<form method="post">{% csrf_token %}
This should not be done for POST forms that target external URLs, since
that would cause the CSRF token to be leaked, leading to a vulnerability.
In the corresponding view functions, ensure that
RequestContext is used to render the response so
that {% csrf_token %} will work properly. If you’re using the
render() function, generic views, or contrib apps,
you are covered already since these all use RequestContext.
Using CSRF protection with AJAX
While the above method can be used for AJAX POST requests, it has some
inconveniences: you have to remember to pass the CSRF token in as POST data with
every POST request. For this reason, there is an alternative method: on each
XMLHttpRequest, set a custom X-CSRFToken header (as specified by the
CSRF_HEADER_NAME setting) to the value of the CSRF token. This is
often easier because many JavaScript frameworks provide hooks that allow
headers to be set on every request.
First, you must get the CSRF token. How to do that depends on whether or not
the CSRF_USE_SESSIONS and CSRF_COOKIE_HTTPONLY settings
are enabled.
The recommended source for the token is the csrftoken cookie, which will be
set if you’ve enabled CSRF protection for your views as outlined above.
The CSRF token cookie is named csrftoken by default, but you can control
the cookie name via the CSRF_COOKIE_NAME setting.
You can acquire the token like this:
function getCookie(name) {
let cookieValue = null;
if (document.cookie && document.cookie !== '') {
const cookies = document.cookie.split(';');
for (let i = 0; i < cookies.length; i++) {
const cookie = cookies[i].trim();
// Does this cookie string begin with the name we want?
if (cookie.substring(0, name.length + 1) === (name + '=')) {
cookieValue = decodeURIComponent(cookie.substring(name.length + 1));
break;
return cookieValue;
const csrftoken = getCookie('csrftoken');
The above code could be simplified by using the JavaScript Cookie library to replace getCookie:
const csrftoken = Cookies.get('csrftoken');
The CSRF token is also present in the DOM in a masked form, but only if
explicitly included using csrf_token in a template. The cookie
contains the canonical, unmasked token. The
CsrfViewMiddleware will accept either.
However, in order to protect against BREACH attacks, it’s recommended to
use a masked token.
Warning
If your view is not rendering a template containing the csrf_token
template tag, Django might not set the CSRF token cookie. This is common in
cases where forms are dynamically added to the page. To address this case,
Django provides a view decorator which forces setting of the cookie:
ensure_csrf_cookie().
If you activate CSRF_USE_SESSIONS or
CSRF_COOKIE_HTTPONLY, you must include the CSRF token in your HTML
and read the token from the DOM with JavaScript:
{% csrf_token %}
<script>
const csrftoken = document.querySelector('[name=csrfmiddlewaretoken]').value;
</script>
Setting the token on the AJAX request
Finally, you’ll need to set the header on your AJAX request. Using the
fetch() API:
const request = new Request(
/* URL */,
method: 'POST',
headers: {'X-CSRFToken': csrftoken},
mode: 'same-origin' // Do not send CSRF token to another domain.
fetch(request).then(function(response) {
// ...
Using CSRF protection in Jinja2 templates
Django’s Jinja2 template backend
adds {{ csrf_input }} to the context of all templates which is equivalent
to {% csrf_token %} in the Django template language. For example:
<form method="post">{{ csrf_input }}
Using the decorator method
Rather than adding CsrfViewMiddleware as a blanket protection, you can use
the csrf_protect() decorator, which has
exactly the same functionality, on particular views that need the protection.
It must be used both on views that insert the CSRF token in the output, and
on those that accept the POST form data. (These are often the same view
function, but not always).
Use of the decorator by itself is not recommended, since if you forget to
use it, you will have a security hole. The ‘belt and braces’ strategy of using
both is fine, and will incur minimal overhead.
Handling rejected requests
By default, a ‘403 Forbidden’ response is sent to the user if an incoming
request fails the checks performed by CsrfViewMiddleware. This should
usually only be seen when there is a genuine Cross Site Request Forgery, or
when, due to a programming error, the CSRF token has not been included with a
POST form.
The error page, however, is not very friendly, so you may want to provide your
own view for handling this condition. To do this, set the
CSRF_FAILURE_VIEW setting.
CSRF failures are logged as warnings to the django.security.csrf logger.
Using CSRF protection with caching
If the csrf_token template tag is used by a template (or the
get_token function is called some other way), CsrfViewMiddleware will
add a cookie and a Vary: Cookie header to the response. This means that the
middleware will play well with the cache middleware if it is used as instructed
(UpdateCacheMiddleware goes before all other middleware).
However, if you use cache decorators on individual views, the CSRF middleware
will not yet have been able to set the Vary header or the CSRF cookie, and the
response will be cached without either one. In this case, on any views that
will require a CSRF token to be inserted you should use the
django.views.decorators.csrf.csrf_protect() decorator first:
from django.views.decorators.cache import cache_page
from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_protect
@cache_page(60 * 15)
@csrf_protect
def my_view(request): ...
If you are using class-based views, you can refer to Decorating
class-based views.
Testing and CSRF protection
The CsrfViewMiddleware will usually be a big hindrance to testing view
functions, due to the need for the CSRF token which must be sent with every POST
request. For this reason, Django’s HTTP client for tests has been modified to
set a flag on requests which relaxes the middleware and the csrf_protect
decorator so that they no longer rejects requests. In every other respect
(e.g. sending cookies etc.), they behave the same.
If, for some reason, you want the test client to perform CSRF
checks, you can create an instance of the test client that enforces
CSRF checks:
>>> from django.test import Client
>>> csrf_client = Client(enforce_csrf_checks=True)
Edge cases
Certain views can have unusual requirements that mean they don’t fit the normal
pattern envisaged here. A number of utilities can be useful in these
situations. The scenarios they might be needed in are described in the following
section.
Disabling CSRF protection for just a few views
Most views requires CSRF protection, but a few do not.
Solution: rather than disabling the middleware and applying csrf_protect to
all the views that need it, enable the middleware and use
csrf_exempt().
Setting the token when CsrfViewMiddleware.process_view() is not used
There are cases when CsrfViewMiddleware.process_view may not have run
before your view is run - 404 and 500 handlers, for example - but you still
need the CSRF token in a form.
Solution: use requires_csrf_token()
Including the CSRF token in an unprotected view
There may be some views that are unprotected and have been exempted by
csrf_exempt, but still need to include the CSRF token.
Solution: use csrf_exempt() followed by
requires_csrf_token(). (i.e. requires_csrf_token
should be the innermost decorator).
Protecting a view for only one path
A view needs CSRF protection under one set of conditions only, and mustn’t have
it for the rest of the time.
Solution: use csrf_exempt() for the whole
view function, and csrf_protect() for the
path within it that needs protection. Example:
from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt, csrf_protect
@csrf_exempt
def my_view(request):
@csrf_protect
def protected_path(request):
do_something()
if some_condition():
return protected_path(request)
else:
do_something_else()
Protecting a page that uses AJAX without an HTML form
A page makes a POST request via AJAX, and the page does not have an HTML form
with a csrf_token that would cause the required CSRF cookie to be sent.
Solution: use ensure_csrf_cookie() on the
view that sends the page.
CSRF protection in reusable applications
Because it is possible for the developer to turn off the CsrfViewMiddleware,
all relevant views in contrib apps use the csrf_protect decorator to ensure
the security of these applications against CSRF. It is recommended that the
developers of other reusable apps that want the same guarantees also use the
csrf_protect decorator on their views.
How to use Django’s CSRF protection
