Login-Problems, Phorum 5.2.13, PHP 7.1.8

Hi,

we have an old Phorum installation (Version 5.2.13). Since we updated from php 5.2.x to Version 7.1.8 we've got sincere problems with the login/authentification process.

The fact, that the issue is not really reproducible makes debugging more difficult as it does not behave as expected. Sometimes it occurs, sometimes not. The only thing we could find out till yet, is that it is probably something with the session-handling. A apache-server restart wipes out the problem.

Short term solution:
Restarting the apache-Server each night.

The issue:
User fill the login form and send it. Then they're redirected to the forum-post-list-page. There they're still logged in. If the navigate to any other page, they're "logged out". The forum is not able to retrieve the login information from the session. If we provide the user_id via the GET-parameter in the URL, the user is recognized correctly.

What could be producing the error?

Are you changing between http and https at any point?

Module: Automatic HTTP Path [www.phorum.org]

Hi Scott,
thanks for you quick response. No, we use phorum only with the http-protocol.

Any other ideas?

I tend to stay far away from the "latest releases" of anything for production.
PHP 7.1.10 is a bug fix, perhaps this will help.
There may be an issue in Apache, since the problem goes away with a restart.

btw. phorum doesn't use the php internal session handling

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Thomas Seifert
Phorum Development Team / Mysnip-Solutions.de
Custom Phorum and general software development
worry-free Phorum Hosting