diff --git a/src/app/core/auth/auth-request.service.ts b/src/app/core/auth/auth-request.service.ts
index 5c0c3340c7..7c1f17dec2 100644
--- a/src/app/core/auth/auth-request.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/auth/auth-request.service.ts
@@ -100,14 +100,12 @@ export abstract class AuthRequestService {
     );
   }
   /**
-   * Factory function to create the request object to send. This needs to be a POST client side and
-   * a GET server side. Due to CSRF validation, the server isn't allowed to send a POST, so we allow
-   * only the server IP to send a GET to this endpoint.
+   * Factory function to create the request object to send.
    *
    * @param href The href to send the request to
    * @protected
    */
-  protected abstract createShortLivedTokenRequest(href: string): GetRequest | PostRequest;
+  protected abstract createShortLivedTokenRequest(href: string): Observable<PostRequest>;
 
   /**
    * Send a request to retrieve a short-lived token which provides download access of restricted files
@@ -117,7 +115,7 @@ export abstract class AuthRequestService {
       filter((href: string) => isNotEmpty(href)),
       distinctUntilChanged(),
       map((href: string) => new URLCombiner(href, this.shortlivedtokensEndpoint).toString()),
-      map((endpointURL: string) => this.createShortLivedTokenRequest(endpointURL)),
+      switchMap((endpointURL: string) => this.createShortLivedTokenRequest(endpointURL)),
       tap((request: RestRequest) => this.requestService.send(request)),
       switchMap((request: RestRequest) => this.rdbService.buildFromRequestUUID<ShortLivedToken>(request.uuid)),
       getFirstCompletedRemoteData(),
diff --git a/src/app/core/auth/browser-auth-request.service.ts b/src/app/core/auth/browser-auth-request.service.ts
index 85d5f54340..485e2ef9c4 100644
--- a/src/app/core/auth/browser-auth-request.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/auth/browser-auth-request.service.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { PostRequest } from '../data/request.models';
 import { HALEndpointService } from '../shared/hal-endpoint.service';
 import { RequestService } from '../data/request.service';
 import { RemoteDataBuildService } from '../cache/builders/remote-data-build.service';
+import { Observable, of as observableOf } from 'rxjs';
 
 /**
  * Client side version of the service to send authentication requests
@@ -20,15 +21,13 @@ export class BrowserAuthRequestService extends AuthRequestService {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Factory function to create the request object to send. This needs to be a POST client side and
-   * a GET server side. Due to CSRF validation, the server isn't allowed to send a POST, so we allow
-   * only the server IP to send a GET to this endpoint.
+   * Factory function to create the request object to send.
    *
    * @param href The href to send the request to
    * @protected
    */
-  protected createShortLivedTokenRequest(href: string): PostRequest {
-    return new PostRequest(this.requestService.generateRequestId(), href);
+  protected createShortLivedTokenRequest(href: string): Observable<PostRequest> {
+    return observableOf(new PostRequest(this.requestService.generateRequestId(), href));
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.ts b/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.ts
index 9954e7c7ef..05131b7375 100644
--- a/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service.ts
@@ -4,8 +4,19 @@ import { PostRequest } from '../data/request.models';
 import { HALEndpointService } from '../shared/hal-endpoint.service';
 import { RequestService } from '../data/request.service';
 import { RemoteDataBuildService } from '../cache/builders/remote-data-build.service';
-import { HttpHeaders, HttpXsrfTokenExtractor } from '@angular/common/http';
-import { XSRF_REQUEST_HEADER } from '../xsrf/xsrf.interceptor';
+import {
+  HttpHeaders,
+  HttpXsrfTokenExtractor,
+  HttpClient,
+  HttpResponse
+} from '@angular/common/http';
+import {
+  XSRF_REQUEST_HEADER,
+  XSRF_RESPONSE_HEADER,
+  DSPACE_XSRF_COOKIE
+} from '../xsrf/xsrf.interceptor';
+import { map } from 'rxjs/operators';
+import { Observable } from 'rxjs';
 
 /**
  * Server side version of the service to send authentication requests
@@ -17,29 +28,40 @@ export class ServerAuthRequestService extends AuthRequestService {
     halService: HALEndpointService,
     requestService: RequestService,
     rdbService: RemoteDataBuildService,
-    protected tokenExtractor: HttpXsrfTokenExtractor,
+    protected httpClient: HttpClient,
   ) {
     super(halService, requestService, rdbService);
   }
 
   /**
-   * Factory function to create the request object to send. This needs to be a POST client side and
-   * a GET server side. Due to CSRF validation, the server isn't allowed to send a POST, so we allow
-   * only the server IP to send a GET to this endpoint.
+   * Factory function to create the request object to send.
    *
    * @param href The href to send the request to
    * @protected
    */
-  protected createShortLivedTokenRequest(href: string): PostRequest {
-    let options = new HttpHeaders();
-    options = options.set('Content-Type', 'application/json; charset=utf-8');
-    options = options.set(XSRF_REQUEST_HEADER, this.tokenExtractor.getToken());
-    let requestOptions = {
-      headers: options,
-    };
-    return Object.assign(new PostRequest(this.requestService.generateRequestId(), href, {}, requestOptions), {
-      responseMsToLive: 2 * 1000 // A short lived token is only valid for 2 seconds.
-    });
+  protected createShortLivedTokenRequest(href: string): Observable<PostRequest> {
+    // First do a call to the root endpoint in order to get an XSRF token
+    return this.httpClient.get(this.halService.getRootHref(), { observe: 'response' }).pipe(
+      // retrieve the XSRF token from the response header
+      map((response: HttpResponse<any>) => response.headers.get(XSRF_RESPONSE_HEADER)),
+      // Use that token to create an HttpHeaders object
+      map((xsrfToken: string) => new HttpHeaders()
+          .set('Content-Type', 'application/json; charset=utf-8')
+          // set the token as the XSRF header
+          .set(XSRF_REQUEST_HEADER, xsrfToken)
+          // and as the DSPACE-XSRF-COOKIE
+          .set('Cookie', `${DSPACE_XSRF_COOKIE}=${xsrfToken}`)),
+      map((headers: HttpHeaders) =>
+        // Create a new PostRequest using those headers and the given href
+        new PostRequest(
+          this.requestService.generateRequestId(),
+          href,
+          {},
+          {
+            headers: headers,
+          }
+        ))
+    )
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/src/app/core/services/server-xhr.service.ts b/src/app/core/services/server-xhr.service.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..835072bbd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/app/core/services/server-xhr.service.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import { XhrFactory } from '@angular/common';
+import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
+import * as xhr2 from 'xhr2';
+
+/**
+ * Overrides the default XhrFactoru server side, to allow us to set cookies in requests to the
+ * backend. This was added to be able to perform a working XSRF request from the node server, as it
+ * needs to set a cookie for the XSRF token
+ */
+@Injectable()
+export class ServerXhrService implements XhrFactory {
+  build(): XMLHttpRequest {
+    xhr2.prototype._restrictedHeaders.cookie = false;
+    return new xhr2.XMLHttpRequest();
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/app/core/xsrf/xsrf.interceptor.ts b/src/app/core/xsrf/xsrf.interceptor.ts
index d527924a28..cded432397 100644
--- a/src/app/core/xsrf/xsrf.interceptor.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/xsrf/xsrf.interceptor.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ export const XSRF_REQUEST_HEADER = 'X-XSRF-TOKEN';
 export const XSRF_RESPONSE_HEADER = 'DSPACE-XSRF-TOKEN';
 // Name of cookie where we store the XSRF token
 export const XSRF_COOKIE = 'XSRF-TOKEN';
+// Name of cookie the backend expects the XSRF token to be in
+export const DSPACE_XSRF_COOKIE = 'DSPACE-XSRF-COOKIE';
 
 /**
  * Custom Http Interceptor intercepting Http Requests & Responses to
diff --git a/src/modules/app/server-app.module.ts b/src/modules/app/server-app.module.ts
index 81426e7fcc..7d162c5fd1 100644
--- a/src/modules/app/server-app.module.ts
+++ b/src/modules/app/server-app.module.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ import { Angulartics2Mock } from '../../app/shared/mocks/angulartics2.service.mo
 import { AuthRequestService } from '../../app/core/auth/auth-request.service';
 import { ServerAuthRequestService } from '../../app/core/auth/server-auth-request.service';
 import { ServerInitService } from './server-init.service';
+import { XhrFactory } from '@angular/common';
+import { ServerXhrService } from '../../app/core/services/server-xhr.service';
 
 export function createTranslateLoader(transferState: TransferState) {
   return new TranslateServerLoader(transferState, 'dist/server/assets/i18n/', '.json');
@@ -104,6 +106,10 @@ export function createTranslateLoader(transferState: TransferState) {
       provide: HardRedirectService,
       useClass: ServerHardRedirectService,
     },
+    {
+      provide: XhrFactory,
+      useClass: ServerXhrService,
+    },
   ]
 })
 export class ServerAppModule {