CSRF Protection

Last modified 22 Apr 2021 17:31 +02:00

According to OWASP Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) is an attack that forces an end user to execute unwanted actions on a web application in which they’re currently authenticated. CSRF attacks specifically target state-changing requests, not theft of data, since the attacker has no way to see the response to the forged request. With a little help of social engineering (such as sending a link via email or chat), an attacker may trick the users of a web application into executing actions of the attacker’s choosing. If the victim is a normal user, a successful CSRF attack can force the user to perform state changing requests like transferring funds, changing their email address, and so forth. If the victim is an administrative account, CSRF can compromise the entire web application.

Implementation

CSRF protection is enabled in midPoint web application by default. Implementation is handled by Spring Security integrated with Apache Wicket Framework.

  • Main configuration is located in WebSecurityConfig.java.

  • Custom extended Form.java is used to add hidden field with CSRF token.

  • Ajax client configuration is done in MidPointApplication.java where we inject CSRF token for all POST AJAX requests.

  • Custom MidPointAccessDeniedHandler.java is used for simple redirect to login page when session is invalid or doesn’t contain correct CSRF token.

Web services are not protected by CSRF. Configuration is located in WebSecurityConfig.java, in fact spring security ignores web services URL’s. Security for services is handled manually via CXF interceptors.

Configuration

To disable CSRF protection one has to create application.yml inside midpoint.home folder. Add following key to this configuration file.

CSRF configuration
security:
   enable-csrf: false
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