CSRF
n.n. Stands for Cross-Site Request Forgery. A type of cyber attack where a hacker tricks your web browser into doing something on a website without your permission. This usually happens when you are already logged into that site.
n. Abbreviation for Cross-Site Request Forgery. A security vulnerability where an attacker induces a victim to perform actions on a web application in which they are currently authenticated. It exploits the trust a site has in the user's browser by submitting unauthorized commands via malicious links or scripts.
The developer added a token to prevent a CSRF attack on the form.
Without proper CSRF protection, a malicious site could trick a logged-in user into changing their account password or transferring funds.
Modern web frameworks often include built-in mechanisms to mitigate CSRF risks by requiring unique, unpredictable tokens for every state-changing request made by the client.
An initialism standing for cross-site request forgery. The term was coined by Peter Watkins in 2001, following the pattern of the earlier security term cross-site scripting.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Often functions as a modifier before other nouns like 'attack', 'protection', or 'token'.
Last updated July 22, 2026