Enable CSRF enforcement for authenticated processors

reference brazil Updated Sep 10, 2026 2 min read sc-enable-csrf-enforcement-for-authenticated-processors.md
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Enable Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) enforcement to protect authenticated processor requests from CSRF attacks when session cookies are used for authentication.

The glide.security.csrf.processor.all.authenticated.enabled property enables CSRF checks for authenticated processor requests. When set to true, the platform checks for CSRF violations after session cookie authentication succeeds. If a violation is detected and the processor is not allow-listed, the request is rejected with an HTTP 401 response. Rejection details are logged. This enforcement applies to POST, PUT, and DELETE requests. GET requests are allowed without a CSRF token.

The glide.security.csrf.httpauth_processor_allowlist property controls an exception list that allows specific processors extending HTTPAuthProcessor to bypass CSRF enforcement. When glide.security.csrf.processor.all.authenticated.enabled is active, requests to processors named in this allow-list bypass the HTTP 401 rejection for invalid or missing CSRF tokens.

Note: The glide.security.csrf.processor.all.authenticated.enabled property is a broader upstream gate that supersedes glide.security.csrf.rest.public_csrf.enabled for cookie-auth REST traffic when both are enabled. The glide.security.csrf.rest.public_csrf.enabled property is effectively the specific guard for public REST API pages that the glide.security.csrf.processor.all.authenticated.enabled property does not cover (for example, public REST requests sent with a session cookie where the page does not require cookie authentication).

More information

Attribute

Description

Configuration name

glide.security.csrf.processor.all.authenticated.enabled, glide.security.csrf.httpauth_processor_allowlist

Configuration type

System Properties ( /sys_properties_list.do)

Data type

Boolean, String

Recommended value

glide.security.csrf.processor.all.authenticated.enabled: true

glide.security.csrf.httpauth_processor_allowlist: ""

Default value

glide.security.csrf.processor.all.authenticated.enabled: false

glide.security.csrf.httpauth_processor_allowlist: ""

Fallback value

glide.security.csrf.processor.all.authenticated.enabled: false

glide.security.csrf.httpauth_processor_allowlist: ""

Security risk

Setting the glide.security.csrf.processor.all.authenticated.enabled property to false disables CSRF token validation for authenticated processor requests, allowing CSRF attacks when session cookies are used for authentication.

A CSRF attack tricks an authenticated user's browser into making requests to a web application on the attacker's behalf, without the user's knowledge. The browser automatically attaches session cookies to outbound requests. A malicious page can silently trigger state-changing actions (password changes, record updates, privilege escalations) on any site the victim is currently logged in.

The impact scales with the victim's privileges. A regular user loses control of their own account. An administrator can expose the entire instance.

Functional impact

Changing the glide.security.csrf.processor.all.authenticated.enabled property directly affects whether requests that change state and are authenticated via session cookies to HTTPAuthProcessor-based endpoints must present a valid CSRF token.

Enabling this property can cause previously working integrations, browser-driven calls, or custom clients to start receiving HTTP 401 responses. This occurs if they rely on session cookies but don't send a valid X-UserToken. Disabling it preserves backward compatibility for such clients but weakens CSRF protection.

Regression testing

Log in to establish a session and call an affected processor endpoint using POST, PUT, or DELETE in three ways: without a token, with an invalid token, and with a valid token.

When the property is enabled, the requests without a token, and those with an invalid token are rejected. The requests with a valid token should succeed. Confirm GET requests continue to work without requiring a CSRF token.

Related property

glide.security.csrf.httpauth_processor_allowlist

**Parent Topic:**[Access control](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/brazil/markdown/platform-security/instance-security-hardening-settings/sc-access-control.md)
Keywords CSRFCross-Site Request Forgerysecurityauthenticated processorssession cookies
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