Ch. 7 -Attacking Session Management Latasha A. Gibbs CSCE 813 – Internet Security, Fall 2012 College of Engineering and Computing University of South Carolina

Ch. 7 -Attacking Session Management

Latasha A. GibbsCSCE 813 – Internet Security, Fall 2012College of Engineering and Computing

University of South Carolina

Adapted from The Web Application Hacker’s Handbook 2nd

Edition by

Dafydd Stuttard and Marcus Pinto

1

OVERVIEW

• The Need• Weaknesses of Token Generation• Weaknesses of Session Token

Handling• Securing Session Management• Summary

2

THE NEED

• Reminder: HTTP Protocol is stateless

• Majority of web “sites” are actually web applications

• The session management mechanism is a fundamental security component in most web applications

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TRUE OR FALSE?

If we use smartcards for authentication, a user’s session cannot be compromised without

them?

4

SESSION MANAGEMENT VULNERABILITIES

• HTTPOnly Flag Not Set• Secure Flag Not Set• Session Porting Permitted• Persistent Cookie• Cookieless Sessions in Use• Session Token Content Weaknesses• Session Token Not Regenerated on Login• Cookie Domain and Path not Restricted

JUST A FEW

VULNERABILITIES!

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WHAT HAPPENS IF THE ATTACKER SUCCEEDS?

1. Attacker can bypass authentication2. Attacker can masquerade as a

legitimate user3. Attacker can compromise an

administrative user or own the entire application

The list goes on…6

OVERVIEW



7

WEAKNESSES IN TOKEN GENERATION

• Meaningful Tokens• Predictable Tokens• Concealed Sequences• Weak Random Number

Generation

8

MEANINGFUL TOKENS

• Tokens containing account username, first or last names, date/time stamp, client IP, etc.

• Attackers can use a hexadecimal decoder to reveal the session token easily

• Examples of online decoders include: www.string-functions.com or www.converstring.com

757365723d6461663b6170703d61646d696e3b646174653d30312f31322f3131

User=daf;app=admin;date=10/09/119

WEAK RANDOM NUMBER GENERATION

• Predictable pseudorandom generator used

• After a visual inspection, a more rigorous approach to test the quality of randomness is necessary

• Burp Sequencer is a tool that will test randomness of web application tokens

• Obtaining a sample size of 20,000 tokens, will achieve compliance with FIPS test for randomness

10

OVERVIEW



11

WEAKNESSES IN TOKEN HANDLING

Disclosure of tokens on network

• Occurs when tokens are transmitted in an unencrypted form

• For example, a site that uses HTTPS to protect login, but reverts to HTTP for the remainder of the user session

Disclosure of Tokens in System Logs

• An application may use the URL query string as a mechanism for transmitting tokens

• For example, google search inurl:jsessionid will produce a list of applications that transmit the Java platform session token

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DO’S & DON’TS

• Tokens should only be transmitted over HTTPS• Tokens should never be transmitted in the URL• Visibility of session token for administrative or

diagnostic purposes should be limited• Logout functionality should be implemented• Session expiration should be implemented• Concurrent logins should be prevented• Restrict domain and path scope of application

should be restricted as much as possible

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COMMON MYTHS

• “Our token is secure from disclosure to 3rd-parties because we use SSL.”

• “Our token is generated by the platform using cryptographically sound technologies.”

14

OVERVIEW



15

HOW CAN WE ENSURE SECURE SESSIONS?

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SECURING SESSION MANAGEMENT

• Appears simple...as generating strong tokens and providing token protection throughout life cycle

• But…requires developers to have an in-depth understanding of protocols, algorithms, and black-hat community attacks

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OVERVIEW



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SUMMARY

• Web Applications with Broken Session Management = Keys to the Kingdom

• Possible avenues of attack are endless

• Secure session management is necessary to protect web applications

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FURTHER READING

• OWASP-Session Management Cheat Sheethttps://www.owasp.org/index.php/Session_Management_Cheat_Sheet

• Paper on Secure Session Management with Cookies

http://www.isecpartners.com/files/web-session-management.pdf

• Paper on Web Session Managementhttp://www.technicalinfo.net/papers/

WebBasedSessionManagement.html

• Session Management for Clustered Applications

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/entarch/session-management-092739.html

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Thanks and have a lovely evening…

QUESTIONS?

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Documents

Ch. 7 -Attacking Session Management Latasha A. Gibbs CSCE 813 – Internet Security, Fall 2012 College of Engineering and Computing University of South Carolina