Session and cookie management in .Net

1. Session and cookie management in .Net Justin Brunelle CS795 6/18/2009

2. Introduction to Cookies • Used to store data • Stateful way of storing data in stateless environment • Contain two attributes • names and values

3. Cookie Example • Creating a cookie in ASP .NET: HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie(“cookieName”); cookie.Values[“ValueName1”] = “MyVal1”; cookie.Values[“ValueName2”] = “MyVal2”; • Retrieving a cookie in ASP .NET HttpCookie myCookie = Request.Cookies[“cookieName”]; if(myCookie != null) { string val1 = myCookie .Values[“ValueName1”]; string val2 = myCookie .Values[“ValueName2”]; }

4. Introduction to Sessions • ASP starts a session and returns a cookie • Automatic when using sessions • on user login • Needs cookies • Session Objects contain session state data

5. Session Example • Add data to a session object Session[“DataName’] = myData; • Retrieving data from a session object myData = Session[“DataName”] • Other Functions: Session.IsNewSession Session.RemoveAll Session.SessionID

6. Sessions without Cookies • You don't have to change anything in your ASP.NET application to enable cookieless sessions, except the following configuration setting • <sessionState cookieless="true" /> • Session identifiers stored in the URL • Session information lost between sessions with cookieless sessions • Cookieless sessions creates a security issue when sending URLs to others http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479314.aspx

7. Session Variables • Can be used to store data about the current user and his session • Session["FirstName"] = FirstNameTextBox.Text; Session["LastName"] = LastNameTextBox.Text;

8. Cookies and Security • Insecure • Stored in text • Can be encrypted • Still can be read, and possibly decoded • Solution: • Encrypt in web.config • <forms protection=“Encryption” /> • Use timeouts to prevent theft and reuse

9. Cookie Poisoning • Cookies intercepted when sent between the server and the client • Modifying cookies to gain access to sensitive information • Such as, getting a cookie and changing the values • Extracting passwords • Both done with a web proxy tool http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/expert/KnowledgebaseAnswer/0,289625,sid92_gci1210580,00.html

10. Prevent Cookie Poisoning • Encrypt values and sensitive information • DES, AES, etc.

11. Prevent Cookie Poisoning • Treat cookies as untrusted sources of information • Use regular expressions and type matching to test validity of cookies • Use regular expressions and strict data formatting conventions in your code • If the type stored in a cookie is known, make sure the value of the cookie can be cast • such as string to int, where int is the desired type

12. Protection from JavaScript and Cookies • Users can use scripting attacks by entering JavaScript into forms fields • Can be stored in cookies and read later • We can cache malicious attacks • Attacks cached from Cookies, QueryString and Forms Posts. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms972967.aspx

13. Protection from JavaScript and Cookies • <%@ Page validateRequest=“true" %> • Checks all input data against a list of potentially dangerous values • Slows performance, but only for users doing the attack • ValdidateRequest=true won't hamper your users experience in any way • HttpRequestValidationException is thrown to signal malicious code • Catch the error and program accordingly

14. Alternate script injection protection • Server.HtmlEncode(string) • Encodes the inserted script using html codes • <script language=“javascript”>alert(“hi”);</script> becomes • &lt; script &gt; language=&quot; javascript&quot; >alert(&quot; hi&quot; );&lt;/script&gt; • Must be careful about how we use decoded strings with this method

15. Encrypting Cookies • Use HttpSecureCookie and MachineKeyCryptography Function secureMyCookie(HttpCookie myCookie) { HttpCookie encodedCookie = new HttpCookie(myCookie.Name, myCookie.Value); encodedCookie .Domain = myCookie.Domain; encodedCookie .Expires = myCookie.Expires; encodedCookie .HttpOnly = myCookie.HttpOnly; encodedCookie .Path = myCookie.Path; encodedCookie .Secure = myCookie.Secure; encodedCookie.Value = MachineKeyCryptography.Encode(cookie.Value, CookieProtection cookieProtection); return encodedCookie; } http://www.codeproject.com/KB/web-security/HttpSecureCookie.aspx

16. Encryption and Decryption • HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie("UserName", "Terminator"); cookie.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddDays(1); HttpCookie encodedCookie = HttpSecureCookie.Encode(cookie); Response.Cookies.Add(encodedCookie); • HttpCookie cookie = Request.Cookies["UserName"]; lblDisplayBefore.Text = cookie.Value; HttpCookie decodedCookie = HttpSecureCookie.Decode(cookie);

17. Session State in IE Tabs • Session only shared between tabs if user opens a new tab from a tab already in the session • State can become unstable if user modifies the same data a different way in each tab • User might have to log into each of the tabs

18. Resolutions • Issues with these: • Logging in is annoying • Can’t use pop-ups to transmit data • Don’t have sessions • Hidden fields are insecure • Problem stems from the process that runs the tabs

19. Resolutions (cont’d) • Config Setting: <sessionState mode=“InProc” cookieless=“UseURI” /> • Appends the session state to the URL of the new tab http://hostName/SamplePage/(S(asdf34qwer10asdfz))/myPage.aspx • Gives us a new session for each tab stemming from the first session

20. IE8 Tabs • Tabs run by one process • Tab process handles a single session for each tab • Code from the previous slide forces a new session • Users can also select “File -> New Session”

21. Tricking ASP .NET Sessions • Normally, session cookies expire at the end of the session • We can enter JavaScript in the address bar to create your own session cookies: javascript:void(document.cookie="ASP.NET_SessionId=WhyDidTheChickenCrossThe;path=/") • We can set the expiration date to save the cookie and session data javascript:void(document.cookie="ASP.NET_SessionId=WhyDidTheChickenCrossThe;path=/;expires=Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:25:19 GMT");

22. Protecting Session Cookies • ASP .NET does not put login credentials in session cookies • Mitigates the following problem slightly • Hijackers can still take session cookies and reuse them to gain access to information • Use the following to protect your cookies: if (!Page.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated){if (Page.Request.Cookies["ASP.NET_SessionId"] != null){Response.Cookies["ASP.NET_SessionId"].Expires = DateTime.Now.AddYears(-30);}Session.Abandon();}

23. Questions?