_id] = user_id
end
m.get('/dashboard') do |context|
# Check if the user is logged in
if context[:client][:user_id]
# Show dashboard
else
# Redirect to login
end
end
{
"macaw": {
"port": 8080,
"bind": "localhost",
"threads": 200,
"cache": {
"cache_invalidation": 3600
},
"prometheus": {
"endpoint": "/metrics"
},
"rate_limiting": {
"window": 10,
"max_requests": 3
},
"ssl": {
"min": "SSL3",
"max": "TLS1.3",
"key_type": "EC",
"cert_file_name": "path/to/cert/file/file.crt",
"key_file_name": "path/to/cert/key/file.key"
},
"session": {
"secure_header": "X-Session-ID",
"invalidation_time": 3600
}
}
}
curl http://localhost:8080/metrics
MacawFramework allows you to serve static assets, such as CSS, JavaScript, images, etc., through the "public" folder. To enable this functionality, make sure the "public" folder is placed in the same directory as the main.rb file. The "public" folder should contain any static assets required by your web application.
To avoid issues, instantiate the Macaw using the dir
property as following:
MacawFramework::Macaw.new(dir: __dir__)
By default, MacawFramework will automatically serve files from the "public" folder recursively when matching requests are made. For example, if you have an image file named "logo.png" inside a "img" folder in the "public" folder, it will be accessible at http://yourdomain.com/img/logo.png without any additional configuration.
Macaw Framework supports the declaration of periodic jobs right in your application code. This feature allows developers to define tasks that run at set intervals, starting after an optional delay. Each job runs in a separate thread, meaning your periodic jobs can execute in parallel without blocking the rest of your application.
Here's an example of how to declare a periodic job:
m = MacawFramework::Macaw.new
m.setup_job(interval: 5, start_delay: 5, job_name: "cron job 1") do
puts "i'm a periodic job that runs every 5 secs!"
end
Values for interval and start_delay are in seconds.
Caution: Defining a lot of jobs with low interval can severely degrade performance.
If you want to build an application with just cron jobs, that don't need to run a web server, you can start
MacawFramework without running a web server with the start_without_server!
method, instead of start!
.
custom_log
set to nil.MacawFramework::Macaw.new(custom_log: nil)
Cache invalidation time should be specified in seconds. In order to enable caching, The application.json
file
should exist in the app main directory and it needs the cache_invalidation
config set. It is possible to
provide a list of strings in the property ignore_headers
. All the client headers with the same name as any
of the strings provided will be ignored from the caching strategy. This is useful to exclude headers like
correlation IDs from the caching strategy.
URL parameters like ...endOfUrl?key1=value1&key2=value2
can be found in the context[:params]
m = MacawFramework::Macaw.new
m.get('/test_params') do |context|
context[:params]["key1"] # returns: value1
end
port
, bind
and threads
programmatically as shown below. This will override values set in the
application.json
filem = MacawFramework::Macaw.new
m.port = 3000
m.bind = '0.0.0.0'
m.threads = 300
The default number of virtual threads in the thread pool is 200.
Rate Limit window should also be specified in seconds. Rate limit will be activated only if the rate_limiting
config
exists inside application.json
.
If the SSL configuration is provided in the application.json
file with valid certificate and key files, the TCP server
will be wrapped with HTTPS security using the provided certificate.
The supported values for min
and max
in the SSL configuration are: SSL2
, SSL3
, TLS1.1
, TLS1.2
, and TLS1.3
,
and the supported values for key_type
are RSA
and EC
.
If Prometheus is enabled, a GET endpoint will be defined at path /metrics
to collect Prometheus metrics. This path
is configurable via the application.json
file.
The verb methods must always return a string or nil (used as the response), a number corresponding to the HTTP status code to be returned to the client, and the response headers as a Hash or nil. If an endpoint doesn't return a value or returns nil for body, status code, and headers, a default 200 OK status will be sent as the response.
For cron jobs without a start_delay, a value of 0 will be used. For a job without a name, a unique name will be generated for it.
Ensure the "public" folder is placed in the same directory as the main.rb file: The "public" folder should contain any static assets, such as CSS, JavaScript, or images, that your web application requires. Placing it in the same directory as the main.rb file ensures that the server can correctly serve these assets.
Always run the main.rb file from a terminal in the same directory: To avoid any potential issues related to file paths and relative paths, make sure to run the main.rb file from a terminal in the same directory where it is located. This will ensure that the application can access the necessary files and resources without any problems.
Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/ariasdiniz/macaw_framework. This project is intended to be a safe, welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the code of conduct.
The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.
Everyone interacting in the MacawFramework project's codebases, issue trackers, chat rooms, and mailing lists is expected to follow the code of conduct.
FAQs
Unknown package
We found that macaw_framework demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
Did you know?
Socket for GitHub automatically highlights issues in each pull request and monitors the health of all your open source dependencies. Discover the contents of your packages and block harmful activity before you install or update your dependencies.
Security News
Research
The Socket Research Team breaks down a malicious wrapper package that uses obfuscation to harvest credentials and exfiltrate sensitive data.
Research
Security News
Attackers used a malicious npm package typosquatting a popular ESLint plugin to steal sensitive data, execute commands, and exploit developer systems.
Security News
The Ultralytics' PyPI Package was compromised four times in one weekend through GitHub Actions cache poisoning and failure to rotate previously compromised API tokens.