10 React security best practices

When possible, another easy and effective technique is to use multi-factor authentication. Malicious code is injected into the parsers to collect sensitive data or even attempt a CSRF (Cross-site request forgery ) and DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack. Some versions of third-party components might contain JavaScript security issues. Always check your dependencies with a software composition analysis tool before adding them to a project, and be sure to update when a newer version becomes available. And since JSX is syntactic sugar over createElement() calls, it’s power can be leveraged to secure the application via its auto-escaping functionality. If that’s not enough, developers can look for third-party libraries that will help with the optimizations even more. One of the most popular is Reselect for memoization or Immer/Immutable.js for immutable data structures that help limit the number of rerenders.

• Developers mostly use React on top of HTML and JavaScript to build a progressive web app.
• As you can see, securing a React web application is a complex process, which requires several cybersecurity experts specializing in React.js.
• Markup, data, logic, and sometimes styles are usually kept together in one file because they change together.
• You need to be aware of some of the common vulnerabilities in React applications and take suggested steps to mitigate these risks.
• Developers should generate new file names for each file before the application leverages them.

React developers can incorporate a web application firewall into their code for protecting the app from running any adversary script. Developers can place a REST API between the front-end and the back-end . It will create an extra layer of security that will not allow the front-end users to execute any SQL query directly. XXE attacks occur in web applications that use XML , the text-based language utilized for storing and organizing data in a web app. For transforming XML into readable code, an app needs an XML parser. Though both imply malicious code injections, XSS makes users vulnerable while SQLi targets the application itself. There’s a very specific vulnerability in React applications known as “zip slip” which involves the exploitation of the feature that enables uploading zip files.

Is React vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS)?

A perpetrator is able to add some malicious code to your program that is interpreted as valid and is executed as a part of the application. While developing a React application in VS Code you can use the Snyk extension to alert you of any known vulnerabilities in your project. You’ll find visibility to these alerts via squiggly line warnings directly in your package.json file, the Snyk extensions panel and the VS Code problems panel. This is helpful so that you don’t have to switch context out of your development environment to learn of these vulnerabilities — it’s all within your scope.

CSRF attacks specifically target state-changing requests since those are considered more sensitive than “GET” requests. Cross-Site Request Forgery is an attack that forces a logged-in user’s browser to send a forged HTTP request, without their knowledge, in order to execute a malicious action. Using a dedicated server for storing your data would be ideal in order to prevent any unwanted breaches of security from occurring. Some attackers can also put innocent-looking hyperlinks embedding the request. Here is a link to the repository containing libraries and APIs infected by zip slip. Here is a Zip slip code example demonstrating a ZipEntry path merges to a destination directory without validating that path. Researchers and security professionals have found similar codes in different repositories across many apps.

Malicious File Uploads

It is always necessary to filter all sorts of user input by following a strict whitelist. Even when an internal user provides any SQL query as input, the React app should filter those incoming SQL queries.

Knowing how vulnerabilities affect your site is an important step toward protecting it from external threats. A progressive web app becomes a victim of SQLi when a developer gives its database connection access to privileges like INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE. So, developers should follow the best practice by assigning accurate database roles to separate account types. There are three major categories of SQL injection based on how attackers gain access to the backend data.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

You need to be aware of some of the common vulnerabilities in React applications and take suggested steps to mitigate these risks. It’s also harder for automated security scanners to detect these types of issues. That makes XSS one of the most dangerous threats when building a React app. If you’re new to React or are thinking about using it in your next project, there are some important security vulnerabilities that you must not overlook. React internally uses node.js, and hence any vulnerable library can pose a threat to the React app.

• Web Authentication is an exciting new spec that allows us to use strong authenticators like TouchID to log into apps and websites.
• Due to its rising popularity, it is also becoming a target for malicious actors.
• The cybercriminal intends to perform database manipulation logically to access sensitive information that is not supposed to be displayed.
• A perpetrator is able to add some malicious code to your program that is interpreted as valid and is executed as a part of the application.
• You’ll then be prompted to confirm you wish to open a pull request to fix the vulnerability using Snyk.

It is a good practice to create your own dependencies and libraries rather than using 3rd-party libraries. Another way to prevent Zip Slip attacks in React apps is to include the Zip Slip Security Testing solution in the build pipeline of the app.