Credential Stuffing in Feathersjs with Cockroachdb

Credential stuffing is a brute-force technique where attackers use lists of breached username and password pairs to gain unauthorized access. When the backend is built with Feathersjs and the database is Cockroachdb, the interaction between the ORM-like data layer and the database can expose patterns that make automated attacks efficient.

Feathersjs applications often expose REST or GraphQL endpoints that map directly to services, and if authentication relies solely on email/password without additional protections, each request can be retried against many accounts. Cockroachdb, while distributed and resilient, does not inherently prevent high-frequency login attempts from a single source. If the service performs username enumeration — for example, returning a distinct error when a username does not exist — attackers can iteratively test credentials with valid usernames at scale.

The risk increases when session management or token handling is not tightly coupled with rate controls. Feathersjs hooks and services may validate credentials and then issue JWTs or session identifiers without strict throttling, allowing attackers to pipeline requests. Cockroachdb’s strong consistency and transactional guarantees can make login operations predictable, which attackers exploit by retrying failed logins with slight variations (password spraying, credential rotation).

Real-world attack patterns such as OWASP API Top 10 2023:4 — Broken Authentication — map directly to this scenario. Publicly known CVEs in related libraries (e.g., timing discrepancies in bcrypt comparison or missing lockouts) can compound the issue. Without explicit defenses, a Feathersjs endpoint backed by Cockroachdb can become a low-friction target for automated credential stuffing campaigns.

Mitigation focuses on reducing the effectiveness of automated retries and ensuring that login behavior does not leak information. Below are concrete Feathersjs service hooks and configuration examples that integrate securely with Cockroachdb.

1. Rate limiting at the service hook

Use a before hook to track attempts per identity. This example uses an in-memory map for simplicity; in production, use a shared store such as Redis.

const rateLimit = new Map();

const loginRateLimit = (context) => {
  const { email } = context.data;
  const key = `login:${email}`;
  const now = Date.now();
  const windowMs = 15 * 60 * 1000; // 15 minutes
  const maxAttempts = 5;

  if (!rateLimit.has(key)) {
    rateLimit.set(key, []);
  }
  const attempts = rateLimit.get(key).filter(t => now - t < windowMs);
  if (attempts.length >= maxAttempts) {
    throw new Error('Too many attempts. Try again later.');
  }
  attempts.push(now);
  rateLimit.set(key, attempts);
  return context;
};

// In your authentication service hooks
module.exports = {
  before: {
    create: [loginRateLimit]
  }
};

2. Consistent error responses to avoid username enumeration

Ensure that login responses do not reveal whether a username exists. Return a generic message regardless of outcome.

// src/services/auth/hooks.js
module.exports = {
  before: {
    create: [context => {
      // Validate input shape early
      if (!context.data || !context.data.email || !context.data.password) {
        throw new Error('Invalid input');
      }
      return context;
    }],
    after: [context => {
      // Replace any backend-specific error messages
      if (context.error) {
        context.error.message = 'Invalid credentials';
        context.error.code = 401;
      }
      return context;
    }]
  },
  after: {
    create: [context => {
      if (context.result && context.result.accessToken) {
        // Do not expose token details in error paths
        return context;
      }
      // Generic failure
      throw new context.app.errors.Unauthorized('Invalid credentials');
    }]
  }
};

3. Parameterized queries and prepared statements via an ORM layer

When using an ORM that supports Cockroachdb (e.g., Sequelize with cockroachdb dialect), always use parameterized queries to avoid injection and ensure stable query plans.

// src/models/user.model.js
module.exports = (app) => {
  const { Sequelize, DataTypes } = require('sequelize');
  const sequelize = new Sequelize({
    dialect: 'postgres',
    host: process.env.DB_HOST,
    port: 26257,
    database: process.env.DB_NAME,
    username: process.env.DB_USER,
    password: process.env.DB_PASS,
    protocol: 'tcp',
    dialectOptions: {
      ssl: {
        require: true,
        rejectUnauthorized: false
      }
    }
  });

  const User = sequelize.define('User', {
    email: {
      type: DataTypes.STRING,
      allowNull: false,
      unique: true,
      validate: {
        isEmail: true
      }
    },
    passwordHash: {
      type: DataTypes.STRING,
      allowNull: false
    }
  }, {
    hooks: {
      beforeCreate: (user) => {
        // password hashing handled elsewhere
      }
    }
  });

  app.set('userModel', User);
};

// src/services/auth/service.js
const authenticate = async (email, password) => {
  const User = app.get('userModel');
  // Parameterized query via ORM
  const user = await User.findOne({
    where: { email }
  });
  if (!user) {
    // Do not reveal existence
    return null;
  }
  const match = await verifyPassword(password, user.passwordHash);
  return match ? user : null;
};

4. Enforce MFA and suspicious behavior detection

Add hooks that inspect sign-in patterns. For example, flag rapid successive logins from different geolocations and require re-authentication or MFA challenges.

// src/hooks/suspicious-activity.js
module.exports = {
  after: {
    create: async (context) => {
      const { email, ip, timestamp } = context.result;
      // Compare with historical logins stored in Cockroachdb
      const Login = context.app.service('logins').Model;
      const recent = await Login.findAll({
        where: { email },
        order: [['timestamp', 'DESC']],
        limit: 5
      });
      // Simple heuristic: multiple countries in short window
      const countries = new Set(recent.map(r => r.country));
      if (countries.size > 1) {
        // Trigger step-up authentication
        context.result.mfaRequired = true;
      }
      return context;
    }
  }
};