Cybersecurity appears to be immaterial at first glance. However, all of your app's unique features, appealing user interfaces, and smooth performance will be in vain unless it is safe. These sobering data substantiate the above assertion: In 2020, "87%of companies have encountered an attempted exploit of an already-known, existing vulnerability," according to Check Point Software's Security Report.
Many businesses strive to reduce security flaws. For this, enterprises look for reputable IT firms with considerable app development experience, and they construct their web applications using the most effective and time-tested technology. React.js is one of these technologies.
As you can see, without a robust security layer in place, your application would frequently fall subject to hacks and threats, necessitating multiple re-testing and re-development rounds. This also applies to React.js-based apps, the most used web framework in 2021.
Given that, if React.js is a critical component of your app's tech stack, you've come to the correct place.
We know a couple of things about protecting a React.js web application as a business that has produced over 100 web apps using a JavaScript tech stack, and that's why we've compiled this list of handy tips for creating safe React.js apps.
Why Choose React.js?
According to the most recent StackOverflow developer survey, React.js is the second most popular JavaScript framework for web development. It's an effective tool for creating dynamic and interactive user interfaces. Web developers use React.js to develop web applications with quick performance and straightforward scalability.
- Data Binding.
- Code Reusability.
- Easy To Learn.
- Testing & Functionality.
- Virtual DOM, which allows fast web page rendering and improves app performance.
- Wide range of development tools, compatible libraries, and extensions.
Why is it necessary to Follow React.js Security
Any business web app entails a large amount of data interchange and connectivity to multiple sources. This enables firms to compete in the market and deliver efficient services to their consumers. On the contrary, web apps are vulnerable to many security vulnerabilities and data breaches due to their high connection.
When developing web apps using React.js, web developers must remember that there are no default security settings. As a result, they must understand how to deal with the most common security vulnerabilities in online applications.
The most common React.js cyberattacks
According to Snyk, every time React.js is updated, new security flaws emerge that go undiscovered. As a result, it is difficult to cover all possible cyberattacks that React.js (or any framework) may be vulnerable to. These three, however, are the most frequent, and let's take a closer look at them.
-
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
The injection of a malicious script into the code of a web application is known as XSS. This script gets picked up by the browser and interpreted as valid, and the malicious code is then run as part of an app. A successful XSS attack might allow the attacker to steal user passwords, collect sensitive data from the app's pages, make requests to servers, and more.
-
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
Intrusions swamp a web app's infrastructure with more traffic than it can manage. Their goal is to make an app inaccessible and unusable for its users. UDP, ICMP, SYN, and HTTP request flooding are some of the most prevalent methods for launching Attacks. Because a server and a firewall must process and react to each request, an attacker can deplete resources such as memory and CPU processing time.
-
XML External Entity Attack (XXE)
XXE attacks occur in online applications that employ XML (Extensible Markup Language), the text-based language used in web apps to store and organize data. An XML parser is required to convert XML into understandable code, and XXE injections frequently target such parsers. A perpetrator can use XXE to launch a CSRF or DDoS attack.
React.js security vulnerabilities and solutions
As previously stated, the most prevalent attacks against web applications are XSS, DDoS, and XXE. But what exactly enables harmful malware to infiltrate such apps? Here, we will look at security issues particular to React.js, those familiar to all frameworks, and how to solve them both.
The most common React.js vulnerabilities include:
- Dangerous URL schemes.
- Broken authentication.
- Server-side rendering.
- SQL Injections.
Let's go through each one in detail.
1. Dangerous URL Schemes
When hackers add harmful code beginning with JavaScript to URLs, links to other pages become hazardous. When a user clicks on a link, the script in the browser is activated. React.js app security does not restrict the usage of URLs that do not begin with "HTTP:" or "HTTPS:," and it lacks capabilities to protect against possible attacks.
Solution-
- Avoid using URLs as input. Create an application that takes YouTube video IDs rather than YouTube video URLs.
- If the preceding option is not available, utilize trusted third-party tools, such as the Sanitize URL NPM package to sanitize these potentially hazardous links. Make sure that everyone on your development team is using the same sanitation code.
2. Server-Side Rendering
When displaying online pages and content to users, many web apps employ server-side rendering. There are several benefits to server-side rendering, and it boosts app performance, speeds up webpage loading, and assures consistent SEO performance. However, this style of page rendering might pose certain security risks.
To tackle this vulnerability, developers need to:
- Perform code reviews regularly and double-check the data in JSON.stringify().
- To avoid rendering JSON, use the serialize-JavaScript NPM package.
3. SQL Injections
This kind of attack targets the app's databases. Attackers inject malicious SQL code into a database and get access to the data contained inside. They can modify, remove, or create new records if they have admin privileges.
To reduce the number of SQL attacks, web developers can:
- Implement whitelists to filter all types of inputs.
- When a web app may only utilize one statement (SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, or DELETE) for particular actions, apply the concept of least privilege to all accounts.
- Assign database roles to various accounts.
- Employ vulnerability scanners.
- Validate all API methods following their API schemas.
4. Broken Authentication
Authentication and user authorization issues emerge due to the insecure connection between the web client and the server. By tampering with authentication and authorization protocols, hackers can compromise user account data, passwords, session tokens, and other things.
To protect the HTTP basic authentication protocols, web developers need to:
- Evaluate whether the domain "WWW" header has a valid attribute that aids in avoiding mismatches between user IDs and passwords.
- Use suitable authentication techniques, such as ensuring that a web app responds with a 401 status error page if authentication fails.
- Incorporate cloud-native authentication, such as Google Cloud Identity Platform or Azure Active Directory.
- Implement password strength and weakness tests.
Note: Here are a handful of our case studies that showcase the pinnacle of React software development services with quality assurance.
Summary on React.js Security
Many well-known organizations look for React development companies to help them develop their online solutions. React.js is a comprehensive and practical framework for developing online apps that are quick, high-performance, and feature-rich.
However, like any software development framework, React.js isn't resistant to hacking 100%. Yet, Reactjs developers can introduce some measures to reduce the number of malicious attacks to a minimum.
Below is a quick summary of the most valuable practices web developers can follow to build effective security systems in their React.js application:
- Audit React code regularly and use whitelists to restrict all app inputs for potential dangers.
- Examine program code and features for the presence of harmful code, such as URLs or HTML elements.
- Enhance app security by using vulnerability scanners, the serialize-JavaScript NPM package, and the Web Application Firewall, among other things.
- Use suitable authentication techniques and technologies.
- Examine databases for any SQL injections.
- Verify all API functions in line with their API schemas.
- To avoid XSS attacks, rename downloaded zip files and utilize them for default data binding.
