php / php/php-src

session_starts sends duplicate Set-Cookie

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Bug Extension: session Status: Needs Triage
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Description

Description

The following code:

<?php

session_id('mysessionid');

session_start();
session_write_close();
session_start();

Resulted in this output:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 19 May 2025 15:51:57 GMT
Server: Apache/2.4.62 (Win64) PHP/8.4.0 mod_fcgid/2.3.10-dev
X-Powered-By: PHP/8.4.0
Set-Cookie: PHPSESSID=mysessionid; path=/
Expires: Thu, 19 Nov 1981 08:52:00 GMT
Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate
Pragma: no-cache
Set-Cookie: PHPSESSID=mysessionid; path=/
Content-Length: 0
Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

But I expected this output instead:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Mon, 19 May 2025 15:51:57 GMT
Server: Apache/2.4.62 (Win64) PHP/8.4.0 mod_fcgid/2.3.10-dev
X-Powered-By: PHP/8.4.0

Expires: Thu, 19 Nov 1981 08:52:00 GMT
Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate
Pragma: no-cache
Set-Cookie: PHPSESSID=mysessionid; path=/
Content-Length: 0
Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8

I tried with output buffering on and off. If I remove session_id() I cannot reproduce it again, but I only used it to create a reproducible example, as in the real project, it's sending duplicate headers even without it.

PHP Version
PHP 8.4 and Apache 2.4.62

> Apache/2.4.62 (Win64) PHP/8.4.0 mod_fcgid/2.3.10-dev
Operating System

Windows 10

Contributor guide

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First steps

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  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No source file or test is named. Start by reproducing the provided session_id/session_start/session_write_close sequence on PHP 8.4 with Apache, then trace the session startup and close behavior responsible for the duplicate Set-Cookie headers; done means the duplicate is eliminated and a regression test covers the sequence.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
apache, php
Domain
backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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