Update database using JQuery ajax.Post() - php

Question

Help! I'm writing some code to update a mySQL database using similar to the code below:-
$.post('http://myURL.com/vote.php?personID=' + personID + '&eventID=123');
The vote.php code takes the querystring values and inserts a record into a database with those values in it.
This kind of code is working fine, but I've realised the problem is that people could just type something like:
http://myURL.com/vote.php?personID=5&eventID=123
into their address bar and essentially spam the app...
Is there a straightforward way I can ensure this doesn't happen? I'm reasonably new to these technologies so not aware of how everything works or fits together, but I'm learning fast so any pointers would be super useful.

Answer 1

It is not a good idea to use GET parameters for data that goes to a database. Generally, you want to use POST parameters which are not visible in the URL. So instead of :
$.post('http://myURL.com/vote.php?personID=' + personID + '&eventID=123');
You would do it like this :
$.post('http://myURL.com/vote.php', { "personID" : personID, "eventID" : 123 });
And in your PHP script, you would access your data with the $_POST array like this :
$personID = $_POST['personID'];
$eventID = $_POST['eventID'];
However, don't forget to properly filter input before saving to the database to prevent bad things like SQL Injection.
This is not a silver bullet : spam will still be possible because any HTTP client will be able to send a post request to your site. Another thing you can look at is Security Tokens to make it even less vulnerable to spam. Or implement a system that limits the number of request/minute/user... but I'm getting too far from the original question.

Answer 2

Correct syntax of $.post is
$.post(url,data_to_send,callback_function)
By using this method your user will never be able to damage your site.Use like
$.post('http://myURL.com/vote.php',{"personID":personID,"eventID":123);

Answer 3

Whether you're using POST or GET, you could always consider signing important fields in your page by using hash_hmac. This prevents people from changing its value undetected by adding a signature that no one else can guess.
This also makes CSRF more difficult, though not impossible due to fixation techniques. It's just yet another technique that can be put in place to make it more difficult for "fiddlers".
The following function adds a salt and signature to a given person id to form a secured string.
define('MY_SECRET', 'an unguessable piece of random text');
function getSecurePersonId($personId)
{
$rnd = uniqid("$personId-", true);
$sig = hash_hmac('sha1', $rnd, MY_SECRET);
return "$rnd-$sig";
}
You would pass the output of getSecuredPersonId() to JavaScript to pass as data in the $.post() or $.get(); posting would be recommended btw.
When the form is submitted your person id would end up in either $_GET['personID'] or $_POST['personID'] depending on the request method. To validate the given value, you run it through this function:
function validateSecurePersonId($securePersonId)
{
if (3 != count($parts = explode('-', $securePersonId))) {
return false;
}
// reconstruct the signed part
$rnd = "{$parts[0]}-{$parts[1]}";
// calculate signature
$sig = hash_hmac('sha1', $rnd, MY_SECRET);
// and verify against given signature
return $sig === $parts[2] ? $parts[0] : false;
}
If the value is properly signed, it will return the original person id that you started out with. In case of failure it would return false.
Small test:
$securePersonId = getSecurePersonId(123);
var_dump($securePersonId);
if (false === validateSecurePersonId($securePersonId)) {
// someone messed with the data
} else {
// all okay
}