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Native session

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Derek Jones edited this page Jul 4, 2012 · 35 revisions

Category:Libraries::Session

Native_session library was written for those who prefer to use native PHP session handling features over the original CI session implementation and require additional security.

Benefits over CI_Session

  • hardened against session fixation by cookie id TTL (time to live) - regenerates cookie id automatically every given amount of time (right now configured inside the class) - see Note about making it setable.
  • you can use all available PHP session storage drivers (database, memcache, etc.)
  • "flash" session attributes (see: "Flash" attributes)

Benefits over PHPsession

  • compatible with CI_Session
    • the same way of use, just load the library, set_userdata(), userdata()
    • easy to migrate existing apps to Native_session
    • need docs - use the CI manual :)
  • better security (automatic and manual session id regeneration)

PHPsession introduces concept of session namespace, which IMHO encourages you to use large number of the the session vars. I prefer to limit the use of sessions as much as possible (because of the potential scalability problems), so the Native_session won't implement session namespaces.

Usage

  • the same as the original CI session library - just load the library and access the session data via session->userdata() and session->set_userdata() methods
  • allows to regenerate cookie id manually by calling session->regenerate_id()

Flash attributes

You can set the session attribute that will persist only for the next request. The usage is similar to the session->set_userdata($key, $value), userdata($key):

  • set_flashdata($key, $value) - sets the flash attribute
  • flashdata($key) - gets the value of the given flash attribute
  • keep_flashdata($key) - make the given flash attribute valid for one more request

The implementation of flash attributes is based on the Native_session session implementation, which means it uses the PHP native session handling features.

The original concept:

  • PHPsession
  • [url=http://www.codeigniter.com/forums/viewthread/529/]Discussion thread[/url]

Variable Session Times

  • Locate the _sess_run() function. Add this at the start of the function:
$session_id_ttl = $this->object->config->item('sess_expiration');
        
        if (is_numeric($session_id_ttl))
        {
            if ($session_id_ttl > 0)
            {
                $this->session_id_ttl = $this->object->config->item('sess_expiration');
            }
            else
            {
                $this->session_id_ttl = (60*60*24*365*2);
            }
        }
  • Remove the number set at the top of the class implementation:
var $session_id_ttl;
  • Add ```php $this->object =& get_instance();

* It should now pick up the ```php
$config['sess_expiration'] = 7200;
``` line in your config.php file.

- Added by HushPe

###  Files 


Contents of system/application/libraries/native_session.php:

```php

<?php  if (!defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');
/**
 * Code Igniter
 *
 * An open source application development framework for PHP 4.3.2 or newer
 *
 * @package        CodeIgniter
 * @author        Dariusz Debowczyk
 * @copyright    Copyright (c) 2006, D.Debowczyk
 * @license        http://www.codeignitor.com/user_guide/license.html 
 * @link        http://www.codeigniter.com
 * @since        Version 1.0
 * @filesource
 */
 
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------

/**
 * Session class using native PHP session features and hardened against session fixation.
 * 
 * @package        CodeIgniter
 * @subpackage    Libraries
 * @category    Sessions
 * @author        Dariusz Debowczyk
 * @link        http://www.codeigniter.com/user_guide/libraries/sessions.html
 */
class Native_session {
    var $session_id_ttl = 360; // session id time to live (TTL) in seconds
    var $flash_key = 'flash'; // prefix for "flash" variables (eg. flash:new:message)
    
    function Native_session()
    {
        log_message('debug', "Native_session Class Initialized");
        $this->_sess_run();
    }

    /**
    * Regenerates session id
    */
    function regenerate_id()
    {
        // copy old session data, including its id
        $old_session_id = session_id();
        $old_session_data = $_SESSION;

        // regenerate session id and store it
        session_regenerate_id();
        $new_session_id = session_id();
        
        // switch to the old session and destroy its storage
        session_id($old_session_id);
        session_destroy();
        
        // switch back to the new session id and send the cookie
        session_id($new_session_id);
        session_start();
        
        // restore the old session data into the new session
        $_SESSION = $old_session_data;
        
        // update the session creation time
        $_SESSION['regenerated'] = time();

        // session_write_close() patch based on this thread
        // http://www.codeigniter.com/forums/viewthread/1624/
        // there is a question mark ?? as to side affects

        // end the current session and store session data.
        session_write_close();
    }
    
    /**
    * Destroys the session and erases session storage
    */
    function destroy()
    {
        unset($_SESSION);
        if ( isset( $_COOKIE[session_name()] ) )
        {
              setcookie(session_name(), '', time()-42000, '/');
        }
        session_destroy();
    }
    
    /**
    * Reads given session attribute value
    */    
    function userdata($item)
    {
        if($item == 'session_id'){ //added for backward-compatibility
            return session_id();
        }else{
            return ( ! isset($_SESSION[$item])) ? false : $_SESSION[$item];
        }
    }
    
    /**
    * Sets session attributes to the given values
    */
    function set_userdata($newdata = array(), $newval = '')
    {
        if (is_string($newdata))
        {
            $newdata = array($newdata => $newval);
        }
    
        if (count($newdata) > 0)
        {
            foreach ($newdata as $key => $val)
            {
                $_SESSION[$key] = $val;
            }
        }
    }
    
    /**
    * Erases given session attributes
    */
    function unset_userdata($newdata = array())
    {
        if (is_string($newdata))
        {
            $newdata = array($newdata => '');
        }
    
        if (count($newdata) > 0)
        {
            foreach ($newdata as $key => $val)
            {
                unset($_SESSION[$key]);
            }
        }        
    }
    
    /**
    * Starts up the session system for current request
    */
    function _sess_run()
    {
        session_start();
        
        // check if session id needs regeneration
        if ( $this->_session_id_expired() )
        {
            // regenerate session id (session data stays the
            // same, but old session storage is destroyed)
            $this->regenerate_id();
        }
        
        // delete old flashdata (from last request)
        $this->_flashdata_sweep();
        
        // mark all new flashdata as old (data will be deleted before next request)
        $this->_flashdata_mark();
    }
    
    /**
    * Checks if session has expired
    */
    function _session_id_expired()
    {
        if ( !isset( $_SESSION['regenerated'] ) )
        {
            $_SESSION['regenerated'] = time();
            return false;
        }
        
        $expiry_time = time() - $this->session_id_ttl;
        
        if ( $_SESSION['regenerated'] <=  $expiry_time )
        {
            return true;
        }

        return false;
    }
    
    /**
    * Sets "flash" data which will be available only in next request (then it will
    * be deleted from session). You can use it to implement "Save succeeded" messages
    * after redirect.
    */
    function set_flashdata($key, $value)
    {
        $flash_key = $this->flash_key.':new:'.$key;
        $this->set_userdata($flash_key, $value);
    }
    
    /**
    * Keeps existing "flash" data available to next request.
    */
    function keep_flashdata($key)
    {
        $old_flash_key = $this->flash_key.':old:'.$key;
        $value = $this->userdata($old_flash_key);

        $new_flash_key = $this->flash_key.':new:'.$key;
        $this->set_userdata($new_flash_key, $value);
    }

    /**
    * Returns "flash" data for the given key.
    */
    function flashdata($key)
    {
        $flash_key = $this->flash_key.':old:'.$key;
        return $this->userdata($flash_key);
    }
    
    /**
    * PRIVATE: Internal method - marks "flash" session attributes as 'old'
    */
    function _flashdata_mark()
    {
        foreach ($_SESSION as $name => $value)
        {
            $parts = explode(':new:', $name);
            if (is_array($parts) && count($parts) == 2)
            {
                $new_name = $this->flash_key.':old:'.$parts[1];
                $this->set_userdata($new_name, $value);
                $this->unset_userdata($name);
            }
        }
    }

    /**
    * PRIVATE: Internal method - removes "flash" session marked as 'old'
    */
    function _flashdata_sweep()
    {
        foreach ($_SESSION as $name => $value)
        {
            $parts = explode(':old:', $name);
            if (is_array($parts) && count($parts) == 2 && $parts[0] == $this->flash_key)
            {
                $this->unset_userdata($name);
            }
        }
    }
}
?&gt;

Contents of system/application/init/init_native_session.php:

&lt;?php  if (!defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

/**
* Loads and instantiates native session class
*/    

if ( ! class_exists('Native_session'))
{
    require_once(APPPATH.'libraries/Native_session'.EXT);
}

// sessions engine should run on cookies to minimize opportunities
// of session fixation attack
ini_set('session.use_only_cookies', 1);

$obj =& get_instance();
$obj->session = new Native_session();
$obj->ci_is_loaded[] = 'session';

?&gt;

Modifications for Version 1.5

CodeIgniter changes the way libraries are created and used in Version 1.5. To upgrade your Native_session library, do the following:

  • Remove the init/init_native_session.php file. This file is no longer used by CodeIgniter.
  • Rename the libraries/native_session.php file to libraries/Session.php
  • Rename the Class in libraries/Session.php and Class Constructor to Session as follow:
// class  Native_session {         // USE THE LINE BELOW INSTEAD
class  CI_Session {
    var $session_id_ttl = 360; // session id time to live (TTL) in seconds
    var $flash_key = 'flash'; // prefix for "flash" variables (eg. flash:new:message)

//    function Native_session()      // USE THE LINE BELOW INSTEAD
    function CI_Session()
    {
        log_message('debug', "Native_session Class Initialized");
        $this->_sess_run();
   }
  • In your application code, change your native session loading code as follows:
      // $this->load->library('Native_session');      //  USE THE LINE BELOW INSTEAD
      $this->load->library('session');

Downloads

This it is a file already modified for version 1.5.1 of Code Igniter File:CI_1.5.1_with_Session.zip

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