Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) is a type of attack where an attacker tricks a victim into performing an unwanted action on a web application while the victim is authenticated. The attack exploits the trust between the web application and the victim's browser to execute unauthorized requests.

The process of a CSRF attack typically involves the following steps:

1. Victim Authentication: The victim logs into a web application, which generates a session and sets a session cookie in the victim's browser.
2. Malicious Request Preparation: The attacker crafts a malicious webpage or email that contains a request to the target web application. This request is designed to perform an undesired action on behalf of the victim.
3. Victim Interaction: The victim visits the malicious webpage or clicks on a malicious link in the email, which triggers the browser to automatically send the request to the target web application.
4. Unauthorized Action: The target web application, assuming the request is legitimate due to the victim's authentication, processes the forged request and performs the unintended action, such as updating account settings or making a financial transaction.

To mitigate the risks associated with CSRF attacks, the following preventive measures can be implemented:

• CSRF Tokens: Implement the use of CSRF tokens in the web application. A CSRF token is a unique and random value associated with a user's session. It is included in each request and verified by the server to ensure the request is legitimate. The token acts as a form of protection against CSRF attacks.
• Same-Site Cookies: Utilize SameSite cookies to restrict the scope of cookies to the same origin. This prevents cookies from being sent along with cross-site requests, effectively mitigating CSRF attacks.
• Anti-CSRF Headers: Set anti-CSRF headers, such as the "X-CSRF-Token" header, to protect against CSRF attacks. These headers can be checked by the server to ensure the requests originate from the same origin.
• Strict Input Validation: Implement strict input validation and sanitization mechanisms to ensure that user-supplied data is properly validated and sanitized before being processed by the web application. This helps prevent malicious requests from being executed.
• Multi-Factor Authentication: Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) to add an additional layer of security. This can make it more difficult for attackers to forge authenticated requests even if they manage to trick the victim into executing them.