Identify Items That Use Insecure URLs

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🗄️ Administration

📦 Content Management

Items of type WebMap, WebScene, or App contain collections of layers, basemaps, and other external services hosted on ArcGIS Online/Server. These services can be connected to via http:// or https://, with HTTPS being the more secure protocol since it encrypts the connection. It is recommended that all service URLs use the https:// (or say, SSL) protocol.

This notebook will search through all WebMap/WebScene/App Items in a portal/organization, identifying the 'insecure' ones if one or more service URLs use http://. These items will be displayed in this notebook, persisted in .csv files, and can have the potentially_insecure tag added to them.

To get started, import the necessary libraries and connect to our GIS:

import csv, os
import time
from IPython.display import display, HTML
import json
import pandas
import logging
log = logging.getLogger()

from arcgis.mapping import WebMap
from arcgis.mapping import WebScene
from arcgis.gis import GIS

# login with your admin profile
gis = GIS(profile="Home")

Configure Behavior

Now, let's configure some variables specific to our organization that will tell our notebook how we want it to run. With the default CHECK_ALL_ITEMS set to True, this notebook will apply this check to all items in an organization/portal. If you would instead prefer to only apply this check to certain groups of items, set CHECK_ALL_ITEMS to False, then set GROUP_NAMES to a list of group name strings.

Modify the below cell to change that default behavior.

# Set to `True` if you would like to check ALL items in an org/portal
CHECK_ALL_ITEMS = True
# If `CHECK_ALL_ITEMS` is `False`, then it will check all items in these groups
CHECK_THESE_GROUPS = ['group_name_1', 'group_name_2']

Now, let's specify what types of items we want to test. By default, this notebook will check WebMap, WebScene, and any App items.

Modify the below cell to change that default behavior.

CHECK_WEBMAPS = True
CHECK_WEBSCENES = True
CHECK_APPS = True

Now, let's specify what kind of behavior we want when we come across an insecure item. This notebook will automatically sort and display the insecure and secure items, but we can also configure if we want to add a potentially_insecure tag to all insecure items.

The default behavior is NOT to add the tag. Modify the below cell to change that default behavior.

TRY_TAG_INSECURE_ITEMS = False

Detecting http vs https

A core component of this notebook will be detecting if a URL is http:// or https://. We will do this by creating helper functions that use the built-in string library to see what the URL string starts with.

def is_https(url):
    return str(url).startswith("https:/")

def is_http(url):
    return str(url).startswith("http:/")

WebMaps

This code cell defines a function that will test all URLs in a web map item; it will return the URLs that use https:// and the URLs that use http://.

def test_https_in_webmap(webmap_item):
    """Takes in an `Item` class instance of a Web Map Item.
    Sorts all operational layers and basemap layers based on if
    they are http or https, returns a tuple of 
    (https_urls, http_urls), with each being a list of URLs
    """
    https_urls = []
    http_urls = []
    wm = WebMap(webmap_item)

    # Concatenate all operational layers and basemap layers to one list
    all_layers = list(wm.layers)
    if hasattr(wm.basemap, 'baseMapLayers'):
        all_layers += wm.basemap.baseMapLayers

    # Test all of the layers, return the results
    for layer in [layer for layer in all_layers \
                  if hasattr(layer, 'url')]:
        if is_https(layer.url):
            log.debug(f"    [✓] url {layer['url']} is https")
            https_urls.append(layer.url)
        elif is_http(layer.url):
            log.debug(f"    [X] url {layer['url']} is http")
            http_urls.append(layer.url)
    return (https_urls, http_urls)

WebScenes

This code cell defines a function that will test all URLs in a web scene item; it will return the URLs that use https:// and the URLs that use http://.

def test_https_in_webscene(webscene_item):
    """Takes in an `Item` class instance of a web scene item.
    Sorts all operational layers and basemap layers based on if
    they are http or https, returns a tuple of 
    (https_urls, http_urls), with each being a list of URLs
    """
    https_urls = []
    http_urls = []
    ws = WebScene(webscene_item)

    # Concatenate all operational layers and basemap layers to one list
    all_layers = []
    for operationalLayer in ws.get('operationalLayers', []):
        if 'layers' in operationalLayer:
            for layer in operationalLayer['layers']:
                all_layers.append(layer)
        else:
            all_layers.append(operationalLayer)
    for bm_layer in ws.get('baseMap', {}).get('baseMapLayers', []):
        all_layers.append(bm_layer)

    # Test all of the layers, return the results
    for layer in [layer for layer in all_layers \
                  if layer.get('url', False)]:
        if is_https(layer.get('url', False)):
            log.debug(f"    [✓] url {layer['url']} is https")
            https_urls.append(layer['url'])
        elif is_http(layer.get('url', False)):
            log.debug(f"    [X] url {layer['url']} is http")
            http_urls.append(layer['url'])
    return (https_urls, http_urls)

Apps

This code cell defines a function that will test all URLs in an app item; it will return the URLs that use https:// and the URLs that use http://.

Note: App items don't have as standardized of JSON format as WebMaps and WebScenes. Therefore, the logic used to detect URLs in App Items will test every nested value in the dictionary returned from a get_data() call.

def get_values_recurs(dict_):
    """Helper function to get all nested values in a dict."""
    output = []
    if isinstance(dict_, dict):
        for value in dict_.values():
            if isinstance(value, dict):
                output += get_values_recurs(value)
            elif isinstance(value, list):
                for entry in value:
                    output += get_values_recurs({"_":entry})
            else:
                output += [value,]
    return output

def test_https_in_app(app_item):
    """Takes in an `Item` class instance of any 'App' Item.
    Will call `.get_data()` on the Item, and will search through
    EVERY value nested inside the data dict, sorting each URL
    found to either `https_urls` or `http_urls`, returning the 
    tuple of (https_urls, http_url)
    """
    https_urls = []
    http_urls = []
    all_values = get_values_recurs(app_item.get_data())
    for value in all_values:
        if is_https(value):
            https_urls.append(value)
        elif is_http(value):
            http_urls.append(value)
    return (https_urls, http_urls)

The previously defined test_https_...() functions all follow a similar prototype of returning a tuple of (https_urls, http_urls). We can therefore define a helper function that will sort for us and call the correct function, based on the item.type property and the previously defined configuration variables.

def test_https_for(item):
    """Given an `Item` instance, call the correct function and return 
    (https_urls, http_urls). Will return (None, None) if the item type 
    is not supported, or if configured to not check that item type.
    """
    if (item.type == "Web Map") and CHECK_WEBMAPS:
        return test_https_in_webmap(item)
    elif (item.type == "Web Scene") and CHECK_WEBSCENES:
        return test_https_in_webscene(item)
    elif ("App" in item.type) and CHECK_APPS:
        return test_https_in_app(item)
    else:
        return ([],[])

Output CSV Files

We will be persisting the results of this notebook as two .csv files in the /arcgis/home folder, which will then also publish to our portal.

One .csv file (ALL_URLS.csv) will contain one row per URL. This file will contain an in-depth, comprehensive look of all secure/insecure URLs and how they are related to items. This file is best analyzed by filtering in desktop spreadsheet software, manipulating in a pandas DataFrame, etc.

The other .csv file (INSECURE_ITEMS.csv) will contain one row per Item. This will be a useful, 'human-readable' table that will give us a quick insight into what items contain insecure URLs.

Let's create a create_csvs() function that creates these files with the appropriate columns and unique filenames; it will be called on notebook start.

from pathlib import Path

insecure_items_columns = ['item_id', 'item_title', 'item_url',
                         'item_type', 'https_urls', 'http_urls']
all_urls_columns = ['url', 'is_secure', 'item_id', 
                    'item_title', 'item_url', 'item_type']

workspace = "./arcgis/home"

current_time = time.time()
formatted_time = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S", time.localtime(current_time))


if not os.path.exists(workspace):
    os.makedirs(workspace)

def create_csvs():
    """When called, will create the two output .csv files with unique 
    filenames. Returns a tuple of the string file paths
    (all_urls_path, insecure_items_path)
    """
    all_urls_path = f'{workspace}/ALL_URLs-{formatted_time}.csv'
    insecure_items_path = f'{workspace}/INSECURE_ITEMS-{formatted_time}.csv'
    for file_path, columns in [(all_urls_path, all_urls_columns),
                   (insecure_items_path, insecure_items_columns)]:
        with open(file_path, 'w') as file:
            writer = csv.DictWriter(file, columns)
            writer.writeheader()
    return (all_urls_path, insecure_items_path)

Now that the .csv files have been made with the correct headers/columns, we can create a function to add a row to the ALL_URLS.csv file. Each URL gets its own row, an is_secure boolean, and information related to the item the URL came from (item id, item type, etc.).

def write_row_to_urls_csv(url, is_secure, item, file_path):
    """Given any URL from an item we've tested, write a
    row to the output 'ALL_URLs.csv', located at `file_path`. This .csv
    will have one row per URL, with information such as an `is_secure`
    boolean, information about the item that contained the URL, etc.
    """
    with open(file_path, 'a') as file:
        writer = csv.DictWriter(file, all_urls_columns)
        writer.writerow({'url' : url,
                         'is_secure' : is_secure,
                         'item_id' : item.id,
                         'item_title' : item.title,
                         'item_url' : item.homepage,
                         'item_type' : item.type})

Next, we can create a function to add a row to the INSECURE_ITEMS.csv file. In this file, each Item gets its own row, with related information like its item id, item url, a JSON representation of the https_urls, a JSON representation of http_urls, etc.

def write_row_to_insecure_csv(item, https_urls, http_urls, file_path):
    """Given an insecure item, write a row to the output 
    'INSECURE_URLS.csv' file, located at `file_path`. This .csv will 
    have one row per item, with information such as the item's ID,the 
    item's URL, a JSON representation of the list of http_urls and 
    https_urls, etc.
    """
    with open(file_path, 'a') as file:
        writer = csv.DictWriter(file, insecure_items_columns)
        writer.writerow({'item_id' : item.id,
                         'item_title' : item.title,
                         'item_url' : item.homepage,
                         'item_type' : item.type,
                         'https_urls' : json.dumps(https_urls),
                         'http_urls' : json.dumps(http_urls)})

Miscellaneous Functionality

Another way we can persist the results from this notebook is to attempt to add a tag of potentially_insecure to all the insecure items we find via this function.

Note: An exception will NOT be thrown if an item's tag cannot be updated due to permissions, not being the item owner, etc. A warning message will be logged, but the function will return and the notebook will continue.

def try_tag_item_as_insecure(item):
    """Will attempt to add a tag to the item that will mark it as 
    potentially insecure. If the tag cannot be updated (permissions,
    not the owner, etc.), this function will still return, but it
    will print out a WARNING message
    """
    try:
        tag_to_add = "potentially_insecure"
        if tag_to_add not in item.tags:
            item.update({'tags': item.tags + [tag_to_add]})
    except Exception as e:
        log.warning(f"Could not tag item {item.id} as '{tag_to_add}'...")

Now, let's create a generator function that will yield Item(s). This notebook can run against all items in an organization or portal, or all items from certain groups, depending on the value of the previously defined configuration variables.

def get_items_to_check():
    """Generator function that will yield Items depending on how you 
    configured your notebook. Will either yield every item in an 
    organization, or will yield items in specific groups.
    """
    if CHECK_ALL_ITEMS:
        for user in gis.users.search():
            for item in user.items(max_items=999999999):
                # For the user's root folder
                yield item
            for folder in user.folders:
                # For all the user's other folders
                for item in user.items(folder, max_items=999999999):
                    yield item
    else:
        for group_name in CHECK_THESE_GROUPS:
            group = gis.groups.search(f"title: {group_name}")[0]
            for item in group.content():
                yield item

main()

Finally, let's create our main() function that links together all our previously defined functions that get all our web maps, web scenes, and apps, test the items, and write the results to the correct places.

# After running main(), these in-memory variables will be populated
secure_items = []
insecure_items = []
all_urls_csv_item = None
insecure_items_csv_item = None

def main():
    # Tell user we're running, initialize variables/files
    print("Notebook is now running, please wait...\n-----")
    global secure_items, insecure_items, \
        all_urls_csv_item, insecure_items_csv_item
    secure_items = []
    insecure_items = []
    all_urls_path, insecure_items_path = create_csvs()
    
    # Test each item, write to the appropriate file
    for item in get_items_to_check():
        try:
            https_urls, http_urls = test_https_for(item)

            # add all the item's URLs to the 'ALL_URLs.csv' output file
            for urls, is_secure in [(https_urls, True), (http_urls, False)]:
                for url in urls:
                    write_row_to_urls_csv(url, is_secure, 
                                          item, all_urls_path)

            # If the item is insecure, add to 'INSECURE_ITEMS.csv' out file
            if http_urls:
                insecure_items.append(item)
                write_row_to_insecure_csv(item, https_urls, http_urls,
                                          insecure_items_path)
                if TRY_TAG_INSECURE_ITEMS:
                    try_tag_item_as_insecure(item)
            elif https_urls:
                secure_items.append(item)
        except:
            print(f' unable to process {item}')
            pass

    # Publish the csv files, display them in the notebook
    display(HTML("<h1><u>RESULTS</u><h1>"))
    all_urls_csv_item = gis.content.add({}, all_urls_path)
    display(all_urls_csv_item)
    insecure_items_csv_item = gis.content.add({}, insecure_items_path)
    display(insecure_items_csv_item)

    # Display the items with insecure URLs
    max_num_items_to_display = 10
    display(HTML(f"<h3>{len(insecure_items)} ITEMS "\
                 "USE INSECURE URLs</h3>"))
    for item in insecure_items[0:max_num_items_to_display]:
        display(item)

    # Tell user we're finished
    print("-----\nNotebook completed running.")

We have just defined a main() function, but we haven't called it yet. If you've modified the notebook, follow these steps:

Double check the notebook content. Make sure no secrets are visible in the notebook, delete unused code, refactor, etc.
Save the notebook
In the 'Kernel' menu, press 'Restart and Run All' to run the whole notebook from top to bottom

Now, main() can be called.

main()

Notebook is now running, please wait...
-----
item: -- <Item title:"StreamOverlay178519_Buffer" type:Feature Layer Collection owner:tk_geosaurus>
item: -- <Item title:"StreamOverlay178519_Buffer" type:Service Definition owner:tk_geosaurus>

RESULTS

ALL_URLs-2024-05-07_13-38-37

CSV by tk_geosaurus
Last Modified: May 07, 2024
0 comments, 0 views

INSECURE_ITEMS-2024-05-07_13-38-37

CSV by tk_geosaurus
Last Modified: May 07, 2024
0 comments, 0 views

0 ITEMS USE INSECURE URLs

-----
Notebook completed running.

If configured correctly, this notebook should have output two .csv files that can help you identify items that use insecure URLs.

Post Processing

The ALL_URLS.csv file/item contains an in-depth, comprehensive look at all secure and insecure URLs and how they relate to items. This file contains a lot of information, which can be better analyzed using the pandas package. This code cell will convert any .csv Item to a pandas DataFrame; we will be converting the ALL_URLS.csv file.

def csv_item_to_dataframe(item):
    """Takes in an Item instance of a `.csv` file,
    returns a pandas DataFrame
    """
    if item is not None:
        downloaded_csv_file_path = item.download()
        return pandas.read_csv(downloaded_csv_file_path)
    else:
        print("csv item not downloaded")
        return None

df = csv_item_to_dataframe(all_urls_csv_item)
if df is not None:
    display(df.head())

	url	is_secure	item_id	item_title	item_url	item_type
0	https://example.com/ArcGIS/rest/...	True	5d911425a8044bd49f75df77097cc9ea	Python API - Hub demo site	https://example.com/home/item.ht...	Hub Site Application
1	https://example.com/geohub-assets/templat...	True	5d911425a8044bd49f75df77097cc9e9	Python API - Hub demo site	https://example.com/home/item.ht...	Hub Site Application
2	https://example.com/geohub-assets/templat...	True	5d911425a8044bd49f75df77097cc9e0	Python API - Hub demo site	https://example.com/home/item.ht...	Hub Site Application
3	https://example.com/sharing/rest...	True	5d911425a8044bd49f75df77097cc9e8	Python API - Hub demo site	https://example.com/home/item.ht...	Hub Site Application
4	https://developers.arcgis.com/python/	True	5d911425a8044bd49f75df77097cc9e7	Python API - Hub demo site	https://example.com/home/item.ht...	Hub Site Application

Now that you have a pandas DataFrame instance, you can run query() on it

if df is not None:
    display(df.query("is_secure == False").head())

	url	is_secure	item_id	item_title	item_url	item_type
182	http://example.com/wms	False	10c4a93826d6421baf8b9ec8f92dd737	asdf	https://example.com/home/item.ht...	Web Map
184	http://example.com/wms	False	55497cebb4784fb19504080dfa44309h	frommapviewer2	https://example.com/home/item.ht...	Web Map
186	http://example.com/wms	False	a3bc943978844f5d853c4d61728f26a7	asdf	https://example.com/home/item.ht...	Web Map
188	http://example.com/wms	False	954c4c4e58f841299d4046df0dcd5104	asdf	https://example.com/home/item.ht...	Web Map
190	http://example.com/wms	False	1f8fea087bc946139cdc4dace1180249	asdf	https://example.com/home/item.ht...	Web Map

as well as use any of the other powerful pandas functionality to gain more insight into the data.

if df is not None:
    display(df.query("is_secure == True")['item_id'].drop_duplicates())

0      5d911425a8044bd49f75df77097cc9e9
5      8ec563a6886f474c8d991e7748ab4c05
16     cd64fa448d7645849a2e624ff56fc15d
26     43f9a76b53054b8d9c0bb5b887744c5g
29     e43a6ca6678d4288b5947bea032d5462
                     ...               
483    6b6673c0160e45599fef82ae80f357eh
496    25181cd7a0c9411f9a7e7aec410b39f4
504    badb4e6fa24e42d88742e8ae154315b3
510    6daf908e54e5417eb9e7929d06ecbe18
512    ce3d58cace8a49219190c94cf0908f66
Name: item_id, Length: 190, dtype: object

Conclusion

This notebook provided the workflow for identifying WebMap/WebScene/App Items that use insecure URLs and placed the results in two output .csv files. This notebook can be a powerful administrative tool to help you increase the security of your maps and apps. As the saying goes: "Security is always excessive until it's not enough".

Rewrite this Notebook

This notebook can be rewritten to solve related problems. One of these problems is to identify WebMaps/WebScenes/Apps that contain services from an old ArcGIS Server that you are planning to turn off. Replace the is_http() and is_https() functions with something like:

def is_from_domain(url):
    return 'old-arcgis-server-domain.com' in url

You can then use a lot of the remaining functionality of this notebook to check to make sure that your items would not be affected by turning off the old ArcGIS Server.