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<div id="preamble"><h1>Apache Module mod_session_cookie</h1>
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<p><span>Available Languages: </span><a href="../en/mod/mod_session_cookie.html" title="English">&nbsp;en&nbsp;</a> |
<a href="../fr/mod/mod_session_cookie.html" hreflang="fr" rel="alternate" title="Fran&ccedil;ais">&nbsp;fr&nbsp;</a></p>
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<table class="module"><tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Cookie based session support</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Extension</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#ModuleIdentifier">Module&nbsp;Identifier:</a></th><td>session_cookie_module</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#SourceFile">Source&nbsp;File:</a></th><td>mod_session_cookie.c</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="module-dict.html#Compatibility">Compatibility:</a></th><td>Available in Apache 2.3 and later</td></tr></table>
<h3>Summary</h3>

    <div class="warning"><h3>Warning</h3>
      <p>The session modules make use of HTTP cookies, and as such can fall
      victim to Cross Site Scripting attacks, or expose potentially private
      information to clients. Please ensure that the relevant risks have
      been taken into account before enabling the session functionality on
      your server.</p>
    </div>

    <p>This submodule of <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_session.html">mod_session</a></code> provides support for the
    storage of user sessions on the remote browser within HTTP cookies.</p>

    <p>Using cookies to store a session removes the need for the server or
    a group of servers to store the session locally, or collaborate to share
    a session, and can be useful for high traffic environments where a
    server based session might be too resource intensive.</p>

    <p>If session privacy is required, the <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_session_crypto.html">mod_session_crypto</a></code>
    module can be used to encrypt the contents of the session before writing
    the session to the client.</p>

    <p>For more details on the session interface, see the documentation for
    the <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_session.html">mod_session</a></code> module.</p>

</div>
<div id="quickview"><h3>Topics</h3>
<ul id="topics">
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#basicexamples">Basic Examples</a></li>
</ul><h3 class="directives">Directives</h3>
<ul id="toc">
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#sessioncookiemaxage">SessionCookieMaxAge</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#sessioncookiename">SessionCookieName</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#sessioncookiename2">SessionCookieName2</a></li>
<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif"> <a href="#sessioncookieremove">SessionCookieRemove</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Bugfix checklist</h3><ul class="seealso"><li><a href="https://www.apache.org/dist/httpd/CHANGES_2.4">httpd changelog</a></li><li><a href="https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/buglist.cgi?bug_status=__open__&amp;list_id=144532&amp;product=Apache%20httpd-2&amp;query_format=specific&amp;order=changeddate%20DESC%2Cpriority%2Cbug_severity&amp;component=mod_session_cookie">Known issues</a></li><li><a href="https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Apache%20httpd-2&amp;component=mod_session_cookie">Report a bug</a></li></ul><h3>See also</h3>
<ul class="seealso">
<li><code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_session.html">mod_session</a></code></li>
<li><code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_session_crypto.html">mod_session_crypto</a></code></li>
<li><code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_session_dbd.html">mod_session_dbd</a></code></li>
</ul></div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="section">
<h2 id="basicexamples">Basic Examples <a title="Permanent link" href="#basicexamples" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>

      <p>To create a simple session and store it in a cookie called
      <var>session</var>, configure the session as follows:</p>

      <div class="example"><h3>Browser based session</h3><pre class="prettyprint lang-config">Session On
SessionCookieName session path=/</pre>
</div>

      <p>For more examples on how the session can be configured to be read
      from and written to by a CGI application, see the
      <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_session.html">mod_session</a></code> examples section.</p>

      <p>For documentation on how the session can be used to store username
      and password details, see the <code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_auth_form.html">mod_auth_form</a></code> module.</p>

    </div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="directive-section"><h2 id="sessioncookiemaxage"><span id="SessionCookieMaxAge">SessionCookieMaxAge</span> Directive <a title="Permanent link" href="#sessioncookiemaxage" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
<table class="directive">
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Control whether session cookies have Max-Age transmitted to the client</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">Syntax:</a></th><td><code>SessionCookieMaxAge On|Off</code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Default">Default:</a></th><td><code>SessionCookieMaxAge On</code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Context">Context:</a></th><td>server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Override">Override:</a></th><td>AuthConfig</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Extension</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Module">Module:</a></th><td>mod_session_cookie</td></tr>
</table>
    <p>The <code class="directive">SessionCookieMaxAge</code> flag controls whether 
    the session expiration will be specified in the Max-Age attribute on the 
    cookie sent to the client.  When set to 'Off', the attribute will not be
    added and clients will only return the cookie until "the current
    session is over". This often means until the browser is closed.  </p>

    <p>The expiration of the session is still validated on the server by
    the <code class="directive"><a href="../mod/mod_session.html#sessionmaxage">SessionMaxAge</a></code> directive.
    </p>


</div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="directive-section"><h2 id="sessioncookiename"><span id="SessionCookieName">SessionCookieName</span> Directive <a title="Permanent link" href="#sessioncookiename" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
<table class="directive">
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Name and attributes for the RFC2109 cookie storing the session</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">Syntax:</a></th><td><code>SessionCookieName <var>name</var> <var>attributes</var></code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Default">Default:</a></th><td><code>none</code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Context">Context:</a></th><td>server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Override">Override:</a></th><td>AuthConfig</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Extension</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Module">Module:</a></th><td>mod_session_cookie</td></tr>
</table>
    <p>The <code class="directive">SessionCookieName</code> directive specifies the name and
    optional attributes of an RFC2109 compliant cookie inside which the session will
    be stored. RFC2109 cookies are set using the <code>Set-Cookie</code> HTTP header.
    </p>

    <p>An optional list of cookie attributes can be specified, as per the example below.
    These attributes are inserted into the cookie as is, and are not interpreted by
    Apache. Ensure that your attributes are defined correctly as per the cookie specification.
    </p>

    <div class="example"><h3>Cookie with attributes</h3><pre class="prettyprint lang-config">Session On
SessionCookieName session path=/private;domain=example.com;httponly;secure;version=1;</pre>
</div>


</div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="directive-section"><h2 id="sessioncookiename2"><span id="SessionCookieName2">SessionCookieName2</span> Directive <a title="Permanent link" href="#sessioncookiename2" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
<table class="directive">
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Name and attributes for the RFC2965 cookie storing the session</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">Syntax:</a></th><td><code>SessionCookieName2 <var>name</var> <var>attributes</var></code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Default">Default:</a></th><td><code>none</code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Context">Context:</a></th><td>server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Override">Override:</a></th><td>AuthConfig</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Extension</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Module">Module:</a></th><td>mod_session_cookie</td></tr>
</table>
    <p>The <code class="directive">SessionCookieName2</code> directive specifies the name and
    optional attributes of an RFC2965 compliant cookie inside which the session will
    be stored. RFC2965 cookies are set using the <code>Set-Cookie2</code> HTTP header.
    </p>

    <p>An optional list of cookie attributes can be specified, as per the example below.
    These attributes are inserted into the cookie as is, and are not interpreted by
    Apache. Ensure that your attributes are defined correctly as per the cookie specification.
    </p>

    <div class="example"><h3>Cookie2 with attributes</h3><pre class="prettyprint lang-config">Session On
SessionCookieName2 session path=/private;domain=example.com;httponly;secure;version=1;</pre>
</div>


</div>
<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif"></a></div>
<div class="directive-section"><h2 id="sessioncookieremove"><span id="SessionCookieRemove">SessionCookieRemove</span> Directive <a title="Permanent link" href="#sessioncookieremove" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
<table class="directive">
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Control for whether session cookies should be removed from incoming HTTP headers</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">Syntax:</a></th><td><code>SessionCookieRemove On|Off</code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Default">Default:</a></th><td><code>SessionCookieRemove Off</code></td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Context">Context:</a></th><td>server config, virtual host, directory, .htaccess</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Override">Override:</a></th><td>AuthConfig</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Extension</td></tr>
<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Module">Module:</a></th><td>mod_session_cookie</td></tr>
</table>
    <p>The <code class="directive">SessionCookieRemove</code> flag controls whether the cookies
    containing the session will be removed from the headers during request processing.</p>

    <p>In a reverse proxy situation where the Apache server acts as a server frontend for
    a backend origin server, revealing the contents of the session cookie to the backend
    could be a potential privacy violation. When set to on, the session cookie will be
    removed from the incoming HTTP headers.</p>


</div>
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