Mongo DB Atlas. Is it safe to whitelist all ip because someone attempting to access the database needs a password - mongodb

Question

I have a google app engine with my express server. I also have my db in MongoDB Atlas. I currently have my MongoDB Atlas whitelisting all ip. The connection string is in the code for my express server running on Google Cloud. Presumable any attacker trying to get into the database would still need a user name and password for the connection string.
Is it safe to do this?
If it's not safe, then how do I whitelist my google app engine on Mongo Atlas?

Answer 1

Is it safe to do this?
"Safe" is a relative term. It is safer than having an unauthed database open to the internet, but the weakest link is now your password.
A whitelist is an additional layer of security, so that if someone knows or can guess your password, they can't just connect from anywhere. They must be connecting from a set of known IP addresses. This makes the attack surface smaller, so the database is less likely to be broken into by a random person in the internet.
If it's not safe, then how do I whitelist my google app engine on Mongo Atlas?
You would need to determine the IP ranges of your application, and plug in that range into the whitelist.

Answer 2

here is an answer i left elsewhere. hope it helps someone who comes across this:
this script will be kept up to date on my gist
why
mongo atlas provides a reasonably priced access to a managed mongo DB. CSPs where containers are hosted charge too much for their managed mongo DB. they all suggest setting an insecure CIDR (0.0.0.0/0) to allow the container to access the cluster. this is obviously ridiculous.
this entrypoint script is surgical to maintain least privileged access. only the current hosted IP address of the service is whitelisted.
usage
set as the entrypoint for the Dockerfile
run in cloud init / VM startup if not using a container (and delete the last line exec "$#" since that is just for containers
behavior
uses the mongo atlas project IP access list endpoints
will detect the hosted IP address of the container and whitelist it with the cluster using the mongo atlas API
if the service has no whitelist entry it is created
if the service has an existing whitelist entry that matches current IP no change
if the service IP has changed the old entry is deleted and new one is created
when a whitelist entry is created the service sleeps for 60s to wait for atlas to propagate access to the cluster
env
setup
create API key for org
add API key to project
copy the public key (MONGO_ATLAS_API_PK) and secret key (MONGO_ATLAS_API_SK)
go to project settings page and copy the project ID (MONGO_ATLAS_API_PROJECT_ID)
provide the following values in the env of the container service
SERVICE_NAME: unique name used for creating / updating (deleting old) whitelist entry
MONGO_ATLAS_API_PK: step 3
MONGO_ATLAS_API_SK: step 3
MONGO_ATLAS_API_PROJECT_ID: step 4
deps
bash
curl
jq CLI JSON parser
# alpine / apk
apk update \
&& apk add --no-cache \
bash \
curl \
jq
# ubuntu / apt
export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
&& apt-get update \
&& apt-get -y install \
bash \
curl \
jq
script
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# -- ENV -- #
# these must be available to the container service at runtime
#
# SERVICE_NAME
#
# MONGO_ATLAS_API_PK
# MONGO_ATLAS_API_SK
# MONGO_ATLAS_API_PROJECT_ID
#
# -- ENV -- #
set -e
mongo_api_base_url='https://cloud.mongodb.com/api/atlas/v1.0'
check_for_deps() {
deps=(
bash
curl
jq
)
for dep in "${deps[#]}"; do
if [ ! "$(command -v $dep)" ]
then
echo "dependency [$dep] not found. exiting"
exit 1
fi
done
}
make_mongo_api_request() {
local request_method="$1"
local request_url="$2"
local data="$3"
curl -s \
--user "$MONGO_ATLAS_API_PK:$MONGO_ATLAS_API_SK" --digest \
--header "Accept: application/json" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--request "$request_method" "$request_url" \
--data "$data"
}
get_access_list_endpoint() {
echo -n "$mongo_api_base_url/groups/$MONGO_ATLAS_API_PROJECT_ID/accessList"
}
get_service_ip() {
echo -n "$(curl https://ipinfo.io/ip -s)"
}
get_previous_service_ip() {
local access_list_endpoint=`get_access_list_endpoint`
local previous_ip=`make_mongo_api_request 'GET' "$access_list_endpoint" \
| jq --arg SERVICE_NAME "$SERVICE_NAME" -r \
'.results[]? as $results | $results.comment | if test("\\[\($SERVICE_NAME)\\]") then $results.ipAddress else empty end'`
echo "$previous_ip"
}
whitelist_service_ip() {
local current_service_ip="$1"
local comment="Hosted IP of [$SERVICE_NAME] [set#$(date +%s)]"
if (( "${#comment}" > 80 )); then
echo "comment field value will be above 80 char limit: \"$comment\""
echo "comment would be too long due to length of service name [$SERVICE_NAME] [${#SERVICE_NAME}]"
echo "change comment format or service name then retry. exiting to avoid mongo API failure"
exit 1
fi
echo "whitelisting service IP [$current_service_ip] with comment value: \"$comment\""
response=`make_mongo_api_request \
'POST' \
"$(get_access_list_endpoint)?pretty=true" \
"[
{
\"comment\" : \"$comment\",
\"ipAddress\": \"$current_service_ip\"
}
]" \
| jq -r 'if .error then . else empty end'`
if [[ -n "$response" ]];
then
echo 'API error whitelisting service'
echo "$response"
exit 1
else
echo "whitelist request successful"
echo "waiting 60s for whitelist to propagate to cluster"
sleep 60s
fi
}
delete_previous_service_ip() {
local previous_service_ip="$1"
echo "deleting previous service IP address of [$SERVICE_NAME]"
make_mongo_api_request \
'DELETE' \
"$(get_access_list_endpoint)/$previous_service_ip"
}
set_mongo_whitelist_for_service_ip() {
local current_service_ip=`get_service_ip`
local previous_service_ip=`get_previous_service_ip`
if [[ -z "$previous_service_ip" ]]; then
echo "service [$SERVICE_NAME] has not yet been whitelisted"
whitelist_service_ip "$current_service_ip"
elif [[ "$current_service_ip" == "$previous_service_ip" ]]; then
echo "service [$SERVICE_NAME] IP has not changed"
else
echo "service [$SERVICE_NAME] IP has changed from [$previous_service_ip] to [$current_service_ip]"
delete_previous_service_ip "$previous_service_ip"
whitelist_service_ip "$current_service_ip"
fi
}
check_for_deps
set_mongo_whitelist_for_service_ip
# run CMD
exec "$#"