Cryptographic Token Interface Standard

PKCS#11


Read/write session states

A read/write session can be in one of three states, as illustrated in the following figure. When the session is opened, it is in either the "R/W Public Session" state (if the application has no previously open sessions that are logged in), the "R/W User Functions" state (if the application already has an open session that the normal user is logged into), or the "R/W SO Functions" state (if the application already has an open session that the SO is logged into).

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Figure 4, Read/Write Session States

The following table describes the session states:

Table 5, Read/Write Session States
State Description
R/W Public Session The application has opened a read/write session. The application has read/write access to all public objects.
R/W SO Functions The Security Officer has been authenticated to the token. The application has read/write access only to public objects on the token, not to private objects. The SO can set the normal user's PIN.
R/W User Functions The normal user has been authenticated to the token. The application has read/write access to all objects.


RSA Security Inc. Public-Key Cryptography Standards - PKCS#11 - v210