The implementation probably defeats the purpose of CSRF protection

[sha256]

In the server side, if you read the CSRF token value from cookie and do the validation, I don't think it protects you from CSRF attacks.

Let's say, on attacker's website, they have a form like this.

<!--- A form on https://attackers-site.com -->
<form action="https://yoursite.com/api/protected" method="POST">
    ....
</form>

When this form is submitted, the browser will send the actual cookies of yoursite.com (including the CSRF related cookies) with the request. The server will always consider it valid because it's sending the previously set CSRF (valid) cookie.

I recommend the following changes:

• Not validating CSRF token from cookie, instead provide a way to pass the token to the client.
• Client side can can decide how to send the token along with a POST request and server should handle it accordingly. For example, <form> can send it as hidden input. Ajax requests can send it in the header.
• Making the corresponding cookie HttpOnly should be optional. This way client can access it using JS and add it to the headers of Ajax requests.

[divinity76]

[alec-bfa]

Couldn't you set 'sameSite' as 'Strict' on the cookie, meaning the cookie would not be attached?

[j0lvera]

@sha256 you are right.

As an additional security layer, if the user provides a secret, the token is HMAC signed, but only If a secret is provided.

The changes you suggest align with the latest OWASP CSRF cheatsheet recommendation. I was following something closer to Understanding CSRF, but for v1, I'm moving entirely to OWASP's.

Thanks for taking the time to submit the issue, and apologies for the late reply.