🎭 CSRF Explained Like You're 5
Building AI systems and writing about how they actually work. Master of AI @ University of Technology Sydney. Previously B.Tech CS with focus on IoT. I believe the best way to learn is to explain. That's why I'm documenting tech concepts with simple analogies (@sreekarreddy.com). AWS Certified • Azure AI Certified • Neo4j Professional • Google Data Analytics When not coding: exploring Sydney, working on side projects, and teaching tech to anyone who'll listen.
Tricking users into unwanted actions
Day 89 of 149
👉 Full deep-dive with code examples
The Forged Letter Analogy
Imagine someone writes a letter to your bank:
"Please transfer $1000 to Account X"
- Signed with your forged signature
If the bank can't verify, they might process it!
CSRF forges web requests in your name.
How CSRF Works
1. You log into bank.com → Browser stores auth cookie
2. You visit evil.com (in another tab)
3. evil.com has hidden code:
<form action="bank.com/transfer" method="POST">
<input name="to" value="attacker">
<input name="amount" value="10000">
</form>
<script>form.submit()</script>
4. YOUR browser sends request WITH your bank cookies!
5. Bank sees valid session → Processes transfer
You didn't intentionally click "transfer" — the site triggered it for you!
Why It Works
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Your browser automatically sends │
│ cookies for any request to a domain│
│ Even from other sites! │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
Prevention
CSRF Tokens:
<form>
<input type="hidden" name="csrf_token" value="random123" />
<!-- Attacker can't guess this! -->
</form>
SameSite Cookies:
Set-Cookie: session=abc; SameSite=Strict
In One Sentence
CSRF tricks your browser into making authenticated requests to sites you're logged into.
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