mitigations.md

Mitigation Strategies Analysis for shakacode/react_on_rails

Mitigation Strategy: Input Sanitization for Server-Side Rendered Data

• Description:
  1. Identify SSR Data Points: Focus on data passed from your Rails backend to React components specifically for server-side rendering via react_on_rails. This includes props passed during initial rendering and data injected into the HTML.
  2. Sanitize in Rails Backend: Implement sanitization logic within your Rails application before data is passed to react_on_rails for rendering. This ensures data is safe before it even reaches the React rendering process.
     • Use Rails' built-in sanitization helpers or dedicated libraries like rails-html-sanitizer for HTML content.
     • For simple text, ensure proper encoding to prevent XSS.
  3. React Component Awareness: While React inherently escapes text in JSX, be extra cautious when using dangerouslySetInnerHTML in components that receive server-rendered data. Server-side sanitization is crucial in these cases.
  4. Test SSR Sanitization: Write tests in your Rails backend to verify that data passed to react_on_rails is correctly sanitized before rendering. These tests should simulate various types of potentially malicious input.
• Threats Mitigated:
  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) - Severity: High (Specifically related to server-rendered content in React on Rails)
• Impact:
  • XSS Mitigation: High - Directly prevents XSS vulnerabilities that can arise from unsanitized data being rendered server-side by react_on_rails and injected into the initial HTML.
• Currently Implemented:
  • Implemented in: Project X - Rails backend controllers and serializers used with react_on_rails.
  • Location: Sanitization logic is applied in Rails controllers and serializer methods that prepare data for react_on_rails rendering.
• Missing Implementation:
  • Missing in: Some older Rails serializers used with legacy react_on_rails components might lack proper sanitization. These need to be audited and updated to ensure consistent server-side sanitization.

Mitigation Strategy: Implement Request Timeouts for SSR (React on Rails Context)

• Description:
  1. Configure Node.js SSR Server: react_on_rails relies on a Node.js server (or similar environment) to perform server-side rendering. Configure request timeouts within this Node.js server setup.
  2. Set Timeout Value: Determine an appropriate timeout duration for SSR requests. This should account for typical rendering times of your React components within the react_on_rails context, but also be short enough to prevent resource exhaustion.
  3. Handle Timeouts Gracefully: Implement error handling in your Node.js server to catch timeout events during SSR. When a timeout occurs, ensure the server responds with an error (e.g., 503 Service Unavailable) and logs the event. This prevents the server from hanging indefinitely.
  4. Monitor SSR Performance: Monitor the frequency of SSR timeouts. An increase in timeouts could indicate performance issues in your React components or potential DoS attempts targeting the react_on_rails SSR process.
• Threats Mitigated:
  • Denial of Service (DoS) - Severity: High (Resource exhaustion specifically during react_on_rails server-side rendering)
• Impact:
  • DoS Mitigation: Medium - Prevents resource exhaustion on the server caused by excessively long react_on_rails SSR requests. Limits the impact of DoS attempts targeting SSR.
• Currently Implemented:
  • Implemented in: Project X - Node.js server configured for react_on_rails SSR.
  • Location: Request timeout is set in the Node.js server's configuration for handling react_on_rails SSR requests.
• Missing Implementation:
  • Missing in: Timeout value is currently static. Consider implementing dynamic timeout adjustments based on server load or the complexity of the React component being rendered by react_on_rails.

Mitigation Strategy: CSRF Token Inclusion in AJAX Requests (React on Rails Integration)

• Description:
  1. Verify React on Rails CSRF Setup: Confirm that react_on_rails is correctly configured to pass the Rails CSRF token to the client-side React application. This typically involves react_on_rails rendering a meta tag containing the CSRF token in the initial HTML.
  2. Access Token in React: Ensure your React application has a mechanism to reliably access the CSRF token from the meta tag rendered by react_on_rails. Create a utility function or hook for this purpose.
  3. AJAX Configuration for CSRF: Configure your chosen AJAX library (e.g., axios, fetch) within your React application to automatically include the CSRF token in the X-CSRF-Token header for all requests made to your Rails backend.
  4. Rails Backend CSRF Verification: Ensure that CSRF protection is enabled and correctly configured in your Rails application. Rails should automatically verify the X-CSRF-Token header on incoming requests.
  5. Integration Testing: Write integration tests that specifically verify that AJAX requests originating from your react_on_rails application to the Rails backend are correctly protected by CSRF tokens and that requests without valid tokens are rejected by Rails.
• Threats Mitigated:
  • Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) - Severity: High (Specifically in the context of React frontend interacting with Rails backend in react_on_rails)
• Impact:
  • CSRF Mitigation: High - Effectively prevents CSRF attacks against actions performed via AJAX requests from the React frontend to the Rails backend within the react_on_rails application.
• Currently Implemented:
  • Implemented in: Project X - React frontend, react_on_rails configuration, and Rails backend.
  • Location: react_on_rails handles initial token passing. React application uses a utility function to access the token and axios is configured to include it in headers. Rails CSRF protection is active.
• Missing Implementation:
  • Missing in: No known missing implementation. However, regular audits should be performed to ensure that CSRF protection remains correctly configured and functional as the react_on_rails application evolves and new features are added. Specifically, when new AJAX request patterns are introduced, CSRF protection should be re-verified.