diff --git a/docs/faq/src/docbook/faq.xml b/docs/faq/src/docbook/faq.xml index 2756ccd641..13e9745671 100644 --- a/docs/faq/src/docbook/faq.xml +++ b/docs/faq/src/docbook/faq.xml @@ -247,9 +247,18 @@ switching back to HTTP afterwards. It doesn't work - I just end up back at the login page after authenticating. This happens because sessions created under HTTPS, for which the session cookie is marked as - secure, cannot subsequently be used under HTTP. The browser will not send the cookie - back to the server and any session state will be lost (including the security context information). - Starting a session in HTTP first should work as the session cookie won't be marked as secure. + secure, cannot subsequently be used under HTTP. The + browser will not send the cookie back to the server and any session + state will be lost (including the security context information). + Starting a session in HTTP first should work as the session cookie won't + be marked as secure (you will also have to disable Spring Security's + + Session Fixation Protection support to prevent it from creating a new secure session. + Note that this is not a good idea in general, as any application which uses HTTP at all is vulnerable to + man-in-the-middle attacks. To be truly secure, the user should begin accessing your site in HTTPS and continue + using it until they log out. Even clicking on an HTTPS link from a page accessed over HTTP is potentially risky. + If you need more convincing, check out a tool like sslstrip. +