Session Management Issues

Category: Authentication & Authorization
Severity: High
MITRE ATT&CK Mapping: T1539 (Steal Web Session Cookie)

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.