How are RESTful services vulnerable to CSRF and how can they be protected?
RESTful services are vulnerable to CSRF as they rely on HTTP methods like POST, DELETE and PUT which can be exploited. An attacker tricks a victim into executing unwanted actions on a web application in which they’re authenticated. This occurs when the user’s browser sends an HTTP request with authentication cookies without the user’s knowledge.
Protection against CSRF involves implementing anti-CSRF tokens or synchronizer token patterns. These unique, unpredictable values associated with a user’s session prevent unauthorized commands from being submitted. The server checks if requests contain the correct token. If not, it rejects them.
Another method is using SameSite Cookies that only send cookies if the request originated from the same domain. This prevents cross-site requests. Additionally, checking the HTTP Referer header helps ensure requests come from authorized sites.
Lastly, applying CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) policies restricts which domains can interact with your service, reducing risk of CSRF attacks.
