ChromaDB Security

Security considerations for RAG applications using ChromaDB. ChromaDB is a Phase 2 RAGSec connector target. This page documents the security landscape for teams using it today.

RAGSec connector status: Planned — Phase 2. A RAGSec ChromaDB connector is not yet available. The information below is for teams conducting their own assessments.

ChromaDB’s security model

ChromaDB is primarily designed for local development and single-process use. Its HTTP client/server mode enables multi-process access, but Chroma does not currently provide native multi-tenancy, role-based access control, or API key scoping for collections. Authentication options are limited. Teams using ChromaDB in production RAG applications must implement all access control and tenant isolation at the application layer.

Key security considerations

• No native multi-tenancy: ChromaDB does not provide built-in tenant isolation. All separation relies on application-layer conventions (collection naming, metadata filtering, or separate Chroma instances).
• Metadata-filter-based isolation: Tenant separation implemented using where conditions on document metadata. Requires that every query include the tenant filter and that documents are ingested with consistent metadata fields.
• Unauthenticated by default: ChromaDB’s HTTP server does not enforce authentication by default. Deployments reachable outside the local process are accessible to anyone who can reach the endpoint.
• Collection enumeration: In server mode, all collections are enumerable by any client that can connect. There is no collection-level access control.
• Persistent storage access: ChromaDB’s persistence directory contains the full vector and metadata store. Access to the filesystem is equivalent to access to all data.

RAGSec coverage for ChromaDB

• Collection enumeration and metadata schema discovery Planned
• Authentication configuration assessment Planned
• Tenant metadata coverage analysis Planned
• Active cross-tenant isolation test Planned