CSRF & Authentication Debugger

Analyzes and debugs CSRF and authentication issues in this project.

Project Context

• Authentication: JWT tokens in httpOnly cookies + OAuth (Google, GitHub)
• CSRF: Django’s CSRF middleware with cookie-based tokens
• OAuth library: django-allauth
• Token service: services/auth/tokens.py
• Frontend API: Axios with credentials and CSRF interceptor

Authentication Architecture

Browser
    ↓ Request with cookies
    │ - access_token (httpOnly, JWT)
    │ - refresh_token (httpOnly, JWT)
    │ - csrftoken (readable by JS)
Django
    ↓ CsrfViewMiddleware
    ↓ JWTAuthenticationMiddleware
    ↓ View/API endpoint

When to Use

• “CSRF verification failed”
• “403 Forbidden on POST/PUT/DELETE”
• “Login not working”
• “Token expired”
• “OAuth callback failing”
• “Cookies not being set”
• “X-CSRFToken header missing”

CSRF Flow

How CSRF Works in This Project

1. GET /api/v1/auth/csrf/ – Sets csrftoken cookie
2. Frontend reads cookie – getCookie('csrftoken')
3. POST/PUT/DELETE requests – Include X-CSRFToken header
4. Django validates – Compares header to cookie

Frontend CSRF Handling

// frontend/src/services/api.ts
api.interceptors.request.use((config) => {
  if (['post', 'put', 'patch', 'delete'].includes(method)) {
    const csrfToken = getCookie('csrftoken');
    if (csrfToken) {
      config.headers['X-CSRFToken'] = csrfToken;
    }
  }
});

Common CSRF Issues

403 “CSRF verification failed”:

1. Missing CSRF cookie

   # Check if cookie exists in browser DevTools > Application > Cookies
   # Should see: csrftoken
   

2. Missing X-CSRFToken header

   // Check Network tab - request headers should include:
   // X-CSRFToken: <token value>
   

3. Cookie not sent (CORS)

   // Axios must have:
   withCredentials: true
   

4. Domain mismatch

   # settings.py - check these match your domain
   CSRF_COOKIE_DOMAIN = None  # or '.yourdomain.com'
   CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS = ['http://localhost:3000', ...]
   

5. SameSite cookie issues

   # For cross-origin requests:
   CSRF_COOKIE_SAMESITE = 'Lax'  # or 'None' with Secure
   

Common Auth Issues

JWT token expired:

# Check token expiry in services/auth/tokens.py
ACCESS_TOKEN_LIFETIME = timedelta(minutes=15)
REFRESH_TOKEN_LIFETIME = timedelta(days=7)

Cookies not set after login:

# Check response has Set-Cookie headers
# Verify SameSite and Secure flags match environment

OAuth callback failing:

# Check callback URL matches exactly:
# - In Google/GitHub OAuth app settings
# - In django-allauth config
# - Including trailing slashes!

Debugging Steps

1. Check CSRF Cookie Exists

// Browser console
document.cookie.split(';').find(c => c.includes('csrftoken'))

2. Check Request Headers

Network tab > Request > Headers
Look for: X-CSRFToken: <value>

3. Check Django Logs

docker compose logs web | grep -i csrf

4. Test CSRF Endpoint

curl -c cookies.txt http://localhost:8000/api/v1/auth/csrf/
cat cookies.txt  # Should show csrftoken

5. Verify Settings

# Django shell
from django.conf import settings
print(settings.CSRF_COOKIE_NAME)
print(settings.CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS)
print(settings.CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS)

Key Files to Check

Backend:
├── config/settings.py          # CSRF_*, CORS_*, cookie settings
├── core/auth/views.py          # Login, logout, OAuth views
├── core/views/core_views.py    # CSRF token endpoint
├── services/auth/tokens.py     # JWT token creation
└── services/auth/__init__.py   # set_auth_cookies function

Frontend:
├── src/services/api.ts         # Axios CSRF interceptor
├── src/contexts/AuthContext.tsx # Auth state management
└── src/pages/AuthPage.tsx      # Login/OAuth UI

Django CSRF Settings

# config/settings.py - key settings
CSRF_COOKIE_NAME = 'csrftoken'
CSRF_HEADER_NAME = 'HTTP_X_CSRFTOKEN'
CSRF_COOKIE_HTTPONLY = False  # Must be False for JS to read
CSRF_COOKIE_SAMESITE = 'Lax'
CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS = [
    'http://localhost:3000',
    'http://localhost:8000',
]

Views Exempt from CSRF

Some views use @csrf_exempt (check if issue is with exempt view):

grep -r "csrf_exempt" core/

Testing Authentication

# Login and get tokens
curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/v1/auth/login/ \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -c cookies.txt \
  -d '{"email":"test@example.com","password":"password"}'

# Use tokens for authenticated request
curl http://localhost:8000/api/v1/users/me/ \
  -b cookies.txt