JSON Security Protection and Common Issues

Principles of JSON Injection Attacks

JSON injection attacks refer to security vulnerabilities where attackers insert malicious JSON code into input data, causing application parsing errors or executing malicious operations.

Common JSON Security Issues

1. JSON Injection：Attackers construct special JSON strings to破坏 JSON structure or execute malicious code.

2. Deserialization Vulnerabilities：Unsafe JSON deserialization may lead to Remote Code Execution (RCE) attacks.

3. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)：Using JSON-formatted requests for CSRF attacks.

4. Information Leakage：JSON responses containing sensitive information such as passwords, tokens, etc.

5. Denial of Service (DoS)：Constructing extremely large or deeply nested JSON data, causing server memory exhaustion during parsing.

Measures to Prevent JSON Injection

1. Input Validation and Sanitization

• Strictly validate input data：Check all user inputs to ensure they meet expected formats.
• Use parameterized queries：Avoid directly concatenating JSON strings.
• Escape special characters：Properly escape special characters in JSON.

2. Secure Deserialization

• Use secure deserialization libraries：Choose JSON parsing libraries that have undergone security audits.
• Restrict deserialization types：Only allow deserialization to expected types.
• Disable dangerous features：Such as disabling automatic type recognition in deserialization.

3. Transmission Security

• Use HTTPS：Ensure encryption of JSON data during transmission.
• Add appropriate HTTP headers：Such as Content-Type: application/json.
• Implement CORS policies：Restrict cross-origin requests.

4. Server-Side Protection

• Set reasonable parsing limits：Limit JSON data size and nesting depth.
• Implement request rate limiting：Prevent brute force and DoS attacks.
• Monitor abnormal requests：Promptly detect and block suspicious JSON data.

5. Data Processing Security

• Filter sensitive information：Ensure JSON responses do not contain sensitive data.
• Use principle of least privilege：Limit permissions of JSON processing code.
• Regularly update dependencies：Fix known security vulnerabilities.

Best Practices

1. Use mature JSON libraries：Avoid implementing JSON parsing yourself.
2. Follow secure coding standards：Such as OWASP secure coding guidelines.
3. Regularly conduct security audits：Check for security vulnerabilities in JSON processing code.
4. Implement security testing：Including penetration testing and code review.

By implementing the above measures, you can effectively prevent JSON-related security issues and protect the security of applications and user data.