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I have a problem where i am losing the PHP session between 2 pages.

The session_start() is included in a file called session-inc.php into every page requiring a session to be set. This works for all pages on the site except one particular page, member-profile.php. When this page is visited a new session with a different id (same session name) is set and used instead.

A few more details:

  • Session name is set manually
  • All pages are on the same server under the same domain name
  • If i put an additional session_start() above the include('session-inc.php') in the member-profile.php file, the session is carried over correctly
  • I have tried setting the session_cookie_domain and session.session_name in the .htaccess, this worked for this domain but it stopped the session being passed over to out payment domain
  • We are running apache 2.2.6 with php 5.2.5

Putting the session_start() above the include('session-inc.php') in the member-profile.php file is the quick and dirty fix for this problem, but i am wondering if anybody know why this would be happening.

Cheers

Will

hakre
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willparkinson
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  • Could you post the content of your file session-inc.php ? Is include('session-inc.php'); the first thing you do in member-profile.php ? – Dominik Feb 12 '10 at 17:06

11 Answers11

8

According to PHP documentation, session_start must be called before any output is sent back to the browser-- could this page have a rogue CR/LF, Unicode byte-order mark or similar that is causing output before you include('session-inc.php')?

Michel Ayres
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Ken Keenan
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3

I have just encountered this problem. Interestingly, browsing via http://127.0.0.1 instead of http://localhost helped me.

Nail
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3

While migrating a legacy site from PHP4 to PHP5 I noticed a php.ini configuration setting that causes php to auto-start the session upon every request. It's an alternative to placing session_start() onto every page...

There are multiple ways to enable this setting:

Put the following line into php.ini:

session.auto_start = on

or put this into your apache virtual-site config or .htaccess file:

<IfModule mod_php5.c>
  php_flag session.auto_start on
</IfModule>

and it should make $_SESSION changes available across all pages

hakre
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Henrik Eiriksson
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  • Placing `session_start()` on every page doesn't create a new session on every request. As per the manual, `session_start() creates a session or resumes the current one based on a session identifier passed via a GET or POST request, or passed via a cookie.` –  Oct 02 '18 at 13:41
1

I just spent all day diagnosing this issue in my Ionic3 - to - PHP project. TL; DR - make sure your client is actually sending session credentials.

In the interest of helping anyone who makes this mistake, I will share how I found the problem. I used these tools to diagnose the session on both the client and server:

1) Add a test file with phpinfo() to the server to review PHP session options.

2) Review the PHP code to make sure that no output, intentional or un-intentional occurs before the session_start() line. Check the status bar of Visual Studio Code to make sure the Byte Order Mark (BOM) is absent from the PHP files.

3) Review server PHP logs (in /var/log/nginx/error.log for me). Add error_log() lines to the php file to dump the session_id() or $_SESSION array.

4) Use tcpdump -An 'port 80 or port 443' to view the actual HTTP requests and replies. (That's where I discovered the missing cookies).

For an Ionic3 data provider the correct syntax for the client is:

    var obsHttp = this.http.post(url, body,
  { headers: new HttpHeaders({
    'Content-Type':'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
  }),withCredentials: true }).timeout(this.timeoutTime);

Notice the withCrentials:true One needs to call subscribe on the obsHttp() observable to send the request.

JCollins
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0

Found the issue

There was a byte order mark at the beginning of the main includes file of the second domain. as stated by ken, cant have any output before a session start, it was not setting the session correctly.

willparkinson
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0

SOLUTION: session.auto_start = on in file: php.ini

It solved the issue of re-generating session id on page reload (page refresh / change pages).

The issue appeared after the update of CPanel (and included Multi PHP), even the php version remained the same.

The PHP.ini file didn't had that variable at all. Went in Cpanel -> MultiPHP INI Editor -> Editor Mode (not Basic, in basic you do not have this setting) and added the line. Press Save.

TIPS / WHEN TO USE THIS SOLUTION: To determine if that is the problem, put a line at the very beginning and at the very end of your index.php file to check the session id. Use function: session_id(); Navigate through pages / reload the page. If the session_id value changes the problem is not in your code and this solution should solve your problem (the session is lost outside of your code).

I also tried to verify the availability of saving session on the web server (session.save_path) but, even if it was a lead, it was not the case. I imagine this is a "feature" of Cpanel with MULTIPHP UPDATE that will happen quite often.

Logic Industry
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I had this problem, and the cause was that PHP was ignoring all cookies after the first 100. (I asked this question to try to find out why, but so far nobody has figured it out). The browser was sending the PHPSESSID*, but since it was the 110th cookie, PHP was ignoring it.

To figure out if this problem is what's affecting you, use your browser's dev tools to look at the cookies that the browser is sending with the request, and compare that list to the $_COOKIE array in PHP. They should be the same. But if the browser is sending a PHPSESSID*, and there's no PHPSESSID* in $_COOKIE, then that would explain why sessions aren't working.

I solved the problem by not having my site use so many cookies, which is good practice anyway.

*PHPSESSID is the default session name. Your site may use a different name.

Dan B.
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To solve the session_id change after each request, you change the parameter session.auto_start and session.cookie_httponly into the php configuration file.

to find the used php configuration file

php -i | grep "php.ini"

then you open it, and try to find the parameter session.auto_start . you set

session.auto_start = 1
session.cookie_httponly = 0

finally you restart your httpd/apache service.

elhadi dp ıpɐɥןǝ
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0

Found the issue

In my case it was due to Varnish Settings please check your varnish settings. PHPSESSID you can exclude the cookie from the Varnish Settings.

Mudassar Ali Sahil
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I'm not an expert, but found a solution after careful investigation of domain name in the cookies info of two webpages opened on Firefox. (Right click on the page, select inspection and the storage). checked domain names and found that one with www.example.com and the other without www (example.com). changed all the page links to same format and the problem solved for my case.

user19736954
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    As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Sujith Sandeep Aug 15 '22 at 03:21
-1

Found the problem was a byte order mark (BOM) being ouputted at the start of the file. Got rid of it and it sorted out the session problem.

willparkinson
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