PHP Session Information Not Being Stored - php

I am trying to make a very simple website, where you can go to the main page and log in, of which the code is here example.org/login/index.php:
<?php
session_start();
$warning = $_GET['warning'];
$nolog = $_GET['nolog'];
$username = "Welcome, please log in";
if ($warning) {
$username = "Wrong Username/Password Combination";
}
if ($nolog) {
$username = "Page inaccessible: Login required";
}
if ($logout) {
$username = "Thank you for your session";
}
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<body>
<div class="center">
<span class="warning"><?= $username ?></span>
<form action="submit.php" method="post">
<span class="formField">Username:</span><br>
<input type="text" name="user" class="field">
<br>
<span class="formField">Password:</span><br>
<input type="password" name="password" class="field">
<br>
<br>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" class="field">
</form>
</div>
</body>
</html>
The submit page looks like this (when I get this to work I won't have the username and password hard coded like this, it's just to be concise for now) example.org/login/submit.php:
<?php
session_start();
$username = $_POST['user'];
$password = $_POST['password'];
if ($username == "admin" && $password == "12345") {
$_SESSION['loggedin'] = TRUE;
header("Location: http://www.example.org/welcome/");
die();
}
else {
$_SESSION['loggedin'] = FALSE;
header("Location: http://www.example.org/login/index.php?warning=true");
die();
}
?>
And the welcome page looks like this example.org/welcome/index.php:
<?php
session_start();
if(!isset($_SESSION["loggedin"]) || $_SESSION["loggedin"] == FALSE){
unset($_SESSION);
session_destroy();
header("Location: http://www.example.org/login/index.php?nolog=true");
}
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<body>
Hi
</body>
</html>
I know this is a lot of code, but when I try running it the first time around the welcome page returns an error saying that it is inaccessible, and sends me back to the login page, but the second time around it seems to work fine and logs me in. Can anyone understand why that would be?
EDIT:
After looking more into it, I discovered that the problem ONLY exists in Google Chrome and Firefox, but does not exist in other browsers such as Internet Explorer or Apple Safari. This now goes into the rendering engine of the browsers. Does anyone perhaps know of another way that I can use session ID's that might bypass this whole issue on all browsers, perhaps another way of validating a user?

Try to use the following
define('BASE_URL', 'http://www.example.org/');
if ($username == "admin" && $password == "12345") {
$_SESSION['loggedin'] = TRUE;
header("Location:".BASE_URL."welcome.php");
exit();
} else {
header("Location:".BASE_URL."index.php");
exit();
}
Add the following in the begining of welcome page
session_start();
if(!isset($_SESSION['loggedin'])){
header("Location:".BASE_URL."index.php");
exit();
}

If you pay attention to the names of the files that I mentioned, I was saying that I was directing my browser to example.org/login/submit.php and then forwarding that to www.example.org/welcome/index.php.
In Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, they care about the difference between having a www before the website or not, whereas in Internet Explorer and Safari they do not care about the difference. On my server the website www.example.org and example.org are mirrors of each other (this is a separate security issue) and therefore Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox will treat them differently and give them different $_SERVER global variables, whereas Internet Explorer and Safari don't care about that difference.

Related

How to prevent user from bypassing php authentication

We call it html1 for simplicity.
When a user goes to html1, there's a login2.php login page to enable access to client.php which is the hidden page.
It then goes to checklogin.php...if the password and user name matches...it then goes to the hidden client.php page...if not..it goes back to homepage.
The user has to login to be able to view the contents of hidden client.php page.
However the user can access client.php by typing in ..../client.php on the address bar...therefore bypassing the auth page and rendering it useless. I can just type servername/client.php...and it still shows me the contents of client.php...but I want client.php...to be private!
How do I prevent this from happening?
thanks.
first login page...
<html>
<head>
<title>Login Form</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Login Form</h2>
<table>
<form method="post" action="checklogin2.php">
<div id="name">User Id: <input type="text" name="****"></div>
<div id="password">Password: <input type="password" name="*******"></div>
<div class="button"><input type="submit" value="Login"></div>
</form>
</table>
</body>
</html>
then it goes to....
checklogin2.php
<?php
$*** = $_POST['****'];
$***** = $_POST['***'];
if($uid == '****' and $***** == '*****')
{
session_start();
$_SESSION['sid']=session_id();
header("location:securepage.php");
}
else
{
header("location:index.html");
}
?>
Then it goes to...
securepage.php
<?php
session_start();
if($_SESSION['sid']==session_id())
{
header("location:client.php");
echo "<a href='logout.php'>Logout</a>";
}
else
{
header("location:login.php");
}
?>
In the beginning of your every page you have to check if user is authorized.
On checklogin.php if user entered correct login and password, just set something like
$_SESSION['authorized'] = TRUE;
...and on other pages just check if user is authorized:
if (isset($_SESSION['authorized']) && $_SESSION['authorized'] === TRUE) {
// Alright, let's show all the hidden functionality!
echo "Psst! Hey! Wanna buy some weed?";
} else {
// User is not authorized!
header('Location: login.php');
exit();
}
Note that you don't have to mess with cookies, session IDs etc. - just add session_start() before everything and freely use $_SESSION var.
This is the main pro of sessions (and $_SESSION variable in particular): you can remember some data among different pages on same website.
All pages has to check if the user is authed. I would recommend using objects, and always inherit a class that checks this for you. It's not fun to have the same code everywhere, doing the same thing.
if($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"] == '/yourpagefolder/yourpage.php' && !isset($_SESSION['login_user'])){
header('location: login.php');
}

Bug using PHP Sessions (Two Log On screens)

In the application I'm developing I'm having a bug where I direct my browser to my app's index.php, and is then properly redirected to login.php if there is no current session. My problem is that after I type in my correct details on login.php and click submit, I am linked to another login.php screen (instead of returning to index.php with an active session) and required to put in my details again. The first screen has the same CSS formatting as index.php, while the second screen doesn't.
After entering my details on the second screen and clicking login, the sessions seem to function normally. Also, many times I will be presented with one logon screen, ill login and the user's correct Home screen data will be displayed (which requires successful queries from the login data), but if I navigate away from index.php to another screen that requires an active session, it will present the unformatted login.php screen.
If I logout, navigate to a different non-restricted page, and attempt to log back in again within the same browser session, the logon functions correctly with only one screen.
Here are snippets from the relevant files:
index.php
<?php
include_once 'db_functions.php';
require_once 'access.php';
if (isset($_POST['action'])) {
if (userIsLoggedIn()) {
header('Location: http://www.myapp.com/index.php'); //prevents users from having to confirm form resubmission if they refresh the page
}
}
if (!userIsLoggedIn()) {
include 'login.php';
exit();
}
login.php:
login.php
<body>
<h1>Log In</h1>
<?php
if (isset($loginError)) {
echo $loginError;
}
?>
<form action="" method="post">
<div>
<label for="email">Email: <input type="text" name="email" id="email" /> </label>
</div>
<div>
<label for="password">Password: <input type="password" name="password" id="password" /></label>
</div>
<div>
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="login" />
<input type="submit" value="Log in" />
</div>
</form>
</body>
access.php:
<?php
function userIsLoggedIn() {
if (isset($_POST['action']) and $_POST['action'] == 'login') {
if (!isset($_POST['action']) or $_POST['email'] == '' or
!isset($_POST['password']) or $_POST['password'] == '') {
$GLOBALS['loginError'] = 'Please fill in both fields';
return FALSE;
}
$email = $_POST['email'];
$password = $_POST['password'];
if (databaseContainsAuthor($email, $password)) {
session_start(); //LINE 17
$_SESSION['loggedIn'] = TRUE;
$_SESSION['email'] = $email;
$_SESSION['password'] = $password;
return TRUE;
}
else {
session_start();
unset($_SESSION['loggedIn']);
unset($_SESSION['email']);
unset($_SESSION['password']);
$GLOBALS['loginError'] = 'The specified email address or password was incorrect.';
return FALSE;
}
}
if (isset($_POST['action']) and $_POST['action'] == 'logout') {
session_start();
unset($_SESSION['loggedIn']);
unset($_SESSION['email']);
unset($_SESSION['password']);
header('Location: ' . $_POST['goto']);
exit();
}
session_start();
if (isset($_SESSION['loggedIn'])) {
return databaseContainsAuthor($_SESSION['email'], $_SESSION['password']);
}
}
function databaseContainsAuthor($email, $password) {
include_once './db_functions.php';
$db = new DB_Functions();
$result = $db->accountExists($email, $password);
return $result;
}
?>
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
UPDATE:
Error logs are showing multiple occurances of this error:
PHP Notice: A session had already been started - ignoring session_start() in /home3/monitot5/public_html/app/access.php on line 17
Access.php line 17:
if (databaseContainsAuthor($email, $password)) {
session_start(); //LINE 17
$_SESSION['loggedIn'] = TRUE;
What you should do is to use
session_start();
at the beginning of access.php file and don't use this function any more.
You should also completely change login of your access.php file. The first thing you should always do in this file is checking if there's a valid session for this user. Now you check it at the end of file and probably earlier you clear it because you unset session if there are no $_POST data.
In addition you shouldn't also use password in your session. It's rather very insecure. You should simple store login for your system when user filled in form valid username/email and password and unset it if user has logged out.
Sorry, but I won't write the whole code for you. You should simple look at some examples of code in Google to check how to handle user login/logout in PHP.

Security with ini files and php header

I'm currently in the process of developing a simple CMS for ONE user (this is unlikely to ever change). Therefore I'm storing login details in a .ini file (when live, will be stored outside root). Then using sessions to detect if the correct user has logged in, and if not, redirect them back to the login page using Header('Location: login.php') I'm curious as to how secure this actually is? Below is a draft of what I've got so far
Login Page:
<?php
session_start();
if ($_GET) {
header("Location: login.php");
die();
}
if (isset($_SESSION['user'])) {
header('Location: admin/index.php');
}
$config = parse_ini_file("login.ini", true);
$user = htmlentities($_POST['user']);
$password = htmlentities($_POST['pass']);
if ($user == $config['login']['user'] && $password == $config['login']['password']) {
$_SESSION['user'] = $_POST['user'];
header('Location: admin/index.php');
}
?>
<form action="login.php" method="POST">
<h2>Username:</h2>
<input type="text" name="user" />
<h2>Password:</h2>
<input type="password" name="pass" />
<input type="submit" Value="Login" />
</form>
Then there would be a check on every page in the admin area for the session, if not redirect to the login using the header location, like so:
Admin Welcome Page
<?php
session_start();
if (!isset($_SESSION['user'])) {
header('Location: ../login.php');
die();
}
And a logout page, would destroy the session.
I understand this is fairly simple and doesn't use a database. But are there any major secruity flaws to this design, using header location a lot, and storing sensitive date in the .ini file. Or for a simple application, is this well suited / not outdated?

How to stop else showing as default on basic PHP login script

I am using PHP to build a very basic login script. However, the else from the ifelse statement shows by default before the user has even clicked log in.
Before the user has even tried to login they are greeted with this:
Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/madhous3/public_html/dev/admin/index.php:12) in /home/madhous3/public_html/dev/admin/login.php on line 13
Sorry, please try again.
How do I stop this? However, if the user enters the details correctly, they are directed to the right page.
Code
index.php
<?php
include("login.php");
?>
<h1>Admin Area Login</h1>
<form method="post" action="login.php">
Username<input type="text" name="username" />
Password<input type="text" name="password" />
<input type="submit" name="log_in" value="Log In" />
</form>
login.php
<?php
$username_inputted = $_POST['username'];
$password_inputted = $_POST['password'];
if($username_inputted == 'admin' && $password_inputted == 'password'){
header("location:login_success.php");
}else{
header("location:index.php");
echo "Sorry, please try again.";
}
?>
Try removing the include("login.php") from index.php.
Instead, you should redirect back to index.php from your login.php with a flag specifying that the user entered the wrong information (if they failed the login).
index.php
<?php
if(isset($_REQUEST['fail'])) {
echo 'Login failed.';
}
?>
<h1>Admin Area Login</h1>
<form method="post" action="login.php">
Username<input type="text" name="username" />
Password<input type="text" name="password" />
<input type="submit" name="log_in" value="Log In" />
</form>
login.php
<?php
$username_inputted = $_POST['username'];
$password_inputted = $_POST['password'];
if($username_inputted == 'admin' && $password_inputted == 'password'){
header("location:login_success.php");
} else {
header("location:index.php?fail=1");
}
?>
OK, so what's happening is that in index.php you're including login.php at the start. At that time it imports everything from login.php. Since you're including it, the script is going to run.
At the load of the page index.php, the script on login.php starts. It defines those variables $username_inputted & $password_inputted as null, since the POST hasn't happened yet. Then the if block checks, finds null variables, then the else block fires since the variables aren't equal to the expected login info because they're null.
Therefore the echo fires and is displayed on the screen before anything is POSTed.
Nav_nav's solution should work well, since the only time the 'bad login' echo will be displayed is if someone entered something into the input fields, I just wanted to give you a rundown of the algorithm's reason for messing up.
try this
if (!empty($_POST['username']) && !empty($_POST['password'])) {
//define input vars
$username_inputted = $_POST['username'];
$password_inputted = $_POST['password'];
if($username_inputted == 'admin' && $password_inputted == 'password'){
header("location:login_success.php");
}else{
header("location:index.php");
echo "Sorry, please try again.";
}
}
First get rid of the header('location:login.php'). You can't send a header if you've already started sending any HTML to the browser. And if it did work, you'd get an endless loop of reloads.
Then:
You could check for $_POST ['submit'] and if it doesnt exist then don't show them the try again message.

Easy way to password-protect php page

I have a page I want to password-protect. I've tried doing HTTP authentication, but for some reason it doesn't work on my hosting. Any other quick (and easy) way to do this? Thanks!
Not exactly the most robust password protection here, so please don't use this to protect credit card numbers or something very important.
Simply drop all of the following code into a file called (secure.php), change the user and pass from "admin" to whatever you want. Then right under those lines where it says include("secure.html"), simply replace that with the filename you want them to be able to see.
They will access this page at [YouDomain.com/secure.php] and then the PHP script will internally include the file you want password protected so they won't know the name of that file, and can't later just access it directly bypassing the password prompt.
If you would like to add a further level of protection, I would recommend you take your (secure.html) file outside of your site's root folder [/public_html], and place it on the same level as that directory, so that it is not inside the directory. Then in the PHP script where you are including the file simply use ("../secure.html"). That (../) means go back a directory to find the file. Doing it this way, the only way someone can access the content that's on the (secure.html) page is through the (secure.php) script.
<?php
$user = $_POST['user'];
$pass = $_POST['pass'];
if($user == "admin"
&& $pass == "admin")
{
include("secure.html");
}
else
{
if(isset($_POST))
{?>
<form method="POST" action="secure.php">
User <input type="text" name="user"></input><br/>
Pass <input type="password" name="pass"></input><br/>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Go"></input>
</form>
<?}
}
?>
This is a bit late but I wanted to reply in case anyone else came upon this page and found that the highest reply was a bit off. I have improved upon the system just a tad bit. Note, it is still not amazingly secure but it is an improvement.
First prepare your password salts file:
hash_generate.php:
<?php
$user = "Username"; // please replace with your user
$pass = "Password"; // please replace with your passwd
// two ; was missing
$useroptions = ['cost' => 8,];
$userhash = password_hash($user, PASSWORD_BCRYPT, $useroptions);
$pwoptions = ['cost' => 8,];
$passhash = password_hash($pass, PASSWORD_BCRYPT, $pwoptions);
echo $userhash;
echo "<br />";
echo $passhash;
?>
Take your output $userhash and $passhash and put them in two text files: user.txt and pass.txt, respectively. Others have suggested putting these text files away above public_html, this is a good idea but I just used .htaccess and stored them in a folder called "stuff"
.htaccess
deny from all
Now no one can peek into the hash. Next up is your index.php:
index.php:
<?php
$user = ""; //prevent the "no index" error from $_POST
$pass = "";
if (isset($_POST['user'])) { // check for them and set them so
$user = $_POST['user'];
}
if (isset($_POST['pass'])) { // so that they don't return errors
$pass = $_POST['pass'];
}
$useroptions = ['cost' => 8,]; // all up to you
$pwoptions = ['cost' => 8,]; // all up to you
$userhash = password_hash($user, PASSWORD_BCRYPT, $useroptions); // hash entered user
$passhash = password_hash($pass, PASSWORD_BCRYPT, $pwoptions); // hash entered pw
$hasheduser = file_get_contents("stuff/user.txt"); // this is our stored user
$hashedpass = file_get_contents("stuff/pass.txt"); // and our stored password
if ((password_verify($user, $hasheduser)) && (password_verify($pass,$hashedpass))) {
// the password verify is how we actually login here
// the $userhash and $passhash are the hashed user-entered credentials
// password verify now compares our stored user and pw with entered user and pw
include "pass-protected.php";
} else {
// if it was invalid it'll just display the form, if there was never a $_POST
// then it'll also display the form. that's why I set $user to "" instead of a $_POST
// this is the right place for comments, not inside html
?>
<form method="POST" action="index.php">
User <input type="text" name="user"></input><br/>
Pass <input type="password" name="pass"></input><br/>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Go"></input>
</form>
<?php
}
<?php
$username = "the_username_here";
$password = "the_password_here";
$nonsense = "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious";
if (isset($_COOKIE['PrivatePageLogin'])) {
if ($_COOKIE['PrivatePageLogin'] == md5($password.$nonsense)) {
?>
<!-- LOGGED IN CONTENT HERE -->
<?php
exit;
} else {
echo "Bad Cookie.";
exit;
}
}
if (isset($_GET['p']) && $_GET['p'] == "login") {
if ($_POST['user'] != $username) {
echo "Sorry, that username does not match.";
exit;
} else if ($_POST['keypass'] != $password) {
echo "Sorry, that password does not match.";
exit;
} else if ($_POST['user'] == $username && $_POST['keypass'] == $password) {
setcookie('PrivatePageLogin', md5($_POST['keypass'].$nonsense));
header("Location: $_SERVER[PHP_SELF]");
} else {
echo "Sorry, you could not be logged in at this time.";
}
}
?>
And the login form on the page...
(On the same page, right below the above^ posted code)
<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>?p=login" method="post">
<label><input type="text" name="user" id="user" /> Name</label><br />
<label><input type="password" name="keypass" id="keypass" /> Password</label><br />
<input type="submit" id="submit" value="Login" />
</form>
Here's a very simple way. Create two files:
protect-this.php
<?php
/* Your password */
$password = 'MYPASS';
if (empty($_COOKIE['password']) || $_COOKIE['password'] !== $password) {
// Password not set or incorrect. Send to login.php.
header('Location: login.php');
exit;
}
?>
login.php:
<?php
/* Your password */
$password = 'MYPASS';
/* Redirects here after login */
$redirect_after_login = 'index.php';
/* Will not ask password again for */
$remember_password = strtotime('+30 days'); // 30 days
if (isset($_POST['password']) && $_POST['password'] == $password) {
setcookie("password", $password, $remember_password);
header('Location: ' . $redirect_after_login);
exit;
}
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Password protected</title>
</head>
<body>
<div style="text-align:center;margin-top:50px;">
You must enter the password to view this content.
<form method="POST">
<input type="text" name="password">
</form>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Then require protect-this.php on the TOP of the files you want to protect:
// Password protect this content
require_once('protect-this.php');
Example result:
After filling the correct password, user is taken to index.php. The password is stored for 30 days.
PS: It's not focused to be secure, but to be pratical. A hacker can brute-force this. Use it to keep normal users away. Don't use it to protect sensitive information.
Some easy ways:
Use Apache's digest authorization.
Use lighttpd's digest authorization.
Use php's header digest authorization.
If you want you can also make it so only certain ip addresses can login.. :) really easy with lighttpd
Update: I will post some examples soon, so don't vote down for no examples, i just need to get some down for this answer.
If you want to use sessions the following is the best way to go:
# admin.php
session_start();
if(!$_SESSION["AUTH"])
require_once "login.php";
# Do stuff, we are logged in..
# login.php
session_start();
if($_REQUEST["username"] == "user" && $_REQUEST["password"] == "pass")
$_SESSION["AUTH"] = true;
else $_SESSION["AUTH"] = false; # This logs you out if you visit this login script page without login details.
if($_SESSION["AUTH"])
require_once "admin.php";
This method does not contain the examples for above but you seamed interested in this method. The other method examples are still to come, I have not got enough time to get it for apache or lighttpd settings and the php header auth: http://php.net/manual/en/features.http-auth.php Will do.
I would simply look for a $_GET variable and redirect the user if it's not correct.
<?php
$pass = $_GET['pass'];
if($pass != 'my-secret-password') {
header('Location: http://www.staggeringbeauty.com/');
}
?>
Now, if this page is located at say: http://example.com/secrets/files.php
You can now access it with: http://example.com/secrets/files.php?pass=my-secret-password Keep in mind that this isn't the most efficient or secure way, but nonetheless it is a easy and fast way. (Also, I know my answer is outdated but someone else looking at this question may find it valuable)
A simple way to protect a file with no requirement for a separate login page - just add this to the top of the page:
Change secretuser and secretpassword to your user/password.
$user = $_POST['user'];
$pass = $_POST['pass'];
if(!($user == "secretuser" && $pass == "secretpassword"))
{
echo '<html><body><form method="POST" action="'.$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'].'">
Username: <input type="text" name="user"></input><br/>
Password: <input type="password" name="pass"></input><br/>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Login"></input>
</form></body></html>';
exit();
}
This helped me a lot and save me much time, its easy to use, and work well, i've even take the risque of change it and it still works.
Fairly good if you dont want to lost to much time on doing it :)
http://www.zubrag.com/scripts/password-protect.php
</html>
<head>
<title>Nick Benvenuti</title>
<link rel="icon" href="img/xicon.jpg" type="image/x-icon/">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="CSS/main.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="CSS/normalize.css">
<script src="JS/jquery-1.12.0.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="phplogger">
<script type="text/javascript">
function tester() {
window.location.href="admin.php";
}
function phpshower() {
document.getElementById("phplogger").classList.toggle('shower');
document.getElementById("phplogger").classList.remove('hider');
}
function phphider() {
document.getElementById("phplogger").classList.toggle('hider');
document.getElementById("phplogger").classList.remove('shower');
}
</script>
<?php
//if "login" variable is filled out, send email
if (isset($_REQUEST['login'])) {
//Login info
$passbox = $_REQUEST['login'];
$password = 'blahblahyoudontneedtoknowmypassword';
//Login
if($passbox == $password) {
//Login response
echo "<script text/javascript> phphider(); </script>";
}
}
?>
<div align="center" margin-top="50px">
<h1>Administrative Access Only</h1>
<h2>Log In:</h2>
<form method="post">
Password: <input name="login" type="text" /><br />
<input type="submit" value="Login" id="submit-button" />
</form>
</div>
</div>
<div align="center">
<p>Welcome to the developers and admins page!</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Basically what I did here is make a page all in one php file where when you enter the password if its right it will hide the password screen and bring the stuff that protected forward. and then heres the css which is a crucial part because it makes the classes that hide and show the different parts of the page.
/*PHP CONTENT STARTS HERE*/
.hider {
visibility:hidden;
display:none;
}
.shower {
visibility:visible;
}
#phplogger {
background-color:#333;
color:blue;
position:absolute;
height:100%;
width:100%;
margin:0;
top:0;
bottom:0;
}
/*PHP CONTENT ENDS HERE*/
This stores the password in history after login!
You can specify a password in your php code so only users that have the secret url can access:
mywebsite.com/private.php?pass=secret
in your login-protected file:
<?php
if(isset($_GET["pass"]) && $_GET["pass"]=="secret"){
//put your code here
}
else{
echo "you're not allowed to access this page";
}
?>

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