5 JavaScript Security Best Practices for 2024

Any JavaScript web application needs to have a Content Security Policy (CSP), a browser security standard that dictates what the browser is allowed to load — whether that be a domain, subdomain, or resource. Without a CSP, hackers can exploit cross-site scripting vulnerabilities, potentially resulting in a data breach.

Kent’s rules, from Extreme Programming Explained are:

• Runs all the tests
• Has no duplicated logic. Be wary of hidden duplication like parallel class hierarchies
• States every intention important to the programmer
• Has the fewest possible classes and methods

In my experience, these don’t quite serve the needs of software design. My four rules might be that a well-designed system:

• is well-covered by passing tests.
• has no abstractions not directly needed by the program.
• has unambiguous behavior.
• requires the fewest number of concepts.

/* 
 * Password Hashing With PBKDF2 (http://crackstation.net/hashing-security.htm).
 * Copyright (c) 2013, Taylor Hornby
 * All rights reserved.
 *
 * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 
 * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
 *
 * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, 
 * this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
 *
 * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
 * this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation 
 * and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
 *
 * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" 
 * AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 
 * IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 
 * ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE 
 * LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR 
 * CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF 
 * SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS 
 * INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN 
 * CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) 
 * ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE 
 * POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 */

using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Security.Cryptography;

namespace PasswordHash
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Salted password hashing with PBKDF2-SHA1.
    /// Author: havoc AT defuse.ca
    /// www: http://crackstation.net/hashing-security.htm
    /// Compatibility: .NET 3.0 and later.
    /// </summary>
    public class PasswordHash
    {
        // The following constants may be changed without breaking existing hashes.
        public const int SALT_BYTE_SIZE = 24;
        public const int HASH_BYTE_SIZE = 24;
        public const int PBKDF2_ITERATIONS = 1000;

        public const int ITERATION_INDEX = 0;
        public const int SALT_INDEX = 1;
        public const int PBKDF2_INDEX = 2;

        /// <summary>
        /// Creates a salted PBKDF2 hash of the password.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="password">The password to hash.</param>
        /// <returns>The hash of the password.</returns>
        public static string CreateHash(string password)
        {
            // Generate a random salt
            RNGCryptoServiceProvider csprng = new RNGCryptoServiceProvider();
            byte[] salt = new byte[SALT_BYTE_SIZE];
            csprng.GetBytes(salt);

            // Hash the password and encode the parameters
            byte[] hash = PBKDF2(password, salt, PBKDF2_ITERATIONS, HASH_BYTE_SIZE);
            return PBKDF2_ITERATIONS + ":" +
                Convert.ToBase64String(salt) + ":" +
                Convert.ToBase64String(hash);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Validates a password given a hash of the correct one.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="password">The password to check.</param>
        /// <param name="correctHash">A hash of the correct password.</param>
        /// <returns>True if the password is correct. False otherwise.</returns>
        public static bool ValidatePassword(string password, string correctHash)
        {
            // Extract the parameters from the hash
            char[] delimiter = { ':' };
            string[] split = correctHash.Split(delimiter);
            int iterations = Int32.Parse(split[ITERATION_INDEX]);
            byte[] salt = Convert.FromBase64String(split[SALT_INDEX]);
            byte[] hash = Convert.FromBase64String(split[PBKDF2_INDEX]);

            byte[] testHash = PBKDF2(password, salt, iterations, hash.Length);
            return SlowEquals(hash, testHash);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Compares two byte arrays in length-constant time. This comparison
        /// method is used so that password hashes cannot be extracted from
        /// on-line systems using a timing attack and then attacked off-line.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="a">The first byte array.</param>
        /// <param name="b">The second byte array.</param>
        /// <returns>True if both byte arrays are equal. False otherwise.</returns>
        private static bool SlowEquals(byte[] a, byte[] b)
        {
            uint diff = (uint)a.Length ^ (uint)b.Length;
            for (int i = 0; i < a.Length && i < b.Length; i++)
                diff |= (uint)(a[i] ^ b[i]);
            return diff == 0;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Computes the PBKDF2-SHA1 hash of a password.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="password">The password to hash.</param>
        /// <param name="salt">The salt.</param>
        /// <param name="iterations">The PBKDF2 iteration count.</param>
        /// <param name="outputBytes">The length of the hash to generate, in bytes.</param>
        /// <returns>A hash of the password.</returns>
        private static byte[] PBKDF2(string password, byte[] salt, int iterations, int outputBytes)
        {
            Rfc2898DeriveBytes pbkdf2 = new Rfc2898DeriveBytes(password, salt);
            pbkdf2.IterationCount = iterations;
            return pbkdf2.GetBytes(outputBytes);
        }
    }
}

Firefox Quantum is over twice as fast as Firefox from 6 months ago, built on a completely overhauled core engine with brand new technology stolen from our advanced research group, and graced with a beautiful new look designed to get out of the way and let you do what you do best: surf a ton of pages, open a zillion tabs, all guilt free because Firefox Quantum uses less memory than the competition 

You'll often hear the terms framework and platform used interchangeably. This can be very confusing. You'll hear that .NET Core is a platform. Then you'll read that .NET Core is cross-platform. Next, you'll learn that .NET Core is a framework. And it doesn't help that framework is part of the name of the original full .NET Framework.

In this post, I explain the difference between frameworks and platforms and explain why sometimes you'll see .NET being referred to as a framework and other times see it referred to as a platform. 

@using BlazorWasm.Client.Pages.Authentication

@using System.Security.Claims

@inject NavigationManager NavigationManager

if(AuthState is not null)
{
    <div class="alert alert-danger">
        <p>You [@AuthState.User.Identity.Name] do not have access to the requested page</p>
        <div>
            Your roles:
            <ul>
            @foreach (var claim in AuthState.User.Claims.Where(c => c.Type == ClaimTypes.Role))
            {
                <li>@claim.Value</li>
            }
            </ul>
        </div>
    </div>
}

@code
{
    [CascadingParameter]
    private Task<AuthenticationState> AuthenticationState {set; get;}

    AuthenticationState AuthState;

    protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync()
    {
        AuthState = await AuthenticationState;
        if (!IsAuthenticated(AuthState))
        {
            var returnUrl = NavigationManager.ToBaseRelativePath(NavigationManager.Uri);
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(returnUrl))
            {
                NavigationManager.NavigateTo("login");
            }
            else
            {
                NavigationManager.NavigateTo($"login?returnUrl={Uri.EscapeDataString(returnUrl)}");
            }
        }
    }

    private bool IsAuthenticated(AuthenticationState authState) =>
            authState?.User?.Identity is not null && authState.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated;
}

<NotAuthorized>
    <RedirectToLogin></RedirectToLogin>
</NotAuthorized>

using System;
using BlazorServer.Common;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authorization;

namespace BlazorWasm.Client.Utils
{
    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class | AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple = true, Inherited = true)]
    public class RolesAttribute : AuthorizeAttribute
    {
        public RolesAttribute(params string[] roles)
        {
            Roles = $"{ConstantRoles.Admin},{string.Join(",", roles)}";
        }
    }
}

@attribute [Roles(ConstantRoles.Customer, ConstantRoles.Employee)]

namespace BlazorWasm.WebApi.Controllers
{
    [Route("api/[controller]")]
    [Authorize(Roles = "Editor")]
    public class MyProtectedEditorsApiController : Controller
    {
        [HttpGet]
        public IActionResult Get()
        {
            return Ok(new ProtectedEditorsApiDTO
            {
                Id = 1,
                Title = "Hello from My Protected Editors Controller!",
                Username = this.User.Identity.Name
            });
        }
    }
}

namespace BlazorWasm.Client.Services
{
    public class ClientHttpInterceptorService : DelegatingHandler
    {
        private readonly NavigationManager _navigationManager;
        private readonly ILocalStorageService _localStorage;
        private readonly IJSRuntime _jsRuntime;

        public ClientHttpInterceptorService(
                NavigationManager navigationManager,
                ILocalStorageService localStorage,
                IJSRuntime JsRuntime)
        {
            _navigationManager = navigationManager ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(navigationManager));
            _localStorage = localStorage ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(localStorage));
            _jsRuntime = JsRuntime ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(JsRuntime));
        }

        protected override async Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(HttpRequestMessage request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
        {
            // How to add a JWT to all of the requests
            var token = await _localStorage.GetItemAsync<string>(ConstantKeys.LocalToken);
            if (token is not null)
            {
                request.Headers.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("bearer", token);
            }

            var response = await base.SendAsync(request, cancellationToken);

            if (!response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
            {
                await _jsRuntime.ToastrError($"Failed to call `{request.RequestUri}`. StatusCode: {response.StatusCode}.");

                switch (response.StatusCode)
                {
                    case HttpStatusCode.NotFound:
                        _navigationManager.NavigateTo("/404");
                        break;
                    case HttpStatusCode.Forbidden: // 403
                    case HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized: // 401
                        _navigationManager.NavigateTo("/unauthorized");
                        break;
                    default:
                        _navigationManager.NavigateTo("/500");
                        break;
                }
            }

            return response;
        }
    }
}

@page "/unauthorized"

<div class="alert alert-danger mt-3">
    <p>You don't have access to the requested resource.</p>
</div>

dotnet add package Microsoft.Extensions.Http

namespace BlazorWasm.Client
{
    public class Program
    {
        public static async Task Main(string[] args)
        {
            var builder = WebAssemblyHostBuilder.CreateDefault(args);
            //...

            // builder.Services.AddScoped(sp => new HttpClient { BaseAddress = new Uri(builder.HostEnvironment.BaseAddress) });
            /*builder.Services.AddScoped(sp => new HttpClient
            {
                BaseAddress = new Uri(builder.Configuration.GetValue<string>("BaseAPIUrl"))
            });*/

            // dotnet add package Microsoft.Extensions.Http
            builder.Services.AddHttpClient(
                    name: "ServerAPI",
                    configureClient: client =>
                    {
                        client.BaseAddress = new Uri(builder.Configuration.GetValue<string>("BaseAPIUrl"));
                        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("User-Agent", "BlazorWasm.Client 1.0");
                    }
                )
                .AddHttpMessageHandler<ClientHttpInterceptorService>();
            builder.Services.AddScoped<ClientHttpInterceptorService>();
            builder.Services.AddScoped(sp => sp.GetRequiredService<IHttpClientFactory>().CreateClient("ServerAPI"));

            //...
        }
    }
}