Save sensitive data in React Native
AndroidIosReact NativeAndroid Problem Overview
I am building a React Native application and I need to save some sensitive data like a token and a refresh token. The obvious solution is to save that information using AsyncStorage. The problem is the security level of the AsyncStorage.
> AsyncStorage provides a way to locally store tokens and data. It can > be, in some ways, compared to a LocalStorage option. In full > production applications, it is recommended to not access AsyncStorage > directly, but instead, to use an abstraction layer, as AsyncStorage is > shared with other apps using the same browser, and thus an > ill-conceieved removal of all items from storage could impair the > functioning of neighboring apps.
https://auth0.com/blog/adding-authentication-to-react-native-using-jwt/
In a native app, I would go for Keychain
in iOS
and Shared Preferences
in private mode in Android
.
For what I read in the documentation provided by React Native:
> On iOS, AsyncStorage is backed by native code that stores small values > in a serialized dictionary and larger values in separate files. On > Android, AsyncStorage will use either RocksDB or SQLite based on what > is available.
https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/asyncstorage.html
They never talk about the security of that data.
It is the best solution create a module for Android
(that uses Shared Preferences
in private mode) and another for iOS
(that uses Keychain) to save the sensible data? Or it is safe to use the AsyncStorage
methods provided?
Android Solutions
Solution 1 - Android
Just digging into the React Native code, I found the answer.
Android
The React Native
AsyncStorage
module implementation is based on SQLiteOpenHelper
.
The package where all the data classes are handled: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/tree/master/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/storage
The class with the instructions to create the database: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/blob/master/ReactAndroid/src/main/java/com/facebook/react/modules/storage/ReactDatabaseSupplier.java
By the Android documentation, the databases created by the application are saved in private disk space that's associated application, so it is secure.
> Just like files that you save on the device's internal storage, > Android stores your database in private disk space that's associated > application. Your data is secure, because by default this area is not > accessible to other applications.
iOS
In iOS the AsyncStorage
values are saved in serialized dictionary files. Those files are saved in the application NSDocumentDirectory
. In iOS all applications live in their own sandbox, so all files of one application are secured, they cannot be accessed by the other applications.
The code in iOS that handles the AsyncStorage
module can be found here: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/blob/master/React/Modules/RCTAsyncLocalStorage.m
And as we can see here the files used to store the values saved by the AsyncStorage
are saved under the NSDocumentDirectory
(inside the application sandbox environment).
> Every App Is an Island An iOS app’s interactions with the file system > are limited mostly to the directories inside the app’s sandbox. During > installation of a new app, the installer creates a number of > containers for the app. Each container has a specific role. The bundle > container holds the app’s bundle, whereas the data container holds > data for both the application and the user. The data container is > further divided into a number of directories that the app can use to > sort and organize its data. The app may also request access to > additional containers—for example, the iCloud container—at runtime.
Conclusion
It is safe to use AsyncStorage
to save user tokens, since they are saved under a secure context.
Please note that this is only true for Android devices without root and for iOS devices without jailbreak. Please also note that if the attacker has physical access to the device and the device is not protected. He can connect the device to the mac laptop and extract the documents directory and see all the contents saved under the documents directory.
Solution 2 - Android
AsyncStorage
saves key-value pairs as a plaintext JSON file in the Documents directory. It does not encrypt its contents.
This is a security issue (at least on iOS) because it's possible for an attacker with access to the device to obtain a dump of the contents of the sandbox and trivially extract any data saved through AsyncStorage
.
This used to not be clearly stated in the docs for AsyncStorage.js, but it is now: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/pull/8809
Solution 3 - Android
If someone wants the additional step of having the data encrypted, you might want to look at this: https://github.com/oblador/react-native-keychain
It uses facebook conceal internally.
Solution 4 - Android
I really recommand you to use a library like react-native-keychain to store private data in react-native
For Android API level:
- 16-22 use Facebook Conceal
- 23+ use Android Keystore
You can use it like that:
// Generic Password, service argument optional
Keychain
.setGenericPassword(username, password)
.then(function() {
console.log('Credentials saved successfully!');
});
// service argument optional
Keychain
.getGenericPassword()
.then(function(credentials) {
console.log('Credentials successfully loaded for user ' + credentials.username);
}).catch(function(error) {
console.log('Keychain couldn\'t be accessed! Maybe no value set?', error);
});