How to use curl with Django, csrf tokens and POST requests - django

Question

I'm using curl to test one of my Django forms. The calls I've tried (with errors from each, and over multiple lines for readability):
(1):
curl
-d "{\"email\":\"test#test.com\"}"
--header "X-CSRFToken: [triple checked value from the source code of a page I already loaded from my Django app]"
--cookie "csrftoken=[same csrf value as above]"
http://127.0.0.1:8083/registrations/register/
(with http header and csrftoken in cookie) results in a 400 error with no data returned.
(2):
curl
-d "{a:1}"
--header "X-CSRFToken:[as above]"
--cookie "csrftoken=[as above];sessionid=[from header inspection in Chrome]"
http://127.0.0.1:8083/registrations/register/
(as in (1) but no spaces in header property declaration, and with sessionid in cookie too) results in the same 400 error with no data returned.
(3):
curl
-d "{a:1}"
--header "X-CSRFToken:[as above]"
http://127.0.0.1:8083/registrations/register/
(only http header with X-CSRFToken, no cookie) results in error code 403, with message: CSRF cookie not set.
How can I test my form with curl? What factors am I not considering besides cookie values and http headers?

Answer 1

A mixture of Damien's response and your example number 2 worked for me. I used a simple login page to test, I expect that your registration view is similar. Damien's response almost works, but is missing the sessionid cookie.
I recommend a more robust approach. Rather than manually entering the cookies from other requests, try using curl's built in cookie management system to simulate a complete user interaction. That way, you reduce the chance of making an error:
$ curl -v -c cookies.txt -b cookies.txt host.com/registrations/register/
$ curl -v -c cookies.txt -b cookies.txt -d "email=user#site.com&a=1&csrfmiddlewaretoken=<token from cookies.txt>" host.com/registrations/register/
The first curl simulates the user first arriving at the page with a GET request, and all the necessary cookies are saved. The second curl simulates filling in the form fields and sending them as a POST. Note that you have to include the csrfmiddlewaretoken field in the POST data, as suggested by Damien.

Answer 2

Try:
curl
-d "email=test#test.com&a=1"
http://127.0.0.1:8083/registrations/register/
Notice especially the format of the -d argument.
However, this probably won't work, as your view likely needs a POST request instead of a GET request. Since it will be modifying data, not just returning information.
CSRF protection is only required for 'unsafe' requests (POST, PUT, DELETE). It works by checking the 'csrftoken' cookie against either the 'csrfmiddlewaretoken' form field or the 'X-CSRFToken' http header.
So:
curl
-X POST
-d "email=test#test.com&a=1&csrfmiddlewaretoken={inserttoken}"
--cookie "csrftoken=[as above]"
http://127.0.0.1:8083/registrations/register/
It's also possible to use --header "X-CSRFToken: {token}" instead of including it in the form data.

Answer 3

I worked with curl like this
You have to submit csrftoken in header as X-CSRFToken.
You have to submit form data in JSON format.
Demo,
First we will fetch csrf_token & store in cookie.txt (or cookie.jar as they call it)
$ curl -c cookie.txt http://localhost.com:8000/
cookie.txt content
# Netscape HTTP Cookie File
# http://curl.haxx.se/docs/http-cookies.html
# This file was generated by libcurl! Edit at your own risk.
localhost.com FALSE / FALSE 1463117016 csrftoken vGpifQR12BxT07moOohREGmuKp8HjxaE
Next we resend the username, password in json format. (you may send it in normal way). Check the json data escape.
$curl --cookie cookie.txt http://localhost.com:8000/login/ -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "X-CSRFToken: vGpifQR12BxT07moOohREGmuKp8HjxaE" -X POST -d "{\"username\":\"username\",\"password\":\"password\"}"
{"status": "success", "response_msg": "/"}
$
you can store the returns new csrf_token session cookie in same file or new file (I have stored in same file using option -c.)
$curl --cookie cookie.txt http://localhost.com:8000/login/ -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "X-CSRFToken: kVgzzB6MJk1RtlVnyzegEiUs5Fo3VRqF" -X POST -d "{\"username\":\"username\",\"password\":\"password\"}" -c cookie.txt
-Content of cookie.txt
# Netscape HTTP Cookie File
# http://curl.haxx.se/docs/http-cookies.html
# This file was generated by libcurl! Edit at your own risk.
localhost.com FALSE / FALSE 1463117016 csrftoken vGpifQR12BxT07moOohREGmuKp8HjxaE
#HttpOnly_localhost.com FALSE / FALSE 1432877016 sessionid cg4ooly1f4kkd0ifb6sm9p
When you store new csrf_token & session id cookie in cookie.txt, you can use same cookie.txt across the website.
You am reading cookies from previous request from cookie.txt (--cookie) and writing new cookies from response in same cookie.txt (-c).
Reading & submitting form now works with csrf_token & session id.
$curl --cookie cookie.txt http://localhost.com:8000/home/

Answer 4

Here is how i did it, using the rest framework tutorial
open a browser e.g. chrome then pressing F12 open the developer tab and monitor the Network, login using your user credentials and get your CRSF token from monitoring the POST
then in curl execute:
curl http://127.0.0.1:8000/snippets/ \
-X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Accept: text/html,application/json" \
-H "X-CSRFToken: the_token_value" \
-H "Cookie: csrftoken=the_token_value" \
-u your_user_name:your_password \
-d '{"title": "first cookie post","code": "print hello world"}'
I think its cleaner to not put the token in the body but rather the header using X-CSRFToken

Answer 5

curl-auth-csrf is a Python-based open-source tool capable of doing this for you: "Python tool that mimics cURL, but performs a login and handles any Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) tokens. Useful for scraping HTML normally only accessible when logged in."
This would be your syntax:
echo -n YourPasswordHere | ./curl-auth-csrf.py -i http://127.0.0.1:8083/registrations/register/ -d 'email=test#test.com&a=1' http://127.0.0.1:8083/registrations/register/
This will pass along the POST data as listed, but also to include the password passed via stdin. I assume that the page you visit after "login" is the same page.
Full disclosure: I'm the author of curl-auth-csrf.

Answer 6

To make the Curl–Django communication work, I had to provide
the CSRF token in the X-CSRFToken header field;
the CSRF token in the Cookie header field;
the session identifier in the Cookie header field.
$ curl -v -X PUT -H "X-CSRFToken: {csrf_token}" --cookie "csrftoken={csrf_token};sessionid={session_id}" http://localhost:{port}{path}?{query}
* Trying 127.0.0.1:{port}...
* Connected to localhost (127.0.0.1) port {port} (#0)
> PUT {path}?{query} HTTP/1.1
> Host: localhost:{port}
> User-Agent: curl/7.79.1
> Accept: */*
> Cookie: csrftoken={csrf_token};sessionid={session_id}
> X-CSRFToken: {csrf_token}
>
* Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
* HTTP 1.0, assume close after body
< HTTP/1.0 204 No Content
< Vary: Accept, Accept-Language, Cookie
< Allow: DELETE, PUT, OPTIONS
< X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
< Content-Language: fr-fr
< Content-Length: 0
< Server-Timing: TimerPanel_utime;dur=159.20299999999975;desc="User CPU time", TimerPanel_stime;dur=70.73100000000032;desc="System CPU time", TimerPanel_total;dur=229.93400000000008;desc="Total CPU time", TimerPanel_total_time;dur=212.03255653381348;desc="Elapsed time", SQLPanel_sql_time;dur=7.846832275390625;desc="SQL 7 queries", CachePanel_total_time;dur=0;desc="Cache 0 Calls"
< X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
< Referrer-Policy: origin,origin-when-cross-origin
< Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy: same-origin
< Server: Werkzeug/2.0.0 Python/3.9.13
< Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2022 16:27:04 GMT
<
* Closing connection 0
Failed attempts
If I omit the CSRF token in the X-CSRFToken header field, I get a 403 (Forbidden) status code:
$ curl -v -X PUT --cookie "csrftoken={csrf_token};sessionid={session_id}" http://localhost:{port}{path}?{query}
* Trying 127.0.0.1:{port}...
* Connected to localhost (127.0.0.1) port {port} (#0)
> PUT {path}?{query} HTTP/1.1
> Host: localhost:{port}
> User-Agent: curl/7.79.1
> Accept: */*
> Cookie: csrftoken={csrf_token};sessionid={session_id}
>
* Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
* HTTP 1.0, assume close after body
< HTTP/1.0 403 Forbidden
< Content-Type: application/json
< Vary: Accept, Accept-Language, Cookie
< Allow: DELETE, PUT, OPTIONS
< X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
< Content-Language: fr-fr
< Content-Length: 116
< Server-Timing: TimerPanel_utime;dur=79.28900000000283;desc="User CPU time", TimerPanel_stime;dur=10.49199999999928;desc="System CPU time", TimerPanel_total;dur=89.78100000000211;desc="Total CPU time", TimerPanel_total_time;dur=111.31906509399414;desc="Elapsed time", SQLPanel_sql_time;dur=4.807949066162109;desc="SQL 3 queries", CachePanel_total_time;dur=0;desc="Cache 0 Calls"
< X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
< Referrer-Policy: origin,origin-when-cross-origin
< Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy: same-origin
< Server: Werkzeug/2.0.0 Python/3.9.13
< Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2022 16:49:13 GMT
<
* Closing connection 0
{"detail":[{"location":"non_field_errors","message":"CSRF Failed: CSRF token missing.","type":"permission_denied"}]}
If I omit the CSRF token in the Cookie header field, I get a 403 (Forbidden) status code:
$ curl -v -X PUT -H "X-CSRFToken: {csrf_token}" --cookie "sessionid={session_id}" http://localhost:{port}{path}?{query}
* Trying 127.0.0.1:{port}...
* Connected to localhost (127.0.0.1) port {port} (#0)
> PUT {path}?{query} HTTP/1.1
> Host: localhost:{port}
> User-Agent: curl/7.79.1
> Accept: */*
> Cookie: sessionid={session_id}
> X-CSRFToken: {csrf_token}
>
* Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
* HTTP 1.0, assume close after body
< HTTP/1.0 403 Forbidden
< Content-Type: application/json
< Vary: Accept, Accept-Language, Cookie
< Allow: DELETE, PUT, OPTIONS
< X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
< Content-Language: fr-fr
< Content-Length: 117
< Server-Timing: TimerPanel_utime;dur=81.76699999999926;desc="User CPU time", TimerPanel_stime;dur=10.824999999996976;desc="System CPU time", TimerPanel_total;dur=92.59199999999623;desc="Total CPU time", TimerPanel_total_time;dur=112.99705505371094;desc="Elapsed time", SQLPanel_sql_time;dur=5.406379699707031;desc="SQL 3 queries", CachePanel_total_time;dur=0;desc="Cache 0 Calls"
< X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
< Referrer-Policy: origin,origin-when-cross-origin
< Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy: same-origin
< Server: Werkzeug/2.0.0 Python/3.9.13
< Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2022 16:53:39 GMT
<
* Closing connection 0
{"detail":[{"location":"non_field_errors","message":"CSRF Failed: CSRF cookie not set.","type":"permission_denied"}]}
If I omit the session identifier in the Cookie header field, I get a 401 (Unauthorized) status code:
$ curl -v -X PUT -H "X-CSRFToken: {csrf_token}" --cookie "csrftoken={csrf_token}" http://localhost:{port}{path}?{query}
* Trying 127.0.0.1:{port}...
* Connected to localhost (127.0.0.1) port {port} (#0)
> PUT {path}?{query} HTTP/1.1
> Host: localhost:{port}
> User-Agent: curl/7.79.1
> Accept: */*
> Cookie: csrftoken={csrf_token}
> X-CSRFToken: {csrf_token}
>
* Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
* HTTP 1.0, assume close after body
< HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized
< Content-Type: application/json
< Vary: Accept, Accept-Language, Cookie
< Allow: DELETE, PUT, OPTIONS
< X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
< Content-Language: fr-fr
< Content-Length: 129
< Server-Timing: TimerPanel_utime;dur=21.655999999993014;desc="User CPU time", TimerPanel_stime;dur=4.543999999995663;desc="System CPU time", TimerPanel_total;dur=26.199999999988677;desc="Total CPU time", TimerPanel_total_time;dur=41.02301597595215;desc="Elapsed time", SQLPanel_sql_time;dur=0;desc="SQL 0 queries", CachePanel_total_time;dur=0;desc="Cache 0 Calls"
< X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
< Referrer-Policy: origin,origin-when-cross-origin
< Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy: same-origin
< Server: Werkzeug/2.0.0 Python/3.9.13
< Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2022 16:58:33 GMT
<
* Closing connection 0
{"detail":[{"location":"non_field_errors","message":"Informations d'authentification non fournies.","type":"not_authenticated"}]}