Session removal and old session cookie concepts

When a user uses the /pkmslogout command to log out of a session, the entry for that user in the WebSEAL session cache is automatically removed.

If the session cookie for that session remains on the browser of the user, it becomes an old, or stale cookie. A stale cookie no longer maps to an existing entry in the WebSEAL session cache. When the user makes a subsequent request for a protected object, WebSEAL requires authentication and returns a login form. The response to the new request under these conditions must be expected by the user. If the user session was removed from the WebSEAL session cache for unknown reasons, the original session cookie remaining on the browser of the user becomes a stale cookie. The stale cookie does not map to an existing entry in the WebSEAL session cache. Session timeout, session displacement, or session termination are some of the reasons which might cause the session removal from WebSEAL, and might be unknown to the user.

When the user requests for a protected object, WebSEAL requires authentication, and returns a login form. This response to the new request under these conditions might be unexpected to the user.

You can customize the login response to contain additional information that helps to explain the reason for an unexpected login prompt. Follow these steps to provide a customized response:

  1. Trigger a custom login response whenever WebSEAL receives a stale session cookie that does not map to any existing entry in the session cache.

    See Triggering a custom login response.

  2. Configure WebSEAL to attempt to remove the session cookie from browsers during standard logouts by using the /pkmslogout command.

    See Removing cookies from browsers during normal logout.