From what I have been seeing in my app, if I my controller using an AngularJs $http.get request, I can't update session data in the controller that handles this request because a render :json=> data type response doesn't update the session cookie on the client. I'm not sure that is actually true, but that what seems to be happening.
If it is true though it seems like if I use devise, for example, and initialize a a session variable, e.g. session[:foo]="bar" in session#create, and then subsequently I have an angular module which executes a $http.get, which is handled by, say, account#my_method, as follows
def my_method
session[:foo]="baz"
[do something]
render :json => {status: "OK"}
end
the session[:foo] change will not be persisted in the user's session cookie thus the next time the user hits a controller session[:foo] will still equal "bar", not "baz".
It seems unlikely, but that looks like what I'm seeing as I debug my application. If so would using a database or memcache session store work better, since the change would happen server side and would not require updating the client side cookie? Or is there a way to handle session updates when using Ajax type methods like $http.get in AngularJs
Related
I've built a multi page form wizard for a single model in rails, as a user enters data into the form regardless of the wizard page, the data is saved in session parameters. All works great, until the user finally submits the form, then I want those session parameters to also be cleared out.
I currently am removing the session by its attribute name and then resetting the session. This appears to work, but then if the page is refreshed, the original session will return. I have cleared the cache, and cookies but it seems like this is caused by the browser saving the session somewhere that the delete and rest are not catching.
In my controller after the new object is saved I call this to clear the session
session[:design_attributes] = nil
reset_session
redirect_to :controller => 'designs', :action => 'index'
Am I missing something, that also needs to be removed from the client side session? I would expect that the user, after hitting the above code should never be able to refresh their browser and see the session variables repopulated.
I am trying to build a website in Rails 4 to track users redirects and site element views.
I decided to use session ids which I believe are quite unique in the short term but I'm having a strange issue.
Example procedure:
user follows a redirect, the system stores this action with a Session ID, let's say xxx
user reaches destination page, which contains a tracker, the system stores this action with ANOTHER Session ID, yyy
user reaches another page which also contains a tracker, the system stores this action with Session ID yyy
After the second action is stored, the session ID stays the same yyy for every request after that, but I need to have the same session ID every time.
In session I also store a SecureRandom.hex generated code, which also changes from the first to the second request (which is not a surprise, since the session ID changes).
I also tried using a cookie, same result.
Please notice that these redirects are external, but all the requests are then made to the same domain (exactly the same, without www and in https).
Any idea?
Thanks in advance.
Update
this is the source code responsible for managing redirects:
before_action :load_redirect, :only => [:http_redirect]
def http_redirect
raise ActionController::RoutingError.new('Redirect has been disabled') unless #redir.enabled
ua = UserAction.create(
:session_id => session.id,
:user_agent => request.user_agent,
:trackable => #redir,
:ip_address => request.remote_ip,
:referer => request.referer
)
redirect_to #redir.destination_url
end
private
def load_redirect
#redir = Redirect.find(params[:id])
end
UPDATE:
Since you are using an iframe (per comment discussion below) for tracking code, the issue is likely that on the external site cookies are not being passed from parent page to the iframe because the iframes origin (domain) is different from the parent page.
OLD ANSWER:
(Still could be helpful for others debugging similar issues)
Source code would help. Without that, here are a few things to try:
Try disabling CSRF protection for the external tracking link action (I'm assuming it POSTs or PUTs data from an external source). CSRF protection could be creating a new or null session for those requests. Put this in the controller that contains the action accepting data from the external source:
protect_from_forgery :except => [:your_action]
The redirect (especially if it's a 301) could be cached in the browser you are using, hence having a different cookie and session than the request your tracking code makes. The stale cookie would be part of the cached redirect.
Try putting cache control headers on your controller action that does the redirect.
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate'
response.headers['Pragma'] = 'no-cache'
response.headers['Expires'] = '0'
Your browser may not support setting cookies on a redirect, or possibly third-party cookies. Try in a different modern browser?
There could be a bug in your code. If these solutions don't work, maybe post it?
In Rails, I have implemented the below code for user auth (confirmed to be correct). However, I wanted to confirm my thinking for this strange session[:session_token]. is this the "cookie" that is stored in the browser?
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
protect_from_forgery with: :exception
helper_method :current_user, :signed_in?
private
def current_user
#current_user ||= User.find_by_session_token(session[:session_token])
end
def signed_in?
!!current_user
end
def sign_in(user)
#current_user = user
session[:session_token] = user.reset_token!
end
def sign_out
current_user.try(:reset_token!)
session[:session_token] = nil
end
def require_signed_in!
redirect_to new_session_url unless signed_in?
end
end
My understanding so far of how this works is that whenever the browser/client sends a request to rails, the cookie (with the session[:session_token]) is also sent over, thus allowing the current_user method to find the user. Is my understanding correct? This is strange to me because there's a gap of knowledge of how exactly the browser/client gets access to the session cookie when we declare it in ApplicationController (Rails-side).
You are pretty much there. Although, I have a feeling you might be confusing apples with oranges...
Sessions:
Very often in dynamic web sites one would want to store user data between HTTP requests (because http is stateless and you can't otherwise associate a request to any other request), but you don't want that data to be readable and/or editable on the client-side inside of the URL (like.. yourwebsite.com/yourPage?cookie=12345&id=678), and so on..., because you don't want the client to play around with that data without passing through your server-side code.
One way to solve this problem is to store that data server-side, give it a "session_token"(as you called it), and let the client only know (and pass back at every http request) that token. This is how the session is implemented.
Cookies:
The most common technique for implementing sessions in Rails involve using cookies, which are small pieces of text placed on the user’s browser. Because cookies persist from one page to the next, they can store information (such as a session_token or whatever else you want) that can be used by the application to retrieve the logged-in user from the database.
Where is the Session Stored in Rails?
Using both of the above concepts I can now tell you that the default session store inside of Rails is CookieStore, which is about 4KB in size.
To put it simply...
def sign_in(user)
#current_user = user
session[:session_token] = user.reset_token!
end
...method that you defined places the user into a temporary session.
Then the idea is that the following...
def current_user
#current_user ||= User.find_by_session_token(session[:session_token])
end
...method would find and retrieve the user from the database corresponding to the session token and initialize it to a variable you specified.
Additional info:
You should also note that there is an important difference between Rails's session and cookies helper methods...
They both generate cookies, however, session[...] method generates temporary cookies, which should expire upon the browser exit, and cookies[...] method creates persistent cookies, which do not.
Additionally, I would suggest having a look at Section 2 of Ruby on Rails Security guide. You might find it useful.
Hope this helps you out.
Session is stored in server side. And,
Cookie is stored in client side (in browser cookie). And,
When client/browser send a request to rails server, every time cookies are sent to rails server.
When a session is set in rails server, like: session[:user_id] = 4,
Rails store it in server side.
Session is saved in server side like key value pair (like json object)
For each browser, Rails set a session identifier in cookie, so that, Rails can find the correct session information for a request.
Without session identifier in cookie, Rails do not know, what session belongs to what browser.
So, session will not work without cookie.
Edit: Explain: sessions are stored server side
Suppose, I am using your web application, and after login I will be redirected to home page.
I open login page, input username and password, and click login button.
The form is submitted to sessions#login action.
in sessions#login - you check username and password - and set session[:session_token]:
if username and password is correct
random_unique_identifier_string = #user.remember_token
session[:session_token] = random_unique_identifier_string
redirect_to root_url
end
When server run this code session[:session_token], server need an unique identifier for each browser session.
So, server generate an unique identifier for this browser, such as: abc123
Server set all session variables in a place (may be in some folder or in database), label this folder as abc123.
Now server send a cookie request to browser - to set cookie _ebook_session = abc123.
(I see, if my app name is ebook, in rails, cookie name is like: _ebook_session)
Now the page redirect to home page.
** Note: Everything above happen in single request **
Now, in my browser, I want to open some page that need authentication (suppose, dashboard page).
You added before_action: require_signed_in! in dashboard controller.
So, when I open dashboard page in my browser, browser by default send all cookies with every request. so _ebook_session cookie is sent to server. Your server gets the value of _ebook_session cookie is abc123. Now your application know we need to look in abc123 folder for session. Now you can get value of session[:session_token] from abc123 folder.
** I have explained second request above **
Each browser needs unique session identifier.
Important: _ebook_session cookie will be set in browser in first request. If we already have _ebook_session cookie set in a browser, we do not need to set it again, second, third and next requests in that specific browser.
I hope, you understand.
I have a rails application 'A' which runs on iframe of another application 'B'. I am setting some values on session when the application 'A' is loaded to iframe of 'B'. When the users does certain actions of application 'B', I want to destroy those session values. So, I created a simple API method which just deletes the session values. Whenever the API to delete session value is called API call is success however the session value doesn't seem to exists in the method.
I used three methods that is supposed to work. But it is not working. The API::AController method is:
def delete_session_value
session.key?(:value) # Returns false here
reset_session # 1
session[:value] = nil # 2
session.delete(:value) # 3
end
The session is set from ApplicationController with simple assignment session[:value] = 'something'. The session value is accessible throughout the application. Is the session value not accessible to API controller? Is there any other way I can solve this problem without affecting the flow?
If you session storage is cookie based (which by default, is), then it's a correct behaviour. You cannot read session cookies (or any other cookies) from iframe. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security/Same-origin_policy.
If this is same origin request you could try to set your x-frame-optionsheader to SAMEORIGIN. https://developer.mozilla.org/pl/docs/HTTP/X-Frame-Options
I am implementing a payment gateway in my app.
Its like this:
The user fills the form with necessary details, along with a field containing return_url(say http://myapp.com/ebs_payment/ebs_response?dr={somedata}) and submit the form to a secure payment site. After the transaction is complete, the secure site puts some encrypted data into my param {dr} and the user is redirected back to the return url. The problem here is, when the user returns to the app with the return_url, the application fails to pick up the session data and returns a nil value.
Before submitting the form, I put the object #fdPaymentDets in to session.
Here is my controller:
class EbsPaymentController < ApplicationController
#before_filter :login_required,:check_user_authenticate
#access_control [:ebs_response] => ('user')
def ebs_response
#fdPaymentDets = session["fd_payment_details"]
#deal = Deal.find(#fdPaymentDets.deal_id)
#categories = find_all_categories
end
private
def find_all_categories
#sp = SitePreference.find(:first)
Category.find(:all,:limit => #sp.categories_display_limit,:order => 'position')
end
end
When the user is redirected to the return url (http://myapp.com/ebs_payment/ebs_response?dr={encrypted_data}) from the secure site, rails is not picking the #fdPaymentDets object from session and making it nil thus resulting in an error when accessing data from the nil object.
The surprising thing is that, when I put the same return_url in my browser by hand, the session data is neatly picked and everything goes well.
Am missing any thing here? What could be the obvious reason?
Any help appreciated.
Cookies and redirects are messy and bug prone (from a browser's implementation perspective).
Take a look at
Safari doesn't set Cookie but IE / FF does
Suggestion would be to change the implementation to set the session first in the show action, and then update the value before the redirect