14

This is my web.xml file, it is located in WEB-INF/lib. It specifies session timeout at 1 minute, however it does not time the user out after 1 minute of activity.

Web.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app version="2.5" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd">
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>Login</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>Login</servlet-class>
    </servlet>
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>Login</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/Login</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>
    <session-config>
        <session-timeout>1</session-timeout>
    </session-config>
</web-app>

I used this line session.getMaxInactiveInterval() in my jsp file and it outputted 1800 (30 minutes) . Does anyone why it defaults to 30 rather than using the time specified in my web.xml file?

EDIT:

I've code on my jsp page which checks for session attribute and if it does exist redirects the user to the login page after a minute even on page refresh the user is not redirected.

if(session.getAttribute("username") != null){
                            out.println(session.getAttribute("username"));
                        }else{
                            response.setStatus(response.SC_MOVED_TEMPORARILY);
                            response.setHeader("Location", "index.jsp");
                        }

EDIT Full Code (Login.java):

package com.labs.xmlgenerator.controller.managesession;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import java.util.HashMap;

import javax.servlet.ServletContext;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.Cookie;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpSession;

import com.labs.xmlgenerator.model.dbconnection.*;
/**
 * Servlet implementation class Login
 */
@WebServlet(description = "Verifies Users Credentials", urlPatterns = { "/Login" })
public class Login extends HttpServlet {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    private DbLoginQueries query = new DbLoginQueries();


    /**
     * @see HttpServlet#HttpServlet()
     */
    /*
    public Login() {
        super();
        // TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
    }*/

    /**
     * @see HttpServlet#doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
     */
    protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {

        try {
            validateLoginCredentials(request.getParameter("liUsr"),request.getParameter("liPwd"),request,response);
        } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (SQLException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

    }

    private void validateLoginCredentials (String username, String password, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException, SQLException{

        Boolean valid = true;
        int resultSize;
        HashMap<String, String> userDetails = null;
        HttpSession session = request.getSession(true);
        String location = "index.jsp";
        Cookie usernameErrorCookie;
        Cookie passwordErrorCookie;
        Cookie usernameCookie;

        if(username == null || username == ""){
            valid = false;
            usernameErrorCookie = new Cookie("liUsrErrCookie","Please enter a valid username");
            response.addCookie(usernameErrorCookie);
        }else{
            usernameCookie = new Cookie("liUsrCookie",username);
            response.addCookie(usernameCookie);
        }

        if(password == null || password == ""){
            valid = false;
            passwordErrorCookie = new Cookie("liPwdErrCookie","Please enter a valid password");
            response.addCookie(passwordErrorCookie);
        }

        if(valid == true){
            userDetails = query.loginQuery(username);
            resultSize = userDetails.size();
            if(resultSize < 4){
                valid = false;
                usernameErrorCookie = new Cookie("liUsrErrCookie","The username entered is not valid");
                response.addCookie(usernameErrorCookie);
            }
            else if(resultSize > 4){
                valid = false;
                usernameErrorCookie = new Cookie("liUsrErrCookie","The username is returning more than one result, please contact admin");
                response.addCookie(usernameErrorCookie);
            }
            else if(resultSize == 4){

                if(!userDetails.get("Password").equals(password)){
                    valid = false;
                    passwordErrorCookie = new Cookie("liPwdErrCookie","The entered password is incorrect");
                    response.addCookie(passwordErrorCookie);
                }
            }
        }


        if(valid == true){
            session.setAttribute("username", userDetails.get("Username"));
            session.setAttribute("permission", userDetails.get("AdminPermissions"));
            session.setAttribute("email", userDetails.get("Email"));
            location = "home.jsp";

        }else{
            location = "index.jsp#login";
        }

        response.setStatus(response.SC_MOVED_TEMPORARILY);
        response.setHeader("Location", location);

    }
}

home.jsp

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
    pageEncoding="ISO-8859-1"%>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
<title>Home</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="resources/css/Common.css" type="text/css">
    <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
    <script src="resources/js/Common.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <header>
        <div id="actionsMenu">
            <ul id="actionLinks">
                <li><a class="linkButtons" id="userNameLink">
                                     <%
                        System.out.println(session.getMaxInactiveInterval());
                        if(session.getAttribute("username") != null){
                            out.println(session.getAttribute("username"));
                        }else{
                            out.println("no user");
                            /*
                            response.setStatus(response.SC_MOVED_TEMPORARILY);
                            response.setHeader("Location", "index.jsp");*/
                        }   
                    %>
                </a></li>
                <li><a class="linkButtons" href="Logout">Log Out</a></li>
                <li><a class="linkButtons"  href="#">Update</a></li>
            </ul>
        </div>
    </header>
    <nav class="tabs">
        <section id="generateSection">
            <h2 class="selectedTab" id="generateTab">
                <a id="gene" href="#generateXML">Generate XML</a>
            </h2>
            <div class="selectedContent" id="generateNav">
                <ul id="links">
                    <li><a class="navLink" href="#graphic">Graphic Interface</a></li>
                    <li><a class="navLink" href="#xml">XML Interface</a></li>
                </ul>
            </div>
        </section>
        <section id="adminSection">
            <h2 class="normalTab" id="adminTab">
                <a href="#admin">Admin</a>
            </h2>
            <div class="normalContent" id="adminNav">
                <ul id="links">
                    <li><a class="navLink" href="#images">Manage Images</a></li>
                    <li><a class="navLink" href="#keywords">Manage Keywords</a></li>
                    <li><a class="navLink" href="#users">Manage Users</a></li>
                </ul>
            </div>
        </section>
    </nav>  
    <div id="content">
        <noscript><p id="javascriptError">This website requires JavaScript to be enabled.</p></noscript>
    </div>
    <div id="updateUserDetails"></div>
    <div id="popup">
        <input type="button" value="X" id="exitButton">
        <p class="pageTitle" style="float:left; margin:0px;">Update Details</p>
        <form id="updateForm"  action="Update" onsubmit="return updateValidation()" method="post" >
            <p id="user">Username :</p>
            <p id="userNameUpdate"><%
                if(session.getAttribute("username") != null){
                    out.println(session.getAttribute("username"));
                }%></p>
            <p class="error" id="updCurrentPwdErr">
            <% 
                        Cookie[] currentPassEror = null;
                        currentPassEror = request.getCookies();
                        if(currentPassEror != null){
                            for(int i = 0; i < currentPassEror.length; i++){
                                 Cookie cookie = currentPassEror[i];
                                 if(cookie.getName().equals("updCurrentPwdErrCookie")){
                                     out.println(cookie.getValue());
                                     cookie.setMaxAge(0);
                                     response.addCookie(cookie);
                                 }
                             }
                        }
                        %>
            </p>
            <label for="updCurrentPwdLbl">Current Password :</label>
            <br />
            <input type="password" name="updCurrentPwd" id="updCurrentPwd">
            <br />
            <p class="error" id="updNewPwdErr">
            <% 
                        Cookie[] newPassCookies = null;
                        newPassCookies = request.getCookies();
                        if(newPassCookies != null){
                            for(int i = 0; i < newPassCookies.length; i++){
                                 Cookie cookie = newPassCookies[i];
                                 if(cookie.getName().equals("updNewPwdErrCookie")){
                                     out.println(cookie.getValue());
                                     cookie.setMaxAge(0);
                                     response.addCookie(cookie);
                                 }
                             }
                        }
            %></p>
            <label for="updNewPwdLbl">New Password :</label>
            <br />
            <input type="password" id="updNewPwd" name="updNewPwd">
            <br />
            <p class="error" id="updReNewPwdErr">
            <% 
                        Cookie[] reNewPassCookies = null;
                        reNewPassCookies = request.getCookies();
                        if(reNewPassCookies != null){
                            for(int i = 0; i < reNewPassCookies.length; i++){
                                 Cookie cookie = reNewPassCookies[i];
                                 if(cookie.getName().equals("updReNewPwdErrCookie")){
                                     out.println(cookie.getValue());
                                     cookie.setMaxAge(0);
                                     response.addCookie(cookie);
                                 }
                             }
                        }
            %>          
            </p>
            <label for="updReNewPwdLbl">Re-Enter New Password :</label>
            <br />
            <input type="password" id="updReNewPwd" name="updReNewPwd">
            <br />
            <p class="error" id="updEmailErr">
            <% 
                        Cookie[] emailErrCookies = null;
            emailErrCookies = request.getCookies();
                        if(emailErrCookies != null){
                            for(int i = 0; i < emailErrCookies.length; i++){
                                 Cookie cookie = emailErrCookies[i];
                                 if(cookie.getName().equals("updEmailErrCookie")){
                                     out.println(cookie.getValue());
                                     cookie.setMaxAge(0);
                                     response.addCookie(cookie);
                                 }
                             }
                        }
            %>
            </p>
            <label for="updEmailLbl">Email :</label>
            <br />
            <input type="text" id="updEmail" name="updEmail" value="<%
                    boolean foundEmailCookie = false;
                    Cookie[] emailCookies = null;
            emailCookies = request.getCookies();
                    if(emailCookies != null){
                        for(int i = 0; i < emailCookies.length; i++){
                             Cookie cookie = emailCookies[i];
                             if(cookie.getName().equals("updEmailCookie")){
                                 foundEmailCookie = true;
                                 out.println(cookie.getValue());
                                 cookie.setMaxAge(0);
                                 response.addCookie(cookie);
                             }
                         }
                    }
                    if(!foundEmailCookie){
                        if(session.getAttribute("email") != null){
                            out.println(session.getAttribute("email"));
                        }
                    }
            %>">
            <input type="hidden" id="updUrl" name="updUrl" value="">
            <br />
            <input type="submit" value="UPDATE">
        </form>
    </div>
</body>
</html>
8
  • Have you tested if the session really lives more than 1 minute? Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 22:02
  • Are you sure do you use the same session?
    – Roman C
    Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 22:14
  • @RomanC How would I be sure?
    – Colin747
    Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 22:19
  • I guess the better way to test this would be using plain System.out.println("someText") instead of change the response data. If you want to redirect when the session has expired use request not response. Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 22:21
  • 1
    @Colin747 If you not sure that's you code is working fine as expected.
    – Roman C
    Commented Nov 20, 2012 at 12:23

4 Answers 4

31

Session timeout hierarchy:

  • TOMCAT_HOME/conf/web.xml
  • WebApplication/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
  • Hardcoding your session timeout in Java : HttpSession.setMaxInactiveInterval(int)

The order of the session timeout configuration:

HttpSession.setMaxInactiveInterval(int) > $WebApplication/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml > $TOMCAT_HOME/conf/web.xml

Each subsequent entry overrides the above configuration.

Best regards.

0
14

The web.xml should be directly in WEB-INF, not in WEB-INF/lib.

1
  • 2
    under the deploy folder, as there could be many places this exists. Commented Oct 12, 2015 at 20:28
8
  1. One minute is a ridiculously low session timeout. It should be several hours.

  2. The timeout happens after that much inactivity, not that much activity.

  3. The correct test is request.getSession(false) == null, or request.getSession(true).isNew().

6
  • 5
    I am aware it is inactivity. The ridiculously low time is so I can test it without having to wait a large amount of time. I will try you solution now.
    – Colin747
    Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 22:36
  • Could you describe your solution in more detail?
    – Colin747
    Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 22:50
  • 1
    @Colin747 The solution is in #3. I've even given you the code. Not sure what else you could possibly need.
    – user207421
    Commented Nov 20, 2012 at 3:45
  • 4
    Several hours is a ridiculously high session timeout: 1) you will store so many more session contexts (use too much memory) for those users that simply close the tab instead of logging out. 2) it is a very bad idea in terms of security. 15 - 30 minutes is a good value
    – Anthony
    Commented Jun 6, 2014 at 18:42
  • @Anthony It is a pain in the neck for the user. I deal with a couple of major vendors, one of whose websites has a timeout of an hour or two, and I can assure you I use the other one whenever possible.
    – user207421
    Commented Mar 5, 2015 at 23:25
1

If your ogjective is to test session expiry, you don't have to wait at all. You application server may offer a way of expiring sessions manually. In Tomcat for example, you can do so through the manager application. Next to each application there's an "Expire sessions" button with a field next to it where you can specify the idle time threshold. All sessions that have been idle for a period above the threshold will be invalidated. To invalidate all sessions simply type in 0 and hit enter; all session will expire regardless of the value in web.xml.

If you're not using Tomcat, look at the documentation of your application server and you may find a way to do so through the administration console or command line.

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