Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Last updated: February 8, 2026Reviewed date: February 8, 2026Reading time: 3 min read

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Key Takeaways

This article explains Related Attacks in simple medical language.
This article explains Related Controls in simple medical language.
This article explains References in simple medical language.

Before reading

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Use these quick guides before reading the article, or return to them when you need help preparing questions for a doctor.

Start here Choose the right pathway for symptoms, reports, medicines, or urgent warning signs. Disease article roadmap Read this topic step by step: meaning, symptoms, warning signs, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and follow-up. Treatment planner Prepare questions about treatment choices, benefits, risks, side effects, and follow-up. Family & caregiver guide Organize symptoms, reports, medicines, questions, and follow-up safely. Nutrition & diet guide Prepare food, hydration, supplement, and medicine-timing questions safely. Prevention guide Organize risk factors, protective habits, screening, and warning signs. Recovery guide Prepare a safe plan for activity, rehabilitation, warning signs, and follow-up.

Educational health guideWritten for patient understanding and clinical awareness.

Reviewed content workflowUse writer and reviewer profiles for stronger trust.

Emergency safety firstUrgent warning signs are highlighted below.

Definition

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Fortunately, this request will not be executed by modern web browsers thanks to same-origin policy restrictions. This restriction is enabled by default unless the target web site explicitly opens up cross-origin requests from the attacker’s (or everyone’s) origin by using CORS with the following header:

Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *

Add a per-request nonce to the URL and all forms in addition to the standard session. This is also referred to as “form keys”. Many frameworks (e.g., Drupal.org 4.7.4+) either have or are starting to include this type of protection “built-in” to every form so the programmer does not need to code this protection manually.
Add a hash (session id, function name, server-side secret) to all forms.
For .NET, add a session identifier to ViewState with MAC (described in detail in the DotNet Security Cheat Sheet).
Checking the referrer header in the client’s HTTP request can prevent CSRF attacks. Ensuring that the HTTP request has come from the original site means that attacks from other sites will not function. It is very common to see referrer header checks used on embedded network hardware due to memory limitations.
- XSS can be used to bypass both referrer and token based checks simultaneously. For instance, the Samy worm used an XMLHttpRequest to obtain the CSRF token to forge requests.
“Although CSRF is fundamentally a problem with the web application, not the user, users can help protect their accounts at poorly designed sites by logging off the site before visiting another, or clearing their browser’s cookies at the end of each browser session.” —http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-site_request_forgery\#_note-1

References

“This paper serves as a living document for Cross-Site Request Forgery issues. This document will serve as a repository of information from existing papers, talks, and mailing list postings and will be updated as new information is discovered.”*

[Testing for CSRF](\www-project-web-security-testing-guide)
- CSRF (aka Session riding) paper from the OWASP Testing Guide project.
CSRF Vulnerability: A ‘Sleeping Giant’
- Overview Paper
Client Side Protection against Session Riding
- Martin Johns and Justus Winter’s interesting paper and presentation for the 4th OWASP AppSec Conference which described potential techniques that browsers could adopt to automatically provide CSRF protection – PDF paper
OWASP CSRF Guard
- J2EE, .NET, and PHP Filters which append a unique request token to each form and link in the HTML response in order to provide universal coverage against CSRF throughout your entire application.
OWASP CSRF Protector
- Anti CSRF method to mitigate CSRF in web applications. Currently implemented as a PHP library & Apache 2.x.x module
A Most-Neglected Fact About Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- Aung Khant, http://yehg.net, explained the danger and impact of CSRF with imperiling scenarios.
Pinata-CSRF-Tool: CSRF POC tool
- Pinata makes it easy to create Proof of Concept CSRF pages. Assists in Application Vulnerability Assessment.

Safety note: This is not a prescription or diagnosis. For severe symptoms, pregnancy danger signs, children with serious illness, chest pain, breathing difficulty, stroke-like weakness, or major injury, seek urgent care.

Which doctor may help?

Start with a registered doctor or the nearest qualified health center.

What to tell the doctor

Write when the problem started and how it changed.
Bring old prescriptions, investigation reports, and current medicines.
Write allergies, pregnancy status, diabetes, kidney/liver disease, and major past illnesses.
Bring one family member if the patient is weak, elderly, confused, or a child.

Questions to ask

What is the most likely cause of my symptoms?
Which danger signs mean I should go to hospital quickly?
Which tests are necessary now, and which can wait?
How should I take medicines safely and what side effects should I watch for?
When should I come for follow-up?

Tests to discuss

Vital signs: temperature, pulse, blood pressure, oxygen saturation
Basic physical examination by a clinician
CBC, urine test, blood sugar, or imaging only when clinically needed

Avoid these mistakes

Do not use antibiotics, steroid tablets/injections, or strong painkillers without proper medical advice.
Do not hide pregnancy, kidney disease, ulcer, allergy, or blood thinner use.
Do not delay emergency care when danger signs are present.

Medicine safety and first-aid guide

This section is for patient education only. It does not replace a doctor, pharmacist, or emergency care.

Safe first steps

Avoid heavy lifting, sudden bending, and prolonged bed rest.
Use comfortable posture and gentle movement as tolerated.
Discuss physiotherapy, X-ray, or MRI only when clinically needed.

OTC medicine safety

For mild back pain, pain-relief medicine may be discussed with a doctor or pharmacist.
Avoid repeated painkiller use if you have kidney disease, stomach ulcer, uncontrolled blood pressure, or are taking blood thinners.

Avoid these mistakes

Do not start antibiotics without a proper medical decision.
Do not use steroid tablets or injections casually for quick relief.
Do not delay emergency care because of home remedies.

Get urgent help if

Back pain with leg weakness, numbness around private area, loss of urine/stool control, fever, cancer history, or major injury needs urgent care.

Medicine names, dose, and timing must be decided by a qualified clinician or pharmacist after checking age, pregnancy, allergy, other diseases, and current medicines.

For rural patients and family caregivers

Patient health record and symptom diary

Write your symptoms, medicines already taken, test results, and questions before visiting a doctor. This note stays on your device unless you print or copy it.

Doctor to discuss: Doctor / qualified healthcare provider

Tests to discuss with doctor

Basic vital signs: temperature, pulse, blood pressure, oxygen level if needed
Relevant blood, urine, imaging, or specialist tests only after clinical assessment

Questions to ask

What is the most likely cause of my symptoms?
Which warning signs mean I should go to emergency care?
Which tests are really needed now?
Which medicines are safe for my age, pregnancy status, allergy, kidney/liver/stomach condition, and current medicines?

Emergency warning signs such as chest pain, severe breathing difficulty, sudden weakness, confusion, severe dehydration, major injury, or loss of bladder/bowel control need urgent medical care. Do not wait for online information.

Go to emergency care if you notice:

Severe or rapidly worsening symptoms
Breathing difficulty, chest pain, fainting, confusion, severe weakness, major injury, or severe dehydration

Doctor / service to discuss: Qualified healthcare provider; specialist depends on symptoms and examination.

Step 1
Check danger signs first

If danger signs are present, seek emergency care and do not wait for online information.
Step 2
Record the symptom story

Write when symptoms started, severity, medicines already taken, allergies, pregnancy status, and test results.
Step 3
Visit a qualified clinician

A doctor, nurse, or qualified healthcare provider can examine you and decide which tests or treatment are needed.
Step 4
Do only useful tests

Do tests after clinical assessment. Avoid unnecessary tests, random antibiotics, or repeated medicines without diagnosis.
Step 5
Follow up and return early if worse

If symptoms worsen, new warning signs appear, or treatment is not helping, return for review quickly.

Rural patient practical tips

Take a written symptom diary and all previous prescriptions/test reports.
Do not hide medicines already taken, even herbal or over-the-counter medicines.
Ask which warning signs mean urgent referral to hospital.

This roadmap is for education. A real diagnosis and treatment plan requires history, examination, and clinical judgment.

Internal learning pathway

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Key Takeaways

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