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Implementing CSRF Protection in modifications
Marco van Herwaarden
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Marco van Herwaarden Marco van Herwaarden is offline 04-23-2008, 10:00 PM

With the new version released today for vBulletin 3.6.10 and 3.7.0 RC4, a new protection against Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) has been introduced. This new protection might influence the coding in modifications.

Scott MacVicar took the time to compile a short explanation on this new protection for the coders on vBulletin.org:

Changes for CSRF protection with third party modifications

Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) involves taking advantage of the stateless nature of HTTP, there are no ways to ensure the exact origin of a request, its also not possible to detect what was actually initiated by a user and what was forced by a third party script. A token was added to the latest version of each of the vBulletin products, with the release of 3.6.10 and 3.7.0 RC4 it is no longer possible to submit a POST request directly without passing in the known token.

The addition of a security token for each POST request removes the ability for a remote page to force a user to submit an action. At the moment this protection will only apply to vBulletin files and third party files will need to opt into this protection and add the appropriate hidden field. This was done to preserve backwards compatibility.

Adding Protection to your own files

To opt your entire file into CSRF protection the following should be added to the top of the file under the define for THIS_SCRIPT.

PHP Code:
define('CSRF_PROTECTION'true); 
With this change all POST requests to this file will check for the presence of the securitytoken field and compare it to the value for the user, if its wrong an error message will be shown and execution with halt.

If this value is set to false then all CSRF protection is removed for the file, this is appropriate for something that intentionally accepts remote POST requests.

You should always add this to your file, even if you don't think the script is ever going to receive POST requests.

An absence of this defined constant within your files will result in the old style referrer checking being performed.

Template Changes

The following should be added to all of the forms which POST back to vBulletin or a vBulletin script. This will automatically be filled out with a 40 character hash that is unique to the user.

Code:
<input type="hidden" name="securitytoken" value="$bbuserinfo[securitytoken]" />
Again it is worthwhile adding this to your templates even if it is currently not using the CSRF protection.

Exempting Certain Actions

It may be appropriate to exempt a particular action from the CSRF protection, in this case you can add the following to the file.

PHP Code:
define('CSRF_SKIP_LIST''action_one,action_two'); 
The above example would exempt both example.php?do=action_one and example.php?do=action_two from the CSRF protection, if the CSRF_SKIP_LIST constant is defined with no value then it will exempt the default action.

If the skip list needs to be changed at runtime is it available within the registry object, using the init_startup hook the following code would be used to exempt 'example.php?do=action_three'.

PHP Code:
if (THIS_SCRIPT == 'example')
{
        
$vbulletin->csrf_skip_list[] = 'action_three';

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  #32  
Old 04-26-2008, 05:36 PM
powerful_rogue powerful_rogue is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boofo View Post
The bad part is that not all forms have value="$session[sessionhash]" in them in some of the hacks out there. I basically look for <form and then add the line anywhere underneath that where there is a <input type="hidden" line.
Thats the problem I was having with vbpager. I looked for every <form.... and every method=post and put the security token code underneath.

Thats why I think its now an ajax issue. Ive tried to figure it out but to no avail. The odd thing is, it works fine in 3.6.10, but not in 3.7 RC4

--------------- Added [DATE]1209242134[/DATE] at [TIME]1209242134[/TIME] ---------------

problem solved! I had a search around and tried the fix that was being used for a shoutbox.

I changed all 3 instances of "securitytoken=" to "&securitytoken=" in vbulletin_global.js and it did the trick!
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  #33  
Old 04-26-2008, 09:57 PM
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I can't save my vbulletin settings without this error.

What do I change to fix this? In a template?


I also can not import any hacks without an error.

Where do I fix this? In a template?

--------------- Added [DATE]1209251058[/DATE] at [TIME]1209251058[/TIME] ---------------

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayne Luke View Post
Forms are not equal to templates but some templates have forms in them.

A form is anywhere your users can submit data. If you have modifications that submit data and cannot update their templates then you need to post for support in the modification thread.

It isn't hard to find out where this needs to go.

In your Admin CP under Styles & Template select Search In Templates...

Search for: value="$session[sessionhash]"


In every template this occurs in add this line directly after the line containing the above, if it doesn't exist already:
<input type="hidden" name="securitytoken" value="$bbuserinfo[securitytoken]" />

Save the template.

I am getting the error when I try to edit a template and save it so this will not work.
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  #34  
Old 04-26-2008, 10:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rinkrat View Post
I am getting the error when I try to edit a template and save it so this will not work.
Note that what you quoted says to "add this line directly after the line containing the above", not directly after that code.
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  #35  
Old 04-26-2008, 10:53 PM
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I cannot do anything, including editing templates, turning the board on or loading templates without the security error.
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  #36  
Old 04-26-2008, 10:55 PM
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You may want to run the upgrade script again so it makes the necessary changes or run the query listed back on the first page.
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  #37  
Old 04-26-2008, 11:08 PM
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I added this line to all my custom templates and followed the instructions as listed.

No errors
No problems with any mods
casino is still working

thank you:up:

cmedic
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  #38  
Old 04-26-2008, 11:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rinkrat View Post
I cannot do anything, including editing templates, turning the board on or loading templates without the security error.
You should be able to work in the ACP as it is not affected. Maybe posting at vB.com or disabling your plugins by using this code in your config.php may solve your problem:

define('DISABLE_HOOKS', true);
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  #39  
Old 04-27-2008, 06:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dismounted View Post
Also, you need to add the security token to AJAX requests using POST. This can be simply added using the variable "SECURITYTOKEN". An example is below.
Code:
YAHOO.util.Connect.asyncRequest('POST', scriptpath + '?do=ajax', {
	success: this.handle_ajax_response,
	failure: this.handle_ajax_error,
	timeout: vB_Default_Timeout,
	scope: this
}, SESSIONURL + 'securitytoken=' + SECURITYTOKEN + '&foo=' + foo);
what file do i need to place this into?
I've already added the 3 &'s before "securitytoken" in my clienscript/vbulletin_global.js
I have also updated ALL my templates per the security token instructions given and still
im having problems with every mod that uses java and ajax
I am running 3.7 RC4
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  #40  
Old 04-27-2008, 07:52 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shahryar_neo View Post
sorry for my low information . can yoy simplified this instruction for using ajax requests using POST ?
It is the simplest it can be. Add the security token into the request.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sv1cec View Post
Could some one PLEASE tell me how to close this vulnerability in vB 3.0.xx?

I would certainly appreciate it.
You can't unless you edit files directly as the fix is actually a very large one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Terrie View Post
what file do i need to place this into?
I've already added the 3 &'s before "securitytoken" in my clienscript/vbulletin_global.js
I have also updated ALL my templates per the security token instructions given and still
im having problems with every mod that uses java and ajax
I am running 3.7 RC4
You do not need to mess with any default vBulletin JS file.
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  #41  
Old 04-27-2008, 08:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dismounted View Post
You do not need to mess with any default vBulletin JS file.
There have been a few errors in RC4 that have caused problems for a couple of ajax modifications, hence why some have edited vbulletin_global.js. http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/proje...?issueid=25287
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