What are the pros and cons of different CSRF prevention mechanisms?
CSRF tokens are a common prevention mechanism. They’re unique and unpredictable, tied to a user’s session, thus preventing attacks from external sites. However, they require server-side storage and management which can be complex.
SameSite Cookies restrict cookies to first-party contexts, mitigating CSRF risks. But, they aren’t supported by all browsers and may break existing functionalities if not implemented correctly.
Double Submit Cookies store the CSRF token in both a cookie and a request parameter. This eliminates the need for server-side state but is vulnerable to subdomain attacks.
Referer/Origin headers check can prevent CSRF as it verifies requests come from trusted sources. Yet, some users or proxies might strip these headers causing legitimate requests to fail.
Content Security Policy (CSP) can limit where requests are sent, reducing CSRF risk. It requires careful configuration and older browsers may not support it.
