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CSRF Protection vs Double Submit Cookies

Developers should implement CSRF protection whenever building web applications that handle user authentication and sensitive actions, such as banking sites, e-commerce platforms, or social media apps, to prevent attackers from exploiting logged-in sessions meets developers should implement double submit cookies when building web applications that handle sensitive user actions, such as form submissions, financial transactions, or account changes, to prevent csrf attacks. Here's our take.

🧊Nice Pick

CSRF Protection

Developers should implement CSRF protection whenever building web applications that handle user authentication and sensitive actions, such as banking sites, e-commerce platforms, or social media apps, to prevent attackers from exploiting logged-in sessions

CSRF Protection

Nice Pick

Developers should implement CSRF protection whenever building web applications that handle user authentication and sensitive actions, such as banking sites, e-commerce platforms, or social media apps, to prevent attackers from exploiting logged-in sessions

Pros

  • +It is particularly critical for applications using cookie-based authentication, as browsers automatically include cookies in requests, making them vulnerable to CSRF attacks without proper safeguards
  • +Related to: web-security, authentication

Cons

  • -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Double Submit Cookies

Developers should implement Double Submit Cookies when building web applications that handle sensitive user actions, such as form submissions, financial transactions, or account changes, to prevent CSRF attacks

Pros

  • +It is particularly useful in stateless or RESTful APIs where maintaining server-side sessions is challenging, as it provides a lightweight and effective defense mechanism without requiring server-side storage of tokens
  • +Related to: csrf-protection, web-security

Cons

  • -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

Use CSRF Protection if: You want it is particularly critical for applications using cookie-based authentication, as browsers automatically include cookies in requests, making them vulnerable to csrf attacks without proper safeguards and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.

Use Double Submit Cookies if: You prioritize it is particularly useful in stateless or restful apis where maintaining server-side sessions is challenging, as it provides a lightweight and effective defense mechanism without requiring server-side storage of tokens over what CSRF Protection offers.

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The Bottom Line
CSRF Protection wins

Developers should implement CSRF protection whenever building web applications that handle user authentication and sensitive actions, such as banking sites, e-commerce platforms, or social media apps, to prevent attackers from exploiting logged-in sessions

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