Penetration Testing: A Survival Guide

Session-based flaws

Session token is an important mechanism in the overall authentication scheme of web applications. Once a user successfully authenticates to the web application, a token is assigned to the user. It is usually a long random number. This token is then shared by the user on subsequent interactions with the web application and is used for re-authentication purpose. Now, the token represents the identity of a user. Session tokens are also used to track user behavior. This mechanism has an inherent problem; if a malicious attacker is able to determine the victim's session token, the attacker can impersonate as the victim.

The session token becomes as important piece of information and needs to be carefully protected with the same vigour ...