Session (Cookie) Hijacking

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the concepts, processes, tools, and countermeasures of session hijacking as discussed in the College of Engineering Ethical Hacking lecture.

Session Hijacking

An attack where an attacker takes over a valid TCP communication session between two computers.

Active Attack

An attack where an attacker finds an active session and takes over.

Passive Attack

An attack where an attacker hijacks a session but sits back and watches and records all the traffic that is being sent forth.

HTTP referer header attack

A technique where an attacker lures a user to a malicious site, causing the browser to direct a URL containing the session ID to the attacker's site.

Session Desynchronization

The process of breaking the connection to the victim's machine to take over the session.

Spoofing Attack

An attack where the attacker pretends to be another user or machine to gain access by initiating a new session using stolen credentials.

Network Level Hijacking

Interception of packets during the transmission between the client and the server in a TCP and UDP session.

Application Level Hijacking

Gaining control over the HTTP's user session by obtaining the session IDs.

Session Sniffing

The use of a sniffer to capture a valid session token or ID to gain unauthorized access.

Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attack

An attack used to intrude into an existing connection, splitting it into client-to-attacker and attacker-to-server connections.

Man-in-the-Browser (MITB) Attack

An attack that uses a Trojan Horse to intercept calls between the browser and its security mechanisms or libraries.

Cross-Site Script (XSS) Attack

Injecting malicious client side scripts into web pages viewed by other users.

Cross-site Request Forgery (CSRF) Attack

An attack that exploits a victim's active session with a trusted site in order to perform malicious activities.

Session cookies

Small files that enable a website to keep track of a user's movement from page to page so they are not asked for the same information repeatedly.

Session Replay Attack

An attack where the attacker captures an authentication token and replays the request to the server to gain unauthorized access.

Session Fixation Attack

An attack where the attacker provides a valid SID to a victim and lures them to authenticate using that specific SID.

UDP Hijacking

An attack where the attacker sends a forged server reply to a victim’s UDP request before the intended server replies to it.

TCP/IP Hijacking

The use of spoofed packets to take over a connection between a victim and a target machine, often requiring the attacker to be on the same network.

RST Hijacking

Injecting an authentic-looking reset (RST) packet using a spoofed source address and a predicted ACK number.

Blind Hijacking

Injecting malicious data or commands into a TCP session even if source-routing is disabled, without the ability to see the response.

ARP Spoofing

Fooling a host by broadcasting forged ARP replies to map network layer addresses (IP @) to link layer addresses (MAC @).

Zaproxy

Also known as WASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP); an integrated penetration testing tool for finding vulnerabilities in web applications.

Burp suite

A tool that allows an attacker to inspect and modify traffic between a browser and a target application.

JHijack

A Java hijacking tool mainly used for numeric session hijacking and parameter enumeration.

Kerberos

A strong authentication protocol mentioned as a countermeasure against session hijacking.

IDS/IPS

Automatic session hijacking detection methods standing for Intrusion Detection Systems and Intrusion Prevention Systems.