Application Firewall JSON Response Parsing for CSRF Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data communication networks are vulnerable to attacks such as cross-site request forgery (CSRF) and cross-site scripting (XSS), which can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information, posing risks of identity theft and malicious system use.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an application firewall on an intermediary device that parses responses for JSON content to identify and block malicious transmissions, using a content-specific parser to determine valid JSON and prevent unauthorized data transmission to clients.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an application firewall parses all response content to detect JSON attacks, then security reliability is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The response content is segmented into different parts based on content type. The firewall applies full parsing only to JSON content types, while other content types receive different processing treatment. This segmentation allows focused security inspection where needed without unnecessarily processing all content, thus improving security reliability while reducing overall processing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The firewall performs partial parsing action by detecting JSON content type and applying parsing only to those specific responses. This partial action approach avoids the excessive processing of all responses, maintaining high security for JSON content while reducing computational overhead and processing time for non-JSON content.
2Measurement precision
If an application firewall implements content-specific parsing for JSON detection, then measurement precision of malicious content is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The firewall introduces an intermediary content type detection mechanism that identifies JSON content before applying parsing. This intermediary step acts as a mediator that filters responses and directs only JSON content to the parsing engine, improving detection precision while avoiding the complexity of implementing parsing logic for all content types.
Solution Approach 2:
The firewall applies different processing qualities to different content types. JSON content receives high-quality parsing inspection, while other content types receive different processing treatment. This local quality approach ensures precise detection where needed without uniformly increasing complexity across all processing paths.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If an application firewall blocks all JSON responses, then security protection is improved, but information loss increases
Solution Approach 1:
The firewall converts the potential harm of blocking all JSON responses by implementing selective blocking. It uses content-specific parsing to identify malicious JSON content while allowing legitimate JSON responses to pass through. This approach transforms the harmful effect of over-blocking into a beneficial selective protection mechanism that maintains security while preserving legitimate information flow.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein is a method and system for prevention of personal computing attacks, such as JavaScript Objection Notation (JSON) attacks. An intermediary device is deployed between a plurality of clients and servers. A firewall executes on the intermediary device. A client sends a request to the server and the server sends a response to the request. The intermediary device intercepts the response and identifies that the response may contain possibly harmful content. The application firewall parses the content of the response and determines whether it contains any harmful content. If it does, the application firewall blocks the response from being sent to its destination. Additionally, the method and system can provide other security checks, such as content hijacking protection and data validation.