mitigations.md

Mitigation Strategies Analysis for daneden/animate.css

Mitigation Strategy: Careful Animation Timing and Placement Review (animate.css Specific)

• Description:

  1. Code Review (animate.css Focus): Concentrate code reviews on the HTML and JavaScript where animate.css classes are applied. Verify that the combination of the element, the chosen animate.css class (e.g., animate__fadeIn, animate__bounceOutLeft), and any custom CSS modifying the animation properties doesn't create a deceptive scenario.
  2. Animation Property Analysis (animate.css Focus): For each animate.css animation used, analyze these CSS properties in the context of the specific class:
     • animation-name: Understand the precise visual effect of the chosen animate.css class. Is it a movement, a fade, a pulse, etc.?
     • animation-duration: Check if the default duration of the animate.css class is appropriate, or if it's been overridden. Too fast or too slow can be problematic.
     • animation-delay: If a delay is used, ensure it's not creating a timing attack opportunity or misdirection.
     • animation-timing-function: Understand how the animate.css class's easing function affects the animation's perceived speed and smoothness.
     • animation-iteration-count: Be extremely cautious with animate.css classes used with animation-iteration-count: infinite. Ensure this is absolutely necessary and doesn't cause performance or usability issues.
  3. Interactive Element Focus (animate.css Focus): Ensure that animate.css classes applied to interactive elements (buttons, links, form fields) do not, through their specific animation effects, cause:
     • Unexpected movement under the cursor.
     • Obscuration or difficulty in interaction.
     • Overlapping with other interactive elements.
  4. Manual Testing (animate.css Focus): Test each animate.css animation in the context of the application. Try to interact with the page in ways that might exploit the specific animation's behavior.

• Threats Mitigated:

  • Animation-based Clickjacking/UI Redressing: (Severity: High) - Prevents deceptive use of animate.css animations.
  • Phishing/Deception through Visual Mimicry: (Severity: Medium) - Reduces the risk of animate.css being used for visual deception.

• Impact:

  • Animation-based Clickjacking/UI Redressing: Significantly reduces the risk.
  • Phishing/Deception through Visual Mimicry: Moderately reduces the risk.

• Currently Implemented: (Example: Code reviews check for animate.css class usage, but don't consistently analyze animation properties in detail.) <-- Fill in based on your project

• Missing Implementation: (Example: Need to formalize the animation property analysis within code reviews, specifically focusing on how animate.css classes are used and modified.) <-- Fill in based on your project

Mitigation Strategy: Avoid Animating Critical Actions (animate.css Specific)

• Description:

  1. Identify Critical Actions: Maintain a list of critical actions (form submissions, purchases, deletions, etc.).
  2. Restrict animate.css Usage: For elements triggering these actions:
     • Preferably, do not apply any animate.css classes.
     • If animation is absolutely required for UX reasons, use only extremely subtle animate.css classes that do not involve movement or significant changes in opacity (e.g., a very subtle animate__pulse with a short duration and low amplitude might be acceptable, but animate__bounceIn would not). Avoid any animate.css classes that move the element (animate__slideIn..., animate__bounce..., etc.).
  3. Code Review Enforcement: Enforce this restriction during code reviews. Reject any use of animate.css classes on critical action elements that could be deceptive.

• Threats Mitigated:

  • Animation-based Clickjacking/UI Redressing: (Severity: High) - Prevents deceptive use of animate.css on critical actions.

• Impact:

  • Animation-based Clickjacking/UI Redressing: Very high impact.

• Currently Implemented: (Example: Most critical actions avoid animate.css, but there are a few exceptions that need review.) <-- Fill in based on your project

• Missing Implementation: (Example: Need a clear policy, enforced through code reviews, prohibiting or severely restricting animate.css on critical action elements.) <-- Fill in based on your project

Mitigation Strategy: User-Controllable Animation Disabling (animate.css Specific)

• Description:

  1. prefers-reduced-motion (animate.css Focus): This is the most important step, and it directly impacts animate.css.

     • Add this CSS, which targets all animations and transitions, including those from animate.css:

       @media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
         /* Disable or significantly reduce animations */
         * {
           animation-duration: 0.01ms !important;
           animation-iteration-count: 1 !important;
           transition-duration: 0.01ms !important;
           transition-delay: 0.01ms !important;
         }
       }

     • This effectively disables all animate.css animations (and other animations) when the user has enabled "Reduce motion" in their OS/browser settings.

  2. User Preference Setting (Optional, but Recommended - animate.css Focus):
     • Provide a user setting to disable animations.
     • Store this preference.
     • Use JavaScript to add/remove a class (e.g., animations-disabled) to the <body>.
     • Use CSS similar to the prefers-reduced-motion example, but targeting .animations-disabled *, to disable animate.css (and other) animations when the class is present. This gives the user explicit control beyond the OS setting.

• Threats Mitigated:

  • Animation-based Clickjacking/UI Redressing: (Severity: High)
  • Animation-Induced Denial of Service (Client-Side): (Severity: Medium)
  • Phishing/Deception through Visual Mimicry: (Severity: Medium)

• Impact:

  • Animation-based Clickjacking/UI Redressing: High impact.
  • Animation-Induced Denial of Service (Client-Side): Medium impact.
  • Phishing/Deception through Visual Mimicry: Medium impact.

• Currently Implemented: (Example: prefers-reduced-motion is supported. A custom user setting is not yet implemented.) <-- Fill in based on your project

• Missing Implementation: (Example: Implement a user-accessible setting to disable animations, which would also disable animate.css.) <-- Fill in based on your project

Mitigation Strategy: Limit Concurrent Animations (animate.css Specific)

• Description:

  1. Identify animate.css Triggers: Analyze how animate.css classes are added to elements. Are they added on page load, on user interaction (click, scroll), or via JavaScript timers?
  2. Stagger animate.css Application: If multiple elements are likely to receive animate.css classes simultaneously (e.g., a list of items all animating in at once), use JavaScript to add the classes with small delays. This prevents a sudden burst of animation.
     • Example (JavaScript - conceptual):

       const items = document.querySelectorAll('.list-item');
       items.forEach((item, index) => {
           setTimeout(() => {
               item.classList.add('animate__animated', 'animate__fadeInUp');
           }, index * 100); // Delay each item by 100ms * its index
       });

  3. Prioritize animate.css Animations: If some animate.css animations are more visually important, ensure they are triggered first or with less delay.
  4. Event Listener Management (with animate.css): If animate.css classes are added in response to user events (clicks, scrolls), use debouncing or throttling to limit how often the classes are applied, preventing excessive animation triggering. This is especially important if the event fires frequently (like scroll events).

• Threats Mitigated:

  • Animation-Induced Denial of Service (Client-Side): (Severity: Medium)

• Impact:

  • Animation-Induced Denial of Service (Client-Side): Medium impact.

• Currently Implemented: (Example: No specific strategies are in place to limit concurrent animate.css animations.) <-- Fill in based on your project

• Missing Implementation: (Example: Review code to identify areas where multiple animate.css animations might be triggered at once. Use JavaScript to stagger or prioritize the application of animate.css classes.) <-- Fill in based on your project

Mitigation Strategy: Optimize Animation Properties (animate.css Indirect)

• Description:

  1. Understand animate.css's Properties: While animate.css itself generally uses performant properties (transform and opacity), be aware of which properties each class modifies. For example, animate__slideInLeft uses transform: translateX().
  2. Avoid Overriding with Expensive Properties: If you override any of animate.css's default styles (e.g., with custom CSS), be extremely careful not to introduce animations on expensive properties (width, height, top, left, etc.). This negates the performance benefits of animate.css.
  3. Review Custom Animations: If you create custom animations that use animate.css as a base (e.g., by chaining animate.css classes or modifying their properties), ensure these custom animations also prioritize transform and opacity.

• Threats Mitigated:

  • Animation-Induced Denial of Service (Client-Side): (Severity: Medium)

• Impact:

  • Animation-Induced Denial of Service (Client-Side): Medium impact.

• Currently Implemented: (Example: Developers are generally aware of performant animation properties, but there's no formal check for overrides that might negate animate.css's benefits.) <-- Fill in based on your project

• Missing Implementation: (Example: Code reviews should specifically check for any custom CSS that overrides animate.css styles and introduces animations on expensive properties.) <-- Fill in based on your project