php - Form spoofing and methods to solve it

Solution:
You are effectively reinventing the wheel, since the token requires a valid session to validate and thus only repeats the security layer of sessions while not adding anything extra. It is the equivalent of asking for someone to enter their password in and then asking for it again to be sure. It may make everyone feel better, but if the password has been compromised, it only slows down the attack but doesn't prevent it.
This isn't to suggest that you shouldn't take these things seriously or to dismiss your attempts. It is my philosophy that the content of the form (What is passed in viaGET
orPOST
) should be separated from other logic, such as security and calculations, and that the server should not consider user-supplied data as anything other than user-supplied data. Ideally anyone could post anything to a forms action, and the server/controller will manage it correctly and consistently. The session is verified (security), the data is sanitized and then validated, and any values that are generated via JS when the user is actually using the web form is recalculated/verified. The response, ideally, is generic enough, either a redirect or web-standard response, so that the requester, be it a web browser, command line user, or web service can interpret it.
If the above were the case, there would be less emphasis and concern of spoofing, more emphasis on enhancing security layers and validation layers separately, and, best of all, the back-end controller that did this well could easily be ported/reused as a web service backend.
Long story short: Your solution isn't bad, it just isn't adding any real security as far as I can tell, and may even expose your back-end security logic. If you have a specific spoofing concern/threat, it would be better to address that use case and work your way out rather than try to come up with a one-size-fits all solution right away. It may turn out that your use cases have specific solutions/considerations that need to addressed at different points of the exchange.
Answer
Solution:
Don't reinvent the wheel. If you're not using a web framework, integrate one of the myriad libraries that add CSRF protection to your project such as CSRF4PHP.
Your solution is close, but wouldn't work because the session ID would be scrapable by an attacker.
Share solution ↓
Additional Information:
Link To Answer People are also looking for solutions of the problem: trying to access array offset on value of type null
Didn't find the answer?
Our community is visited by hundreds of web development professionals every day. Ask your question and get a quick answer for free.
Similar questions
Find the answer in similar questions on our website.
Write quick answer
Do you know the answer to this question? Write a quick response to it. With your help, we will make our community stronger.