Symantec Access Management

 View Only
  • 1.  MS Word as client - Unable to decode SMSESSION

    Posted Aug 14, 2020 12:19 PM

    Hello,
     I have a SM enabled application prompting users for form based login, Once the user logs in to application, SMSESSION is generated and users will see a .doc file among other things. When user clicks on the .doc file, MS word on user's PC is launched and using WebDAV protocols populates content on MS Word. In this Process MS Word actually makes calls(OPTIONS,HEAD,DELETE,LOCK etc) to Apache/Webagent/appserver using SMSESSION generated earlier in the transaction. However when Webagent sees this call, it throws 'Unable to decode SMSESSION cookie' and redirects MS Word for re-login.  Agent Keys are in sync. I have done the following: To make sure the session is not invalidated, I have captured this transaction on Fiddler, copied the smsession cookie which generated Webagent error and issued a new separate HTTP request VIA CURL using OPTIONS method. Webagent allowed that call wihtout any issues with that SMSESSION. The original browser session itself is still active and working without prompting for relogins.  As a next step, assuming Word may be modifying or disrupting cookie value, I captured the actual cookie in my apache access log . I then used that cookie to issue a CURL HTTP req with WebDav methods and even that worked. So integrity of SMSESSION through out browser -> Word -> Apache stayed in tact.  Why in that case Webagent has a problem in this case? What is the best way to troubleshoot and gather more logs? SM Policy server trace did not get me anything as WA did not even bother to validate the SMSESSION, just discarded it.  I had a similar setup in the past which worked fine. Any help is appreciated. Webagent version is 12.52 but again this feature worked on the same webagent in the past.


  • 2.  RE: MS Word as client - Unable to decode SMSESSION

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Aug 14, 2020 03:04 PM

    Hello,

    The only time I've seen a problem similar to this one is when a proxy server was adding quotes to the cookie value, thereby invalidating it.  Is there any chance the cookie value you took from the Apache logs was surrounded by quotes and you didn't copy the quotes before submitting the cookie using CURL?

    Regards,
    Pete




  • 3.  RE: MS Word as client - Unable to decode SMSESSION

    Posted Aug 14, 2020 03:20 PM
    I will check that. Thank You.