What is Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Vulnerability? CSRF Attack Explained With Example

CSRF stands for cross-site request forgery. It is a type of attack that makes authenticated users enter requests against the web app with which they have the authentication. This makes the web app lose the trust of the authenticated user. 

In case the web app can’t identify the difference between the requests by the specific users, the hackers can exploit the vulnerability. The hackers then force the authenticated users to enter malicious requests, which can result in the submission of transactions, buying products, modifying passwords, deleting records, etc.

Advanced testing of CSRF vulnerabilities can be done both manually and automatically using some tools. 

Manual Testing

Manual testing of CSRF vulnerabilities is done by checking the app session. It will help in finding whether the session is secure or not. In case the management of a session is from the user's end, it means that the information can be found on the browser, and the app is exploitable. The resources that can be accessed through HTTP GET requests can be exploited. 

Automated Testing

Some of the prominent tools for testing CSRF vulnerabilities automatically are NeuraLegion’s Nexploit, OWASP ZAP, and CSRP Tester.

For instance, Nexploit is a DAST or Dynamic Application Security Testing tool that you can integrate with the development pipelines for the assessment of web apps and APIs. 

OWASP ZAP is an open-source tool preferred by professional pen testers. It checks the anti-CSRF tokens using attribute names. The CSRFTester tool is another project by OWASP for verification of the integrity of HTTP requests in web apps.

CSRF