Session Management Issues

Category: Authentication & Authorization
Severity: High

Description

Problems with session handling, including session hijacking, fixation, and inadequate session termination, enabling attackers to compromise user sessions and gain unauthorized access.

Technical Details

Attack Vector

  • Session hijacking attacks
  • Session fixation vulnerabilities
  • Inadequate session termination
  • Session validation weaknesses

Common Techniques

  • Session token theft
  • Session fixation
  • Session prediction
  • Session replay attacks

Impact

  • Session Hijacking: Unauthorized access to user sessions
  • Account Takeover: Control over user accounts through session compromise
  • Persistent Access: Long-term access through session manipulation
  • Privacy Violation: Access to sensitive user data and actions

Detection Methods

Session Monitoring

  • Monitor session creation and usage
  • Track session anomalies
  • Detect session hijacking
  • Analyze session patterns

Token Analysis

  • Monitor session token usage
  • Track token generation
  • Detect token manipulation
  • Analyze token patterns

Mitigation Strategies

Session Security

  • Implement secure session management
  • Use secure session tokens
  • Deploy session validation
  • Monitor session usage

Token Protection

  • Implement token security
  • Use token rotation
  • Deploy token validation
  • Monitor token usage

Real-World Examples

Example 1: Session Fixation

def login(username, password, session_id=None):
    # Session fixation vulnerability
    if session_id:
        session = get_session(session_id)
    else:
        session = create_session()
    
    if authenticate_user(username, password):
        session.user_id = username
        return session
    
    # Attack: Attacker provides session_id, then uses it after login

Example 2: Inadequate Session Termination

def logout(session_id):
    # Inadequate session cleanup
    session = get_session(session_id)
    session.active = False
    
    # Session data remains accessible
    # Should: delete_session(session_id)

Example 3: Session Prediction

def create_session():
    # Predictable session token generation
    timestamp = int(time.time())
    session_id = f"session_{timestamp}"
    
    # Attack: Predict session tokens based on timing
    # Should use: secure_random_token()

References & Sources

  • Equixly - “MCP Servers: The New Security Nightmare”
  • Philippe Bogaerts - “The Security Risks of Model Context Protocol (MCP)”

Session management issues represent a critical vulnerability that can lead to complete account compromise and unauthorized access.