Invalid State Error After Long Inactivity on Universal Login Page

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Hi @zachary.zhao

Welcome to the Auth0 Community!

Thank you for your detailed question

  1. Why does the URL already include a state parameter before I trigger the webauth.login call?

The state parameter is typically generated and included in the initial authorization request when your application redirects to the Auth0 login page. This happens before the user interacts with the login form. It’s a security feature used to maintain state between the request and callback, helping prevent CSRF attacks.

  1. How can I prevent users from encountering this “invalid state” error if they remain on the login page for too long before attempting to log in?

Unfortunately, you can’t prevent this from happening as this is the expected behavior of the login page. This error occurs because the state parameter has a limited lifetime for security reasons. If a user stays on the login page for an extended period without interacting, the original state becomes invalid. The workaround to this issue would be to not redirect to the Auth0 login page directly but send them to a home page where they can find a link to the login screen.

Thanks
Dawid

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