CMD Pro Security
Security-First Architecture with 20 Defined Controls
Security is a fundamental pillar of CMD Pro. This section defines the measures
and controls necessary to protect the system, user data, and sensitive
information from unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, or destruction.
We follow WordPress security best practices and industry standards to ensure
your data remains safe and secure.
๐ Table of Contents
20
Security Requirements
12
Critical (P0)
6
High (P1)
1
Medium (P2)
1
Low (P3)
9.3. Security Requirements
Security requirements define the measures and controls necessary to protect the system, user data, and sensitive information from unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, or destruction.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | Description | Verification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S01 | All external input must be validated and sanitized according to its expected data type and context. All dynamic output must be escaped according to its output context. | P0 | Prevent injection attacks and XSS through proper input validation/sanitization and output escaping | Security audit, penetration testing |
| S02 | State-changing authenticated requests must use appropriate WordPress CSRF protection, including nonce verification where applicable. | P0 | Prevent Cross-Site Request Forgery on admin forms, AJAX, and REST endpoints | Code review, security scan |
| S03 | All API keys and other sensitive credentials shall be protected before persistent storage and must never be exposed to unauthorized users. | P0 | Credentials must be stored using an approved secure storage mechanism. Encryption at rest shall use an authenticated encryption method with encryption keys kept separately from the encrypted data. | Code review, database inspection, security audit |
| S04 | All custom database queries must use $wpdb->prepare() to prevent SQL injection attacks. Prefer WordPress data APIs where practical; use direct $wpdb queries only where necessary. |
P0 | 100% of custom queries use prepared statements | Code review, static analysis |
| S05 | Sensitive information (e.g., API keys, user credentials) must not be exposed to the frontend. No sensitive data in HTML, JavaScript, CSS, browser storage, logs, URLs, REST responses, or client-visible configuration. | P0 | No sensitive data exposed to clients | Code review, security audit |
| S06 | The plugin must implement capability checks for all admin functions using current_user_can(). |
P0 | All admin actions verify user capabilities | Code review, access testing |
| S07 | The system must enforce HTTPS for all external API communications. | P0 | 100% of API calls use HTTPS protocol | Network traffic analysis |
| S08 | CMD Pro REST endpoints shall implement appropriate rate limiting to prevent abuse. The system shall also implement outbound API usage controls to prevent excessive external commodity-data provider calls. | P1 | API endpoints have rate limits per IP/user; outbound API calls respect provider limits | Load testing, security testing |
| S09 | The system must log all security-relevant events (login attempts, permission changes, API key changes). Security logs must never contain plaintext API keys, passwords, authentication tokens, full session identifiers, or other secrets. | P1 | Security events logged to wp_cmdp_logs table with appropriate retention policy |
Audit log review, security audit |
| S10 | The system must implement secure session management using WordPress native session handling. | P0 | No custom session handling | Code review |
| S11 | The system shall use WordPress core security, authentication, authorization, nonce, HTTP, database, and escaping APIs wherever applicable rather than implementing custom equivalents. | P0 | WordPress security functions used throughout | Code review |
| S12 | The system must not disclose sensitive system information in error messages. | P0 | Error messages sanitized; no stack traces displayed | Error handling review |
| S13 | All CMD Pro file operations must respect WordPress filesystem APIs, configured filesystem permissions, and authorization controls. | P1 | File operations verify permissions and use WordPress filesystem APIs | Code review, security audit |
| S14 | The system must use WordPress’ built-in user authentication and not implement custom authentication mechanisms. | P0 | Uses WordPress user system exclusively | Code review |
| S15 | CMD Pro shall be compatible with recommended security headers and shall not weaken existing site security policies. Plugin-controlled responses shall apply appropriate headers where applicable. | P2 | Security headers compatible; no weakening of site security policies | Security header scan, compatibility testing |
| S16 | CMD Pro shall remain compatible with WordPress 2FA/MFA solutions and must not bypass or weaken site-level MFA controls. | P2 | Compatibility with existing site authentication controls | Compatibility testing, security review |
| S17 | The system must conduct a security audit before each major release. | P0 | Security audit completed before release | Audit report |
| S18 | Exported data must be validated, safely encoded for the target format, and protected against spreadsheet formula injection where applicable. | P1 | Sanitization and safe encoding applied to all exports | Code review, data validation, security testing |
| S19 | CMD Pro endpoints shall implement appropriate abuse protection and must remain compatible with site-level login brute-force protection. | P1 | API abuse protection implemented; site-level login protection respected | Security testing, compatibility testing |
| S20 | CMD Pro shall respect WordPress authentication/session expiration and shall not implement insecure parallel session mechanisms. | P1 | Sessions expire according to WordPress configuration | User session testing, code review |
Designed with OWASP API Security Top 10 principles
GDPR-Conscious Design
WordPress Coding Standards
HTTPS for External APIs
Nonce Protection
20 Defined Security Controls
9.10. Non-functional Requirements Summary Matrix
Performance
17
P0: 5 ยท P1: 7 ยท
P2: 4 ยท P3: 1
Security
20
P0: 12 ยท P1: 6 ยท
P2: 2 ยท P3: 0
Reliability
10
P0: 4 ยท P1: 5 ยท
P2: 1 ยท P3: 0
Compatibility
12
P0: 5 ยท P1: 5 ยท
P2: 1 ยท P3: 0
Usability
10
P0: 3 ยท P1: 5 ยท
P2: 2 ยท P3: 0
Maintainability
10
P0: 5 ยท P1: 4 ยท
P2: 1 ยท P3: 0
Scalability
5
P0: 0 ยท P1: 1 ยท
P2: 4 ยท P3: 0
๐ฆ TOTAL
84
P0: 34 ยท
P1: 33 ยท
P2: 15 ยท
P3: 2
9.11. Service Level Objectives (SLO) Targets
| Metric | Target | Measurement | Criticality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dashboard Load Time | < 2 seconds | Frontend performance monitoring | P0 |
| Data Freshness | โค 5 minutes (live data) | Timestamp comparison | P0 |
| CMD Pro-Controlled API Availability | โฅ 99.5% (excluding WordPress hosting, network, scheduled maintenance, and third-party provider outages) | Uptime monitoring | P1 |
| Security Incident Response | P0 acknowledgement/triage: < 4 hours; Mitigation: < 24 hours where feasible; permanent resolution according to severity and validated release process | Incident tracking | P0 |
| Bug Fix Resolution | P0: < 4 hours (acknowledgement), P1: < 24 hours (acknowledgement) | Bug tracking system | P0 |
9.12. Non-functional Requirements Traceability
| Requirement ID | Category | Related Functional Module | Test Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| P01 | Performance | Module A (Dashboard) | Performance Testing |
| P04 | Performance | Module A (Dashboard) | Performance Testing |
| S03 | Security | Module D (API & Data) | Security Audit |
| S10 | Security | All Modules | Security Audit |
| R01 | Reliability | Module D (API & Data) | Failover Testing |
| C01 | Compatibility | All Modules | Compatibility Testing |
| U01 | Usability | All Modules | User Acceptance Testing |
| M01 | Maintainability | All Modules | Code Review |
Security Conclusion
These comprehensive security requirements provide a solid foundation for building a secure, reliable, and trustworthy commodity market intelligence plugin for WordPress. With 20 security requirements, including 12 critical (P0) controls, CMD Pro is engineered to protect user data and maintain system integrity. Designed in alignment with OWASP API Security Top 10 principles and GDPR-conscious design, the security framework ensures enterprise-grade protection for all users.
โ
Document Status: Approved for Development
๐
Security Version: 2.1
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Last Updated: August 2026