How can I implement CSRF protection in my MVC application?

How can I implement CSRF protection in my MVC application?

To implement CSRF protection in your MVC application, you can use anti-forgery tokens. These tokens are generated by the server and included in forms. When the form is submitted, the server checks the token to ensure it's valid.

What are anti-forgery tokens and how do they work?

Anti-forgery tokens are unique strings generated by the server for each user session. They are included in forms and sent back to the server with the form submission. The server verifies the token to ensure the request is legitimate and not a CSRF attack.

Are there any libraries or frameworks that can help with this?

Yes, most MVC frameworks, like ASP.NET MVC and Ruby on Rails, have built-in support for CSRF protection. They provide methods to generate and validate anti-forgery tokens automatically.

What happens if I don't implement CSRF protection?

Without CSRF protection, your application is vulnerable to attacks where unauthorized commands are transmitted from a user that the web application trusts. This can lead to data breaches or unwanted actions being performed.