Node.js Application Security
In this article, we will focus on some of the best practices of Nodejs, and how to make your app much more secured.
Here’s the quick rundown with some express/node js modules:
Crypto
Schneier’s Law stated:
Anyone, from the most clueless amateur to the best cryptographer, can create an algorithm that he himself can’t break.
We might not know exactly what your secret algorithm is, and the fact that you yourself cannot break the cypher secret code is irrelevant. You should focus on generating or using the algorithm in such a way that others can’t break it.
An attacker may use common tools like substitution cyphers or polyalphabetic cyphers to recover the plaintext from the ciphertext. Do not use your own crypto, use standard one instead.
Bcrypt is one of the widely used and it has been around for quite some time and remains unbroken till date. It is a password hashing function.
Keep your dependencies up to date
Keeping third-party libraries up-to-date and keeping the track of it is quite important, as these libraries may risk your entire application.
HTTP response headers
helmet — It is an express module to set secure HTTP headers.
To install helmet-
npm install --save helmet
const express = require('express');
const helmet = require('helmet');
const app = express();
app.use(helmet());
helmet.js
Use cookies securely
Install Express session: express-session stores session data on the server and id in the cookie itself, and not the session data
npm install --save express-session
var express = require('express');
var session = require('express-session');
app.use(session({secret: 'secret_'}));
session.js
const expressSession = require('cookie-session')
var expiryDate = new Date(Date.now() + 10 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000); // 10 days
const session = expressSession({
secret: sessionSecret,
resave: false,
saveUninitialized: true,
cookie: {
secureProxy: true,
httpOnly: true,
domain: 'example.com',
expires: expiryDate
}
})
app.use(session)
cookie-session.js
Cross-Origin Resource Sharing
The CORS mechanism describes new HTTP headers which provide browsers with a way to request remote URLs only when they have permission.
npm install cors --save
var cors = require('cors');
var app = express();
app.use(cors());
app.use(function(req, res, next) {
res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*");
res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'DELETE, PUT, GET, POST');
res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Headers", "Origin, X-Requested-With, Content-Type, Accept");
next();
});
cors.js
Cross-Site Request Forgery
Install csurf:
npm install csurf
const cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
const csrf = require('csurf');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const express = require('express');
const csrfProtection = csrf({ cookie: true });
const parseForm = bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: false });
const app = express();
// parse cookies
// we need this because "cookie" is true in csrfProtection
app.use(cookieParser());
app.get('/form', csrfProtection, function (req, res) {
// pass the csrfToken to the view
res.render('send', { csrfToken: req.csrfToken() })
})
app.post('/process', parseForm, csrfProtection, function (req, res) {
res.send('data is being processed')
})
csrf.js
Sending the token value back to the view
<form action="/process" method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="_csrf" value="{{csrfToken}}">
<button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>
handlebar_view.js
Error Handling
Recommendations in the node.js community are that you pass errors around in callbacks (Because errors only occur for asynchronous operations) as the first argument
Using async/await you can now get asynchronous control flow as you want:
async function email(address) {
try {
// Do something asynchronous that may throw...
await sendEmail({ to: address, from: '[email protected]', subject: 'Hello' });
} catch(err) {
if (err instanceof SomeCustomError) {
elegantlyHandleError(err)
} else {
throw err
}
}
}
error-handling.js
Nodejs API Authentication of JWT Tokens
REST(Representational state transfer) is the widely used web architecture as it is flexible and simple to use. Generating jwt tokens for authenticating users to obtain access to resources is one of the secured approaches.
This will enable the use of a token instead of username and password for accessing each resource
Tools to check the security risk of open-source dependencies
Sqreen** — **Itprotects your application from cross-site scripting, SQL injection, MongoDB injection, checks vulnerabilities against all broken files and 3rd party libraries, etc…
Snyk** — **It helps you find and fix known vulnerabilities in your dependencies
Acunetix — It helps in the vulnerability of web applications and frameworks like Angular, React, Vue, Ember.
OWASP provides the basis for testing the web application. To know more about it and more about web security, kindly visit -
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