Dynamic Web Session Clean-up via Sign-off Cookie
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current web application security methods lack a standardized, portable, and automatic way to clean up sessions on remote servers, often requiring manual configuration and third-party dependencies, which can lead to session persistence issues and security vulnerabilities, especially in multi-application environments.
Innovation Solution
A sign-off cookie is generated with a session ID and a URL for a sign-off resource, allowing dynamic web session clean-up without pre-configuration, by using the URL to initiate clean-up requests upon session termination, either client-side or through a proxy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual configuration is used to map session cookies to sign-off resources, then session clean-up can be achieved, but the system requires manual intervention and is not portable or automatically extendable
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automatic session clean-up by having the web application server itself provide the sign-off resource URL within the session cookie, eliminating the need for manual configuration or third-party applications. The server autonomously manages session termination by embedding the necessary clean-up instructions in the cookie data structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The sign-off resource URL is embedded in the session cookie during session creation, preparing the clean-up mechanism in advance. This preliminary action ensures that when session termination is needed, the system can immediately execute the clean-up without requiring manual intervention or additional configuration steps.
2Reliability
If static configuration is used to map cookies to sign-off resources, then session management is possible, but the system cannot be extended automatically and requires manual updates for new applications
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static configuration to dynamic session management by embedding the sign-off resource URL directly in each session cookie. This dynamic approach allows the system to automatically adapt to new web applications without requiring manual updates to configuration files or databases, as each session carries its own termination instructions.
Solution Approach 2:
The session cookie structure is enhanced to universally include the sign-off resource URL, making the session management mechanism applicable to any web application. This universal approach allows a single system to manage sessions across multiple applications without requiring application-specific configuration, thereby improving both adaptability and versatility.
3Reliability
If cookies are stored in the browser's cookie jar, then session state is maintained, but session clean-up becomes difficult and may require intrusive modifications to the proxied server
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the sign-off resource URL from the complex server-side configuration and embeds it directly in the client-side cookie. This extraction simplifies the clean-up mechanism by moving the necessary information to the client, where the browser can automatically process it without requiring server-side modifications or complex clean-up procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The session cookie acts as an intermediary that carries the sign-off resource URL from the server to the client. This intermediary mechanism enables automatic session clean-up by providing the browser with the necessary instructions to contact the sign-off resource, eliminating the need for direct server-side intervention or complex clean-up logic.
4Adaptability or versatility
If existing session management techniques are used for each back-end application, then each application can manage its own session, but multiple independent cookies are created requiring manual management
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the session management functionality by embedding the sign-off resource URL within the existing session cookie structure. This combination allows multiple applications to share a unified session management approach, where the browser manages a single set of cookies with embedded clean-up instructions, rather than requiring separate management for each application's cookies.
Data Source
AI summary
A “sign-off” cookie is generated and stored upon initiation of a web session between a client and a web application executing on a server. The sign-off cookie preferably comprises both an identifier for the session (a “session ID”) together with an identifier (such as a URL) for a sign-off resource (associated with a sign-off mechanism) that can be used to clean-up the web session following its termination. The sign-off cookie may be returned to the client and/or retained within a proxy. Upon termination of the web session, the URL in the sign-off cookie is used to initiate a request to the sign-off mechanism to clean-up the web session. This approach provides for dynamic web session clean-up without requiring any pre-configuration of the sign-off mechanism.