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Discussion on: The Ultimate Guide to JWT client side auth (Stop using local storage!!!)

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Dani Guardiola_ • Edited

With all due respect, this is misinformed. Whether the token is in local storage, cookies, or in JavaScript memory, and whether you renew it frequently or not doesn't really change the actual issue.

The issue is that your application or website is vulnerable to an XSS attack.

Obscuring the location of your token (which you actually fail to do as you have a renovation token that can be used to generate tokens) does not solve the issue.

Shortening the lifespan of tokens does not solve the issue, it just gives attackers less time to access your account, which can be easily circumvented because they still have access to the renovation token.

The one and only issue here is XSS vulnerability. The rest are just security recommendations that could help, but a dedicated hacker still has a way in.

I'm worried people who read this post will think obscurity is the solution to this scenario. The only solution is fixing all XSS vectors in the app.