Clickjacking in PrestaShop and How to Prevent It

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photo by Creative Art

Malicious attacks have increased, and storing very confidential information on web applications does not necessarily mean that they are safe. Extra precautions need to be practiced while using the web pages to avoid being attacked by hackers or any malicious attack. Clickjacking is done whereby a user is given an option to click to an HTML similar to the one they intended to connect. In Prestashop, clickjacking is no longer a new term; malicious attackers have found a way to interfere with online business websites to acquire information. Knowing the kind of harm these can bring to the business, clickjacking should be prevented.

How it occurs

Clickjacking is a silent attack; however, many PrestaShop was not aware of it and the harm it can bring. However, preventing this is very important, and the user needs to understand how it occurs before the actual act.

Clickjacking starts when the attacker sends a link to the victim via social media, email, etc., the victim takes action and opens the link in a browser, and the browser leads to the target website, and the victim gets clickjacked.

Just by opening a link, visible and harmless UI and the browser is directed to the intended website, hence the hackers get a chance to tamper with the Prestashop.

How to prevent:

At the browser side

The entire process happens at the browser side, and a link is directly targeted to the user. This is done whereby the user has not complied with the website’s preventative measures. There are two ways of preventing the attack from the browser side.

Frame buster

The frame buster is a JavaScript code that makes all frames to be visible to a web page. The frame buster is helpful in several ways whereby;

It ensures that the current window the user is using is the top window. A-frame buster ensures that all frames are visible and the user can see them. It is also helpful to prevent the user from clicking invisible frames that might continue the malicious tricks. The frame bursting method is considered weak, and it is easy for an attacker to pass through it.

Using a onetime URL

Considering that the attacker mainly targets the URL and the click area, using a one-time URTL code to use it on the web page might help. Ensure that the URL is effective and can only use on code, and it will be harder for the hackers to access it.

At the server-side

The entire process might also be prevented on the server-side, and two methods do it.

CSP

It was developed mainly to prevent clickjacking attacks and stop malicious attacks by giving the browser information about permitted websites. To be effective, you can add it to the HTML header and server configuration file to detect malicious attacks in the webserver.

X frames

X frames help prevent clickjacking, giving the website owner control over objects such as frame, iframe, etc. Xframe provides the user with three options: DENY, SAMEORIGIN, and ALLOW-FROM to give the server different options.

In conclusion, clickjacking needs to be taken seriously because it can lead to severe damage. More so for Prestashop, clickjacking might lead to loss of money; however, it can be prevented. It is advisable to follow clear guidelines about protecting web applications to avoid clickjacking.