CSRF Prevention

A CSRF filter is enabled by default, validating each modifying request performed through the webapps. The filter implements a (per-session) Synchronization Token method for CSRF validation with an optional Same Origin with Standard Headers verification.

In Spring Boot Starter, the configuration needs to be made in the application.yaml. Please read more about it here.

If you would like to enable the additional Same Origin with Standard Headers verification, the targetOrigin init-parameter should be set in the web.xml file of your application. That, and some additional optional initialization parameters are:

  <!-- CSRF Prevention filter -->
  <filter>
    <filter-name>CsrfPreventionFilter</filter-name>
    <filter-class>org.operaton.bpm.webapp.impl.security.filter.CsrfPreventionFilter</filter-class>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>targetOrigin</param-name>
      <param-value>http://example.com</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>denyStatus</param-name>
      <param-value>404</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>randomClass</param-name>
      <param-value>java.security.SecureRandom</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>entryPoints</param-name>
      <param-value>/api/engine/engine/default/history/task/count, /api/engine/engine/default/history/variable/count</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>enableSecureCookie</param-name>
      <param-value>true</param-value>               <!-- default value is false -->
    </init-param>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>enableSameSiteCookie</param-name>
      <param-value>true</param-value>               <!-- default value is true -->
    </init-param>
  </filter>
  <filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>CsrfPreventionFilter</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
  </filter-mapping>

Name	Description
targetOrigin	Application expected deployment domain: the domain name through which the webapps are accessed. If nothing is set, the Same Origin with Standard Headers verification is not performed.
denyStatus	HTTP response status code that is used when rejecting denied request. The default value is 403.
randomClass	The name of the class to use to generate tokens. The class must be an instance of `java.util.Random`. If not set, the default value of `java.security.SecureRandom` will be used.
entryPoints	Entry points are URLs that will not be tested for the presence of a valid token. They are used to provide a way to navigate back to the protected apps after navigating away from them.
enableSecureCookie	If set to `true`, the cookie flag Secure is enabled. The default value is `false`.
enableSameSiteCookie	If set to `false`, the cookie flag SameSite is disabled. The default value is `true`. The default value of the `SameSite` cookie is `LAX` and it can be changed via `sameSiteCookieOption` configuration property.
sameSiteCookieOption	Can be configured either to `STRICT` or `LAX`. Note: This property is ignored when `enableSameSiteCookie` is set to `false`.
sameSiteCookieValue	A custom value for the cookie property. Note: This property is ignored when `enableSameSiteCookie` is set to `false`.
cookieName	A custom value to change the cookie name. The default value is `XSRF-TOKEN`. Note: Please make sure to additionally change the cookie name for each webapp (e. g. Cockpit ) separately.