Question

During sign-in I’m using following function to set cookies and session

protected function validateUser($userid, $ckey=0, $rememmber=0) {
    session_start();
    session_regenerate_id(true); //this is a security measure
    $_SESSION['user_id'] = $userid;
    $_SESSION['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] = md5($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']);
    if (isset($remember) && $rememmber == 'on') {
        setcookie("user_id", $_SESSION['user_id'], time() + 60 * 60 * 24 * COOKIE_TIME_OUT, "/");
        setcookie("user_key", sha1($ckey), time() + 60 * 60 * 24 * COOKIE_TIME_OUT, "/");
    }
    return true;
}

Then on secure user pages, checking for user_id using user_id to fetch all important data about user from db

public function protect() {
        session_start();

        /* Secure against Session Hijacking by checking user agent */
        if (isset($_SESSION['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) {
            if ($_SESSION['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] != md5($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])) {
                $this->signout();
                exit;
            }
        }

// before we allow sessions, we need to check authentication key - ckey and ctime stored in database

        /* If session not set, check for cookies set by Remember me */
        if (!isset($_SESSION['user_id'])) {
            if (isset($_COOKIE['user_id']) && isset($_COOKIE['user_key'])) {
                /* we double check cookie expiry time against stored in database */

                $cookie_user_id = $_COOKIE['user_id'];
                               $stmt = $this->db->prepare("select `ckey`,`ctime` from `users` where `id` =?") or die($this->db->error);
            $stmt->bind_param("i", $cookie_user_id) or die(htmlspecialchars($stmt->error));
            $stmt->execute() or die(htmlspecialchars($stmt->error));
            $stmt->bind_result($ckey, $ctime) or die($stmt->error);
            $stmt->close() or die(htmlspecialchars($stmt->error));
                // coookie expiry
                if ((time() - $ctime) > 60 * 60 * 24 * COOKIE_TIME_OUT) {
                    $this->signout();
                }
                /* Security check with untrusted cookies - dont trust value stored in cookie.       
                  /* We also do authentication check of the `ckey` stored in cookie matches that stored in database during login */

                if (!empty($ckey) && is_numeric($_COOKIE['user_id']) && $_COOKIE['key'] == sha1($ckey)) {
                    session_regenerate_id(); //against session fixation attacks.

                    $_SESSION['user_id'] = $_COOKIE['user_id'];
                    $_SESSION['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] = md5($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']);
                } else {
                    $this->signout();
                }
            } else {
                if ($page != 'main') {
                    header('Location:' . wsurl);
                    exit();
                }
            }
        }
    }

I wonder, is that enough to store only user_id and user_agent in cokkies and session for security purposes? If not, what else?

Answer 1

$rs_ctime = $this->db->query("select `ckey`,`ctime` from `users` where `id` = -> '$cookie_user_id'<-")

Seems like here is SQL-injection. If you pass variable from GET, POST, COOKIE directly to sql-query it is a sign of injection.

Usually it is enough to store user_id and user_agent. But some payment services sometimes use verification by phone sending sms with some code and checking it. But it is usually for very safe services