Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'token'.
-
Hi I have a question about generating a unique access token. I have read a lot on the internet about just using the php 'random_bytes' function. However I have found a scenario (although highly unlikely) where a session could potentially be hijacked. User 1 logs in and gets an access token of 'abcdef' (simplifying things). User 1 uses the system for a period of time but the token expires but doesn't get refreshed yet (as user 1 is idle) (so client still has access token stored on client). In the mean time User 1 decides to use a different device to login to their account which generates a new access token 'zxcvbn'. But then User 2 logs in and they get an access token of 'abcdef' as it is unique (like I say highly unlikely but still possible). Then User 1 goes back to their original device and tries to resume session (client still has 'abcdef' as an access token so it sends that to the server which then it finds it but is actually now against a different user), and then hijacks User 2's session unknowingly. What is the best way around this, what about always adding the internal user ID number to the token to make sure it will always be against the same user (and always truly unique for that user)? So we would end up with 'abcdef1' for user 1 and User 2s access token would be 'abcdef2' if the above scenario was to occur so we would never get a potential hijack of sessions? I know this sounds convoluted but just wanted peoples thoughts?