How do you implement a "Logout" link using ASP.NET MVC?

Question

This seems like a pretty stupid question, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this. Would you simply redirect to a /Logout page and have the controller call the FormsAuthentication.SignOut function?

That was my first thought, but then I wondered if it could be abused by third party websites. Let's say someone just decides to post a link to your /Logout page. The user would get signed out of your application. Is there a good way to prevent that?

Answer 1

You should look for a cookie or something that identifies the client as the true user.

Answer 2

This is what I use.

public ActionResult Logout()
{
    FormsAuth.SignOut();
    return RedirectToAction("Index", "Home");
}

Seems to work fine.

Third party websites are only going to log themselves out. So they wouldn't be achieving anything different from actually clicking Logout.

Answer 3

If you are concerned about a user getting accidentally logged out of you application through the use of a malicious link, you can check the Referrer to make sure that the logout is coming from your site (or is NULL in the case where the user simply types the URL in).

I actually don't worry about this since logging someone out is annoying but not necessarily a security risk.

Answer 4

Such a malicious link would be an example of a class of security vulnerabilities known as cross site request forgery, CSRF. A logout link is relatively harmless, but a remote site could set up a number of hidden forms and post them to your site to perform any action possible through POST.

The most common counter-measure is to include a challenge, a random hidden value in each form, and then check for that value. Checking the referer header could work, but note that some browsers don't send referer at all.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-site_request_forgery

Answer 5

The new ASP.net MVC Beta contains an AccountController, which may be worth looking at, as it essentially implements everything from Registration to Login/Logout to Forgot Password functionality. Not sure how good it is, but a good starting Point for sure.

Answer 6

Derive from ActionResult

public class LogoutResult : ActionResult
{
 private readonly IAuthenticationService _authenticationService;
 private readonly IWebContext _context;

 public LogoutResult(IAuthenticationService authenticationService, IWebContext context)
 {
  _authenticationService = authenticationService;
  _context = context;
 }

 public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
 {
  _authenticationService.Logout();
  _context.Abandon();
  _context.Redirect("~/");
 }
}