How are sessions managed in HTTP, and what are the limitations of this approach?
How are sessions managed in HTTP, and what are the limitations of this approach?
19709-May-2023
Updated on 09-May-2023
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I am Utpal Vishwas from Uttar Pradesh. Have completed my B. Tech. course from MNNIT campus Prayagraj in 2022. I have good knowledge of computer networking.
1 Answers
Aryan Kumar
09-May-2023HTTP is a stateless protocol. That is, it does not maintain state between requests. However, web applications require session management to track user sessions and store session data.
To manage sessions over HTTP, web applications use cookies or URL rewriting. Cookies are the most common method of session management in HTTP. When a user logs in, the web application generates a session id and stores it in her cookie on the user's device. A session ID identifies a user's session and is used to store session data on the server. Each subsequent request from the user contains a session ID cookie that allows the server to retrieve the user's session data.
URL rewriting is an alternative method of session management in HTTP. Instead of storing the session id in her cookie, the session id is appended to the url of each request. For example, if the session ID is "12345", the URL is "http:
//example.com/index.html;jsessionid=12345". The server gets the session ID from the URL and uses it to retrieve the user's session details.
A limitation of using her cookies for session management over HTTP is that cookies are vulnerable to theft and manipulation by attackers. Attackers can steal session cookies using techniques such as Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) and Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks. Additionally, an attacker can modify her cookies to impersonate a user and gain access to her account.
Another limitation of using URL rewriting for session management over HTTP is that session IDs can be exposed to third-party her websites and network intermediaries, increasing the risk of session hijacking. is. Cookies and URL rewriting are commonly used for session management in HTTP, but both have limitations and security risks that web application developers must address.