How does CSRF work, and how do you protect against it in a modern web application?

How CSRF Works

<!-- Attacker's site (evil.com) -->
<form action="https://bank.com/api/transfer" method="POST">
  <input type="hidden" name="to" value="attacker" />
  <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="10000" />
</form>
<script>document.forms[0].submit();</script>

<!-- Browser sends the user's session cookie automatically! -->

Prevention Strategies

1. SameSite Cookie Attribute (Easiest)

Set-Cookie: session=abc123; SameSite=Strict; Secure; HttpOnly
// Strict: Never send with cross-site requests
// Lax: Send with top-level navigation (default in modern browsers)
// None: Always send (requires Secure)

2. CSRF Tokens (Traditional)

// Server: Generate token, store in cookie + send in HTML
app.use(csrf({ cookie: true }));

// Frontend: Read token from cookie, send in header
const token = getCookie("XSRF-TOKEN");
fetch("/api/transfer", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "X-CSRF-Token": token },
  body: JSON.stringify(data),
});

// Attacker can't read the cookie (Same-Origin Policy)
// So they can't include the token in their forged request

3. JWT in Authorization Header (Best for SPAs)

// Store JWT in memory (not cookie)
// Send via Authorization header (not auto-attached by browser)
fetch("/api/transfer", {
  headers: { Authorization: Bearer ${token} },
});

// Attacker's site can't set custom headers (CORS blocks it)

Comparison

StrategyComplexityProtection

SameSite=StrictTrivial (1 line)✅ Full (but breaks some flows)
SameSite=LaxTrivial✅ Most attacks
CSRF TokenMedium✅ Full
JWT in headerMedium✅ Full (no cookies = no CSRF)

Modern approach: SameSite=Lax + JWT in Authorization header.