CVE-2023-27495

@fastify/csrf-protection is a plugin which helps protect Fastify servers against CSRF attacks. The CSRF protection enforced by the @fastify/csrf-protection library in combination with @fastify/cookie can be bypassed from network and same-site attackers under certain conditions. @fastify/csrf-protection supports an optional userInfo parameter that binds the CSRF token to the user. This parameter has been introduced to prevent cookie-tossing attacks as a fix for CVE-2021-29624. Whenever userInfo parameter is missing, or its value can be predicted for the target user account, network and same-site attackers can 1. fixate a _csrf cookie in the victims browser, and 2. forge CSRF tokens that are valid for the victims session. This allows attackers to bypass the CSRF protection mechanism. As a fix, @fastify/csrf-protection starting from version 6.3.0 (and v4.1.0) includes a server-defined secret hmacKey that cryptographically binds the CSRF token to the value of the _csrf cookie and the userInfo parameter, making tokens non-spoofable by attackers. This protection is effective as long as the userInfo parameter is unique for each user. This is patched in versions 6.3.0 and v4.1.0. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may use a random, non-predictable userInfo parameter for each user as a mitigation.

Weakness

The web application does not, or can not, sufficiently verify whether a well-formed, valid, consistent request was intentionally provided by the user who submitted the request.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
• For example, use anti-CSRF packages such as the OWASP CSRFGuard. [REF-330]
• Another example is the ESAPI Session Management control, which includes a component for CSRF. [REF-45]
• Use the “double-submitted cookie” method as described by Felten and Zeller:
• When a user visits a site, the site should generate a pseudorandom value and set it as a cookie on the user’s machine. The site should require every form submission to include this value as a form value and also as a cookie value. When a POST request is sent to the site, the request should only be considered valid if the form value and the cookie value are the same.
• Because of the same-origin policy, an attacker cannot read or modify the value stored in the cookie. To successfully submit a form on behalf of the user, the attacker would have to correctly guess the pseudorandom value. If the pseudorandom value is cryptographically strong, this will be prohibitively difficult.
• This technique requires Javascript, so it may not work for browsers that have Javascript disabled. [REF-331]

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/111.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/462.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/467.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/62.html

References

• https://www.cvedetails.com/cve/CVE-2021-29624
• https://github.com/fastify/csrf-protection/security/advisories/GHSA-qrgf-9gpc-vrxw
• https://github.com/fastify/csrf-protection/commit/be3e5761f37aa05c7c1ac8ed44499c51ecec8058