Jump host (bastion): what it is and how it is attacked
The single controlled machine administrators go through to reach sensitive systems.
Also known as
- bastion
- jump box
- hardened admin host
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
It exists to be the only path in. If another path exists, the control is decorative.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Alternative routes that bypass it
- Sessions left open and reused
What reduces it
- Make the sensitive systems unreachable by any other route, or the control is decorative
- Record sessions, because this is the one place a full view of administrative work could exist
- Expire sessions rather than letting them be left open and reused
Where it sits
- Group
- Servers · Machines that run something for other machines.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- jump-host
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in servers
- Serverhost · machineA computer that runs something for other computers.
- Web serverHTTP server · websiteThe computer that sends your website to anybody who visits it.
- Application serverbackend · business logic tierRuns the working parts of an application, behind the website.
- DatabaseDB · SQL server · data storeStores the organised information an application depends on.
- Mail serveremail server · Exchange · SMTPSends, receives and stores the organisation's email.
- Name serverDNS · domain name serverTranslates names like example.com into network addresses.
- File serverSMB server · network shareHolds shared documents everyone can reach over the network.
- Virtual machine hosthypervisor · ESXi · Hyper-VOne physical server pretending to be many.
- Backup serverbackup · Veeam · backup controllerMakes and manages the spare copies of your data that let you recover after something goes wrong.
- Update serverWSUS · patch server · software distributionDistributes software updates to every machine.
- Build pipelineCI/CD · Jenkins · GitHub ActionsThe automated production line that turns written code into the software the business actually runs.
- Phone systemVoIP · PBX · telephony serverRuns the organisation's telephone calls over the network.
The servers group lists all 13 of them side by side.
Jump host on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type bastion. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker