OWASP Testing Guide
  • Foreword by Eoin Keary
  • Frontispiece
  • Introduction
  • The OWASP Testing Framework
    • The Web Security Testing Framework
    • Penetration Testing Methodologies
  • Web Application Security Testing
    • Introduction and Objectives
    • Information Gathering
      • Conduct Search Engine Discovery Reconnaissance for Information Leakage (WSTG-INFO-01)
      • Fingerprint Web Server (WSTG-INFO-02)
      • Review Webserver Metafiles for Information Leakage (WSTG-INFO-03)
      • Enumerate Applications on Webserver (WSTG-INFO-04)
      • Review Webpage Content for Information Leakage (WSTG-INFO-05)
      • Identify Application Entry Points (WSTG-INFO-06)
      • Map Execution Paths Through Application (WSTG-INFO-07)
      • Fingerprint Web Application Framework (WSTG-INFO-08)
      • Fingerprint Web Application (WSTG-INFO-09)
      • Map Application Architecture (WSTG-INFO-10)
    • Configuration and Deployment Management Testing
      • Test Network Infrastructure Configuration (WSTG-CONF-01)
      • Test Application Platform Configuration (WSTG-CONF-02)
      • Test File Extensions Handling for Sensitive Information (WSTG-CONF-03)
      • Review Old Backup and Unreferenced Files for Sensitive Information (WSTG-CONF-04)
      • Enumerate Infrastructure and Application Admin Interfaces (WSTG-CONF-05)
      • Test HTTP Methods (WSTG-CONF-06)
      • Test HTTP Strict Transport Security (WSTG-CONF-07)
      • Test RIA Cross Domain Policy (WSTG-CONF-08)
      • Test File Permission (WSTG-CONF-09)
      • Test for Subdomain Takeover (WSTG-CONF-10)
      • Test Cloud Storage (WSTG-CONF-11)
      • Testing for Content Security Policy (WSTG-CONF-12)
    • Identity Management Testing
      • Test Role Definitions (WSTG-IDNT-01)
      • Test User Registration Process (WSTG-IDNT-02)
      • Test Account Provisioning Process (WSTG-IDNT-03)
      • Testing for Account Enumeration and Guessable User Account (WSTG-IDNT-04)
      • Testing for Weak or Unenforced Username Policy (WSTG-IDNT-05)
    • Authentication Testing
      • Testing for Credentials Transported over an Encrypted Channel (WSTG-ATHN-01)
      • Testing for Default Credentials (WSTG-ATHN-02)
      • Testing for Weak Lock Out Mechanism (WSTG-ATHN-03)
      • Testing for Bypassing Authentication Schema (WSTG-ATHN-04)
      • Testing for Vulnerable Remember Password (WSTG-ATHN-05)
      • Testing for Browser Cache Weaknesses (WSTG-ATHN-06)
      • Testing for Weak Password Policy (WSTG-ATHN-07)
      • Testing for Weak Security Question Answer (WSTG-ATHN-08)
      • Testing for Weak Password Change or Reset Functionalities (WSTG-ATHN-09)
      • Testing for Weaker Authentication in Alternative Channel (WSTG-ATHN-10)
      • Testing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (WSTG-AUTH-11)
    • Authorization Testing
      • Testing Directory Traversal File Include (WSTG-ATHZ-01)
      • Testing for Bypassing Authorization Schema (WSTG-ATHZ-02)
      • Testing for Privilege Escalation (WSTG-ATHZ-03)
      • Testing for Insecure Direct Object References (WSTG-ATHZ-04)
      • Testing for OAuth Authorization Server Weaknesses
      • Testing for OAuth Client Weaknesses
      • Testing for OAuth Weaknesses (WSTG-ATHZ-05)
    • Session Management Testing
      • Testing for Session Management Schema (WSTG-SESS-01)
      • Testing for Cookies Attributes (WSTG-SESS-02)
      • Testing for Session Fixation (WSTG-SESS-03)
      • Testing for Exposed Session Variables (WSTG-SESS-04)
      • Testing for Cross Site Request Forgery (WSTG-SESS-05)
      • Testing for Logout Functionality (WSTG-SESS-06)
      • Testing Session Timeout (WSTG-SESS-07)
      • Testing for Session Puzzling (WSTG-SESS-08)
      • Testing for Session Hijacking (WSTG-SESS-09)
      • Testing JSON Web Tokens (WSTG-SESS-10)
    • Input Validation Testing
      • Testing for Reflected Cross Site Scripting (WSTG-INPV-01)
      • Testing for Stored Cross Site Scripting (WSTG-INPV-02)
      • Testing for HTTP Verb Tampering (WSTG-INPV-03)
      • Testing for HTTP Parameter Pollution (WSTG-INPV-04)
      • Testing for Oracle
      • Testing for MySQL
      • Testing for SQL Server
      • Testing PostgreSQL
      • Testing for MS Access
      • Testing for NoSQL Injection
      • Testing for ORM Injection
      • Testing for Client-side
      • Testing for SQL Injection (WSTG-INPV-05)
      • Testing for LDAP Injection (WSTG-INPV-06)
      • Testing for XML Injection (WSTG-INPV-07)
      • Testing for SSI Injection (WSTG-INPV-08)
      • Testing for XPath Injection (WSTG-INPV-09)
      • Testing for IMAP SMTP Injection (WSTG-INPV-10)
      • Testing for File Inclusion
      • Testing for Code Injection (WSTG-INPV-11)
      • Testing for Command Injection (WSTG-INPV-12)
      • Testing for Buffer Overflow (WSTG-INPV-13)
      • Testing for Format String Injection (WSTG-INPV-13)
      • Testing for Incubated Vulnerability (WSTG-INPV-14)
      • Testing for HTTP Splitting Smuggling (WSTG-INPV-15)
      • Testing for HTTP Incoming Requests (WSTG-INPV-16)
      • Testing for Host Header Injection (WSTG-INPV-17)
      • Testing for Server-side Template Injection (WSTG-INPV-18)
      • Testing for Server-Side Request Forgery (WSTG-INPV-19)
      • Testing for Mass Assignment (WSTG-INPV-20)
    • Testing for Error Handling
      • Testing for Improper Error Handling (WSTG-ERRH-01)
      • Testing for Stack Traces (WSTG-ERRH-02)
    • Testing for Weak Cryptography
      • Testing for Weak Transport Layer Security (WSTG-CRYP-01)
      • Testing for Padding Oracle (WSTG-CRYP-02)
      • Testing for Sensitive Information Sent via Unencrypted Channels (WSTG-CRYP-03)
      • Testing for Weak Encryption (WSTG-CRYP-04)
    • Business Logic Testing
      • Introduction to Business Logic
      • Test Business Logic Data Validation (WSTG-BUSL-01)
      • Test Ability to Forge Requests (WSTG-BUSL-02)
      • Test Integrity Checks (WSTG-BUSL-03)
      • Test for Process Timing (WSTG-BUSL-04)
      • Test Number of Times a Function Can Be Used Limits (WSTG-BUSL-05)
      • Testing for the Circumvention of Work Flows (WSTG-BUSL-06)
      • Test Defenses Against Application Misuse (WSTG-BUSL-07)
      • Test Upload of Unexpected File Types (WSTG-BUSL-08)
      • Test Upload of Malicious Files (WSTG-BUSL-09)
      • Test Payment Functionality (WSTG-BUSL-10)
    • Client-Side Testing
      • Testing for Self DOM Based Cross-Site Scripting
      • Testing for DOM-Based Cross Site Scripting (WSTG-CLNT-01)
      • Testing for JavaScript Execution (WSTG-CLNT-02)
      • Testing for HTML Injection (WSTG-CLNT-03)
      • Testing for Client-side URL Redirect (WSTG-CLNT-04)
      • Testing for CSS Injection (WSTG-CLNT-05)
      • Testing for Client-side Resource Manipulation (WSTG-CLNT-06)
      • Testing Cross Origin Resource Sharing (WSTG-CLNT-07)
      • Testing for Cross Site Flashing (WSTG-CLNT-08)
      • Testing for Clickjacking (WSTG-CLNT-09)
      • Testing WebSockets (WSTG-CLNT-10)
      • Testing Web Messaging (WSTG-CLNT-11)
      • Testing Browser Storage (WSTG-CLNT-12)
      • Testing for Cross Site Script Inclusion (WSTG-CLNT-13)
      • Testing for Reverse Tabnabbing (WSTG-CLNT-14)
    • API Testing
      • Testing GraphQL (WSTG-APIT-01)
  • Reporting
    • Reporting
    • Vulnerability Naming Schemes
  • Appendix
    • Testing Tools Resource
    • Suggested Reading
    • Fuzz Vectors
    • Encoded Injection
    • History
    • Leveraging Dev Tools
  • Testing Checklist
  • Table of Contents
  • REST Assessment Cheat Sheet
  • API Testing
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On this page
  • Summary
  • Test Objectives
  • How to Test
  • Test with Forced Cookies
  • Remediation
  • Tools
  • References
  1. Web Application Security Testing
  2. Session Management Testing

Testing for Session Fixation (WSTG-SESS-03)

PreviousTesting for Cookies Attributes (WSTG-SESS-02)NextTesting for Exposed Session Variables (WSTG-SESS-04)

Last updated 2 years ago

ID

WSTG-SESS-03

Summary

Session fixation is enabled by the insecure practice of preserving the same value of the session cookies before and after authentication. This typically happens when session cookies are used to store state information even before login, e.g., to add items to a shopping cart before authenticating for payment.

In the generic exploit of session fixation vulnerabilities, an attacker can obtain a set of session cookies from the target website without first authenticating. The attacker can then force these cookies into the victim's browser using different techniques. If the victim later authenticates at the target website and the cookies are not refreshed upon login, the victim will be identified by the session cookies chosen by the attacker. The attacker is then able to impersonate the victim with these known cookies.

This issue can be fixed by refreshing the session cookies after the authentication process. Alternatively, the attack can be prevented by ensuring the integrity of session cookies. When considering network attackers, i.e., attackers who control the network used by the victim, use full or add the__Host- / __Secure- prefix to the cookie name.

Full HSTS adoption occurs when a host activates HSTS for itself and all its sub-domains. This is described in a paper called Testing for Integrity Flaws in Web Sessions by Stefano Calzavara, Alvise Rabitti, Alessio Ragazzo, and Michele Bugliesi.

Test Objectives

  • Analyze the authentication mechanism and its flow.

  • Force cookies and assess the impact.

How to Test

In this section we give an explanation of the testing strategy that will be shown in the next section.

The first step is to make a request to the site to be tested (e.g. www.example.com). If the tester requests the following:

GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com

They will obtain the following response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2008 08:45:11 GMT
Server: IBM_HTTP_Server
Set-Cookie: JSESSIONID=0000d8eyYq3L0z2fgq10m4v-rt4:-1; Path=/; secure
Cache-Control: no-cache="set-cookie,set-cookie2"
Expires: Thu, 01 Dec 1994 16:00:00 GMT
Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html;charset=Cp1254
Content-Language: en-US

The application sets a new session identifier, JSESSIONID=0000d8eyYq3L0z2fgq10m4v-rt4:-1, for the client.

Next, if the tester successfully authenticates to the application with the following POST to https://www.example.com/authentication.php:

POST /authentication.php HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com
[...]
Referer: http://www.example.com
Cookie: JSESSIONID=0000d8eyYq3L0z2fgq10m4v-rt4:-1
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-length: 57

Name=Meucci&wpPassword=secret!&wpLoginattempt=Log+in

The tester observes the following response from the server:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:52:58 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.2 (Fedora)
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.1.6
Content-language: en
Cache-Control: private, must-revalidate, max-age=0
X-Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-length: 4090
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
...
HTML data
...

As no new cookie has been issued upon a successful authentication, the tester knows that it is possible to perform session hijacking unless the integrity of the session cookie is ensured.

The tester can send a valid session identifier to a user (possibly using a social engineering trick), wait for them to authenticate, and subsequently verify that privileges have been assigned to this cookie.

Test with Forced Cookies

This testing strategy is targeted at network attackers, hence it only needs to be applied to sites without full HSTS adoption (sites with full HSTS adoption are secure, since all their cookies have integrity). We assume to have two testing accounts on the website under test, one to act as the victim and one to act as the attacker. We simulate a scenario where the attacker forces in the victim's browser all the cookies which are not freshly issued after login and do not have integrity. After the victim's login, the attacker presents the forced cookies to the website to access the victim's account: if they are enough to act on the victim's behalf, session fixation is possible.

Here are the steps for executing this test:

  1. Reach the login page of the website.

  2. Save a snapshot of the cookie jar before logging in, excluding cookies which contain the __Host- or __Secure- prefix in their name.

  3. Login to the website as the victim and reach any page offering a secure function requiring authentication.

  4. Set the cookie jar to the snapshot taken at step 2.

  5. Trigger the secure function identified at step 3.

  6. Observe whether the operation at step 5 has been performed successfully. If so, the attack was successful.

  7. Clear the cookie jar, login as the attacker and reach the page at step 3.

  8. Write in the cookie jar, one by one, the cookies saved at step 2.

  9. Trigger again the secure function identified at step 3.

  10. Clear the cookie jar and login again as the victim.

  11. Observe whether the operation at step 9 has been performed successfully in the victim's account. If so, the attack was successful; otherwise, the site is secure against session fixation.

We recommend using two different machines or browsers for the victim and the attacker. This allows you to decrease the number of false positives if the web application does fingerprinting to verify access enabled from a given cookie. A shorter but less precise variant of the testing strategy only requires one testing account. It follows the same steps, but it halts at step 6.

Remediation

Implement a session token renewal after a user successfully authenticates.

The application should always first invalidate the existing session ID before authenticating a user, and if the authentication is successful, provide another session ID.

Tools

References

HSTS
OWASP ZAP
Session Fixation
ACROS Security
Chris Shiflett