diff --git a/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/config/ScmConfiguration.java b/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/config/ScmConfiguration.java
index eebefe4e1c..9fea54289e 100644
--- a/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/config/ScmConfiguration.java
+++ b/scm-core/src/main/java/sonia/scm/config/ScmConfiguration.java
@@ -177,6 +177,7 @@ public class ScmConfiguration
     this.skipFailedAuthenticators = other.skipFailedAuthenticators;
     this.loginAttemptLimit = other.loginAttemptLimit;
     this.loginAttemptLimitTimeout = other.loginAttemptLimitTimeout;
+    this.enabledXsrfProtection = other.enabledXsrfProtection;
 
     // deprecated fields
     this.servername = other.servername;
@@ -424,6 +425,19 @@ public class ScmConfiguration
     return disableGroupingGrid;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Returns {@code true} if the cookie xsrf protection is enabled.
+   * 
+   * @see <a href="https://goo.gl/s67xO3">Issue 793</a>
+   * @return {@code true} if the cookie xsrf protection is enabled
+   * 
+   * @since 1.47
+   */
+  public boolean isEnabledXsrfProtection()
+  {
+    return enabledXsrfProtection;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Returns true if port forwarding is enabled.
    *
@@ -800,6 +814,21 @@ public class ScmConfiguration
     this.sslPort = sslPort;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Set {@code true} to enable xsrf cookie protection.
+   * 
+   * @param enabledXsrfProtection {@code true} to enable xsrf protection
+   * @see <a href="https://goo.gl/s67xO3">Issue 793</a>
+   * 
+   * @since 1.47
+   */
+  public void setEnabledXsrfProtection(boolean enabledXsrfProtection)
+  {
+    this.enabledXsrfProtection = enabledXsrfProtection;
+  }
+  
+  
+
   //~--- fields ---------------------------------------------------------------
 
   /** Field description */
@@ -913,4 +942,12 @@ public class ScmConfiguration
 
   /** Field description */
   private boolean anonymousAccessEnabled = false;
+  
+  /** 
+   * Enables xsrf cookie protection.
+   * 
+   * @since 1.47
+   */
+  @XmlElement(name = "xsrf-protection")
+  private boolean enabledXsrfProtection = false;
 }
diff --git a/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/security/XsrfProtectionFilter.java b/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/security/XsrfProtectionFilter.java
index 7e7391190c..333c71066f 100644
--- a/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/security/XsrfProtectionFilter.java
+++ b/scm-webapp/src/main/java/sonia/scm/security/XsrfProtectionFilter.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ package sonia.scm.security;
 
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 import com.google.common.base.Strings;
+import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.UUID;
 import javax.inject.Singleton;
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@ import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpSession;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+import sonia.scm.config.ScmConfiguration;
 import sonia.scm.util.HttpUtil;
 import sonia.scm.web.filter.HttpFilter;
 
@@ -52,7 +54,8 @@ import sonia.scm.web.filter.HttpFilter;
  * session, the web interface has to send the token from the cookie as http header on every request. If the filter 
  * receives an request to a protected session, without proper xsrf header the filter will abort the request and send an
  * http error code back to the client. If the filter receives an request to a non protected session, from a non web 
- * interface client the filter will call the chain.
+ * interface client the filter will call the chain. The {@link XsrfProtectionFilter} is disabled by default and can be
+ * enabled with {@link ScmConfiguration#setEnabledXsrfProtection(boolean)}.
  * 
  * TODO for scm-manager 2 we have to store the csrf token as part of the jwt token instead of session.
  * 
@@ -73,10 +76,30 @@ public final class XsrfProtectionFilter extends HttpFilter
    * Key used for session, header and cookie.
    */
   static final String KEY = "X-XSRF-Token";
+
+  @Inject
+  public XsrfProtectionFilter(ScmConfiguration configuration)
+  {
+    this.configuration = configuration;
+  }
   
   @Override
   protected void doFilter(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, FilterChain chain) throws
     IOException, ServletException
+  {
+    if (configuration.isEnabledXsrfProtection())
+    {
+      doXsrfProtection(request, response, chain);
+    } 
+    else 
+    {
+      logger.trace("xsrf protection is disabled, skipping check");
+      chain.doFilter(request, response);
+    }
+  }
+  
+  private void doXsrfProtection(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, FilterChain chain) throws
+    IOException, ServletException 
   {
     HttpSession session = request.getSession(true);
     String storedToken = (String) session.getAttribute(KEY);
@@ -109,4 +132,5 @@ public final class XsrfProtectionFilter extends HttpFilter
     return UUID.randomUUID().toString();
   }
   
+  private ScmConfiguration configuration;
 }
diff --git a/scm-webapp/src/test/java/sonia/scm/security/XsrfProtectionFilterTest.java b/scm-webapp/src/test/java/sonia/scm/security/XsrfProtectionFilterTest.java
index 2cb187c24d..0a2145de04 100644
--- a/scm-webapp/src/test/java/sonia/scm/security/XsrfProtectionFilterTest.java
+++ b/scm-webapp/src/test/java/sonia/scm/security/XsrfProtectionFilterTest.java
@@ -44,8 +44,10 @@ import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
 import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
 import org.mockito.Mock;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
 import org.mockito.runners.MockitoJUnitRunner;
+import sonia.scm.config.ScmConfiguration;
 import sonia.scm.util.HttpUtil;
 
 /**
@@ -68,7 +70,9 @@ public class XsrfProtectionFilterTest {
   @Mock
   private FilterChain chain;
   
-  private final XsrfProtectionFilter filter = new XsrfProtectionFilter();
+  private final ScmConfiguration configuration = new ScmConfiguration();
+  
+  private final XsrfProtectionFilter filter = new XsrfProtectionFilter(configuration);
   
   /**
    * Prepare mocks for testing.
@@ -77,6 +81,7 @@ public class XsrfProtectionFilterTest {
   public void setUp(){
     when(request.getSession(true)).thenReturn(session);
     when(request.getContextPath()).thenReturn("/scm");
+    configuration.setEnabledXsrfProtection(true);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -91,6 +96,31 @@ public class XsrfProtectionFilterTest {
     filter.doFilter(request, response, chain);
     verify(chain).doFilter(request, response);
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Test filter method with disabled xsrf protection.
+   * 
+   * @throws IOException
+   * @throws ServletException 
+   */  
+  @Test
+  public void testDoFilterWithDisabledXsrfProtection() throws IOException, ServletException 
+  {
+    // disable xsrf protection
+    configuration.setEnabledXsrfProtection(false);
+    
+    // set webui user-agent
+    when(request.getHeader(HttpUtil.HEADER_SCM_CLIENT)).thenReturn(HttpUtil.SCM_CLIENT_WUI);
+    
+    // call the filter
+    filter.doFilter(request, response, chain);
+    
+    // verify that no xsrf other any other cookie was set
+    verify(response, never()).addCookie(Mockito.any(Cookie.class));
+    
+    // ensure filter chain is called
+    verify(chain).doFilter(request, response);
+  }
   
   /**
    * Test filter method for first web interface request.