NAME
CGI::Plus -- Extra utilities for CGI
Description
This module adds a few enhancements to CGI::Safe, which itself adds a few security-based enancements to CGI.pm. The enhancement are almost entirely additions - the only method that is overridden is new(), and the changes there are only addition. The enhancements in this module entirely use the object-oriented interface.
SYNOPSIS
use CGI::Plus;
my ($cgi, $cookie, $url, $param);
# new CGI::Plus object
$cgi = CGI::Plus->new();
# turn on checks for cross-site request forgeries (CSRF)
$cgi->csrf(1);
# get a cookie and look at its values
$cookie = $cgi->incoming_cookies->{'mycookie'};
print $cookie->{'values'}->{'x'}, "\n";
print $cookie->{'values'}->{'y'}, "\n";
# more concise way to get an incoming cookie
$cookie = $cgi->ic->{'mycookie'};
# resend a cookie, but change one of its values
$cookie = $cgi->resend_cookie('mycookie');
$cookie->{'values'}->{'x'} = 2;
# add an outgoing cookie, set some values
$cookie = $cgi->new_send_cookie('newcookie');
$cookie->{'values'}->{'val1'} = '1';
$cookie->{'values'}->{'val2'} = '2';
# output HTTP header with outgoing cookies, including CSRF
# check cookie, automatically added
print $cgi->header_plus;
# output header again if it hasn't already been sent, but if it
# has then output an empty string
print $cgi->header_plus;
# output the URL of the current page but set a new value
# for the "t" param and remove the "j" param
$url = $cgi->self_link(params=>{t=>2, j=>undef});
# check if the submitted form includes the value of the CSRF
# cookie that was sent
if (! $cgi->csrf_check)
{ die 'security error' }
# output the randomly generated value of the CSRF cookie,
# output: KTFnGgpkZ4
print $cgi->csrf_value, "\n";
# output the hidden input form field that uses the same
# value as the CSRF cookie
# output: <input type="hidden" name="csrf" value="KTFnGgpkZ4">
print $cgi->csrf_field, "\n";
# get the CSRF check param for use in a URL
# output: csrf=KTFnGgpkZ4
print $cgi->csrf_param;
# set a custom header
$cgi->set_header('myheader', 'whatever');
# change content type
$cgi->set_content_type('text/json');
# output HTTP headers, including added cookies, the CSRF cookie,
# and the new header
print $cgi->header_plus;
# outputs something like this:
# Set-Cookie: newcookie=val2&2&val1&1; path=/
# Set-Cookie: mycookie=y&2&x&2; path=/
# Set-Cookie: csrf=v&KTFnGgpkZ4; path=/
# Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2012 04:08:06 GMT
# Myheader: whatever
# Content-Type: text/json; charset=ISO-8859-1INSTALLATION
CGI::Plus can be installed with the usual routine:
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make installMETHODS
CGI::Plus->new()
Creates and returns a CGI::Plus object. New calls the super-class' new() method, so all params sent to this method will be passed through to CGI and CGI::Safe.
$cgi->ic, $cgi->oc
$cgi->self_link(%options)
Returns a url that is a relative link to the current page. The local path of the URL is sent, but not the protocol or host. So, for example, if the URL of the current page is
http://www.example.com/cgi-plus/?y=1&x=2&t=2&y=2then $cgi->self_link() would return something like as follows. Note that the order of the URL params mght be changed.
/cgi-plus/?y=1&y=2&x=2&t=2NOTE: If all you want is to do is get the URL of the current page, then $cgi->url() is a better choice because it preserves the order of URL params.
option: params
The params option allows you to change the values of some of the URL params while leaving others as-is. params is a hashref of URL params and their new values. For example, consider this URL:
http://www.example.com/cgi-plus/?y=1&x=2&t=2&y=2Suppose you want to change just that t param from 2 to 3. You would do that like this:
$cgi->self_link(params=>{t=>3})which gives us this relative URL with the x and y values as they were before, but with the new t value:
/cgi-plus/?y=1&y=2&x=2&t=3If the value of the param is an array ref, then the param is output once for each value in the array ref. So, for example, you could set that t to have the values 4 and 5 like this:
$cgi->self_link(params=>{t=>[4,5]})which gives us
/cgi-plus/?y=1&y=2&x=2&t=4&t=5You can remove params by setting their values to undef:
$cgi->self_link(params=>{t=>undef})which gives us
/cgi-plus/?y=1&y=2&x=2option: clear_params
clear_params removes all params from the URL. For example, using our example URL from above:
http://www.example.com/cgi-plus/?y=1&x=2&t=2&y=2this:
$cgi->self_link(clear_params=>1)returns this URL;
/cgi-plus/You can use clear_params in conjunction with params to wipe the slate clean and send only specific params. So, for example, this call
$cgi->self_link(clear_params=>1, params=>{j=>10})gives us this URL:
/cgi-plus/?j=10option: html
The html option returns the URL HTML-escaped. So, for example, this call:
$cgi->self_link(params=>{t=>[4,5]}, html=>1)returns this:
/cgi-plus/?y=1&y=2&x=2&t=4&t=5Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) defenses
A Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) is a technique for breaching a web site's security. CSRF is one of the most common web-site vulnerabilities. CGI::Plus provides a technique for protecting
$cgi->csrf_value()
Returns the string used in CSRF checks. This value must be included in an HTML form (see "$cgi->csrf_value()")
$cgi->csrf_field()
Returns a hidden HTML field with the CSRF check value in it. This field must be included in HTML forms if you do a CSRF check. The string will look something like this:
<input type="hidden" name="csrf" value="8hFnVjSr25">$cgi->csrf_param()
Returns the URL parameter to use in a URL. The return value will look something like this:
csrf=8hFnVjSr25The string will never contain HTML or URL meta characters, so it does not need to be HTML or URL escaped.
$cgi->csrf_check()
Checks if a CSRF check value was sent and that it matches the CSRF check cookie. CSRF checks must be turned on or this method will croak. The following code is a typical usage of csrf checking:
$cgi->csrf(1);
if (! $cgi->csrf_check) {
die 'security error';
}TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Copyright (c) 2012 by Miko O'Sullivan. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. This software comes with NO WARRANTY of any kind.
AUTHOR
Miko O'Sullivan miko@idocs.com