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@@ -240,12 +240,16 @@ The CSRF protection is based on the following things:
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This check is done by ``CsrfViewMiddleware``.
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4. In addition, for HTTPS requests, strict referer checking is done by
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- ``CsrfViewMiddleware``. This is necessary to address a Man-In-The-Middle
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- attack that is possible under HTTPS when using a session independent nonce,
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- due to the fact that HTTP 'Set-Cookie' headers are (unfortunately) accepted
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- by clients that are talking to a site under HTTPS. (Referer checking is not
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- done for HTTP requests because the presence of the Referer header is not
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- reliable enough under HTTP.)
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+ ``CsrfViewMiddleware``. This means that even if a subdomain can set or
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+ modify cookies on your domain, it can't force a user to post to your
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+ application since that request won't come from your own exact domain.
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+
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+ This also addresses a man-in-the-middle attack that's possible under HTTPS
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+ when using a session independent nonce, due to the fact that HTTP
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+ ``Set-Cookie`` headers are (unfortunately) accepted by clients even when
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+ they are talking to a site under HTTPS. (Referer checking is not done for
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+ HTTP requests because the presence of the ``Referer`` header isn't reliable
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+ enough under HTTP.)
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If the :setting:`CSRF_COOKIE_DOMAIN` setting is set, the referer is compared
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against it. This setting supports subdomains. For example,
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@@ -263,7 +267,15 @@ It deliberately ignores GET requests (and other requests that are defined as
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'safe' by :rfc:`2616`). These requests ought never to have any potentially
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dangerous side effects , and so a CSRF attack with a GET request ought to be
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harmless. :rfc:`2616` defines POST, PUT and DELETE as 'unsafe', and all other
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-methods are assumed to be unsafe, for maximum protection.
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+methods are also assumed to be unsafe, for maximum protection.
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+
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+The CSRF protection cannot protect against man-in-the-middle attacks, so use
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+:ref:`HTTPS <security-recommendation-ssl>` with
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+:ref:`http-strict-transport-security`. It also assumes :ref:`validation of
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+the HOST header <host-headers-virtual-hosting>` and that there aren't any
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+:ref:`cross-site scripting vulnerabilities <cross-site-scripting>` on your site
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+(because XSS vulnerabilities already let an attacker do anything a CSRF
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+vulnerability allows and much worse).
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.. versionchanged:: 1.9
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@@ -462,3 +474,34 @@ A number of settings can be used to control Django's CSRF behavior:
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* :setting:`CSRF_FAILURE_VIEW`
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* :setting:`CSRF_HEADER_NAME`
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* :setting:`CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS`
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+
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+Frequently Asked Questions
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+==========================
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+
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+Is posting an arbitrary CSRF token pair (cookie and POST data) a vulnerability?
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+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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+
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+No, this is by design. Without a man-in-the-middle attack, there is no way for
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+an attacker to send a CSRF token cookie to a victim's browser, so a successful
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+attack would need to obtain the victim's browser's cookie via XSS or similar,
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+in which case an attacker usually doesn't need CSRF attacks.
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+
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+Some security audit tools flag this as a problem but as mentioned before, an
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+attacker cannot steal a user's browser's CSRF cookie. "Stealing" or modifying
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+*your own* token using Firebug, Chrome dev tools, etc. isn't a vulnerability.
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+
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+Is the fact that Django's CSRF protection isn't linked to a session a problem?
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+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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+
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+No, this is by design. Not linking CSRF protection to a session allows using
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+the protection on sites such as a `pastebin` that allow submissions from
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+anonymous users which don't have a session.
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+
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+Why not use a new token for each request?
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+-----------------------------------------
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+
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+Generating a new token for each request is problematic from a UI perspective
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+because it invalidates all previous forms. Most users would be very unhappy to
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+find that opening a new tab on your site has invalidated the form they had
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+just spent time filling out in another tab or that a form they accessed via
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+the back button could not be filled out.
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