feat(query): SHOW/TERMINATE SESSIONS by katarinasupe · Pull Request #1814 · memgraph/documentation

katarinasupe · 2026-10-07T07:25:28Z

Description

Documents SHOW SESSIONS and TERMINATE SESSIONS on the Transactions page and in the query privileges table. Also fixes two older statements on the same page: TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS $id (parameters were never accepted) and the new database column of SHOW TRANSACTIONS (memgraph/memgraph#4571).

Not done:

SHOW TRANSACTIONS example outputs still show seven columns; I don't know what database shows on snapshot and GC rows.
SHOW ACTIVE USERS also gained columns in #4571 (server-stats page).

Product PR

memgraph/memgraph#4577

Checklist

For a product change: milestone set to the release and feature or bugfix label added
For a product change: this PR is linked from the product PR's documentation checklist

vercel · 2026-10-07T07:25:31Z

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andrejtonev

Thanks for writing this up! I checked every statement against current master (6e9c79da3), on a live instance as well as in the code. Most of it is accurate. The inline comments cover two statements that are wrong for 3.14 (SESSIONS isn't reserved, and the forced-DROP DATABASE example no longer applies after #4843), a few that overstate what happens (killed: true, "running query is aborted"), and some behaviour that's missing: open-transaction rollback, what the client sees and driver retries, auth disabled, Community vs Enterprise, impersonation, coordinators, LOGOFF and $id parameters. Every suggestion was re-run against master.

Three things outside this diff:

TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS $id (around line 340): "A parameterized id is treated exactly like a literal one, so running TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS $id with $id = "*" also terminates everything." This has never worked. The grammar only accepts a literal there (transactionId : literal, unchanged since the query was added), so TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS $id is a syntax error (extraneous input '$' expecting ...) whatever $id is. The sentence came in with v3.13 (#1689). Suggested replacement: "Transaction ids, including "*", must be string literals. Query parameters such as $id aren't supported and cause a syntax error."
SHOW TRANSACTIONS columns (line 95): since memgraph#4571 (3.14, listed under breaking changes in #1764), SHOW TRANSACTIONS returns an 8th column, database, after elapsed_ms. The page still says "contains seven columns", and the column table and example outputs don't include it. Suggested row: | database | String | The database the transaction is running on. |
PR description: it says the SHOW TRANSACTIONS fix is internal and "the release note already covers it". It doesn't: on release/3.14 the only #4577 entry is the feature line. I've suggested a bug-fix line on #1764.

Documents the session management queries from memgraph/memgraph#4577: listing open Bolt sessions and terminating them from another connection, who can see and terminate which sessions, the result columns, and the SESSIONS reserved keyword. Adds both queries to the query privileges table. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Also fix the TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS parameter claim and add the database column of SHOW TRANSACTIONS.

vpavicic · 2026-10-08T08:15:45Z

 | `SHOW TRANSACTIONS` | `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT` | `SHOW TRANSACTIONS` |
 | `TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS` | `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT` | `TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS 'transaction_id'` |
 | `TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS "*"` | `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT` | `TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS "*"` terminates every transaction the user may terminate. Without the privilege, only the user's own transactions are terminated. |
+| `SHOW SESSIONS` | **None** | `SHOW SESSIONS` lists the user's own sessions. With `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT`, it also lists other users' sessions on the databases where the user has the privilege. |


Suggested change

| `SHOW SESSIONS` | **None** | `SHOW SESSIONS` lists the user's own sessions. With `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT`, it also lists other users' sessions on the databases where the user has the privilege. |

| `SHOW SESSIONS` | **None** | `SHOW SESSIONS` lists the user's own sessions. With `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT` privilege, it also lists other users' sessions on the databases where the user has the privilege. |

In general, for me to be able to understand what this sentence was trying to convey, I had to go to /database-management/authentication-and-authorization/role-based-access-control to understand what does "With 'TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT'" even mean.

This is maybe a comment for a wider revamp, but here it helped to even mention this is a privilege of some kind.

Maybe the suggestion I'm trying to make is to add a descriptive noun when mentioning a part of the code

'this()' function
'THIS' clause
'THIS' privilege
'--this' flag

vpavicic · 2026-10-08T08:25:18Z

+A session is one client connection to Memgraph over Bolt. You can list the
+open sessions and close any of them from another connection, for example an
+idle (often pooled) connection that still has a database selected and makes
+[`DROP DATABASE`](/database-management/multi-tenancy#drop-database-with-force)


Suggested change

[`DROP DATABASE`](/database-management/multi-tenancy#drop-database-with-force)

[`DROP DATABASE`](/database-management/multi-tenancy#drop-database-with-force) query

vpavicic · 2026-10-08T08:25:58Z

+open sessions and close any of them from another connection, for example an
+idle (often pooled) connection that still has a database selected and makes
+[`DROP DATABASE`](/database-management/multi-tenancy#drop-database-with-force)
+fail with `Cannot delete <name>, it is currently being used.` Available since


Suggested change

fail with `Cannot delete <name>, it is currently being used.` Available since

fail with `Cannot delete <name>, it is currently being used.` error message. Available since

vpavicic · 2026-10-08T08:26:11Z

+
+Session queries run on data instances (MAIN and REPLICA), and each instance
+lists and closes only the sessions connected to it. On a high availability
+coordinator they fail with `Coordinator can run only coordinator queries!`.


Suggested change

coordinator they fail with `Coordinator can run only coordinator queries!`.

coordinator they fail with `Coordinator can run only coordinator queries!` error message.

vpavicic · 2026-10-08T08:28:30Z

+They run as implicit transactions only; running them inside an explicit
+transaction raises an error.


In the old days, I would've changed this to "...only, so running them..." or even better "..., so don't run them inside explicit transactions (such as: ...) "

What are explicit transactions? bo - might be good to have an example, explanation?

vpavicic · 2026-10-08T08:30:46Z

+
+| Column | Type | Description |
+|---|---|---|
+| `session_id` | `String` | Unique id of the session. Use this value with `TERMINATE SESSIONS`. |


"'TERMINATE SESSIONS' query to terminate it"?

vpavicic · 2026-10-08T08:32:03Z

+| `database` | `String` | The database the session is using, or `""` if it isn't using one. |
+| `login_timestamp` | `String` | UTC time of the session's most recent login, formatted as `YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.ffffff` (no time zone suffix). |
+
+You see your own sessions, and the sessions on every database where you have


Suggested change

You see your own sessions, and the sessions on every database where you have

Running the 'SHOW SESSION;' query will show your own sessions, and the sessions on every database where you have

vpavicic · 2026-10-08T08:33:00Z

+a connection counts as the impersonated user, and its queries are checked
+against that user's privileges.
+
+In the following example, `admin` has `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT` on every


Suggested change

In the following example, `admin` has `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT` on every

In the following example, `admin` has `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT` privilege on every

vpavicic · 2026-10-08T08:33:20Z

+
+In the following example, `admin` has `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT` on every
+database, and `alice` has two idle connections open, one on `analytics` and
+one on `memgraph`. The session running the query is listed too:


Suggested change

one on `memgraph`. The session running the query is listed too:

one on `memgraph` database. The session running the query is listed too:

vpavicic · 2026-10-08T08:34:00Z

+TERMINATE SESSIONS 'SESSION_ID' [, 'SESSION_ID' ...];
+```
+
+`SESSION_ID` is a `session_id` from `SHOW SESSIONS`, written as a string


Suggested change

`SESSION_ID` is a `session_id` from `SHOW SESSIONS`, written as a string

`SESSION_ID` is a `session_id` from `SHOW SESSIONS` output, written as a string

vpavicic · 2026-10-08T08:49:57Z

+An idle session is closed immediately. For a session that is running a query,
+Memgraph aborts its transaction and closes the connection as soon as that
+query returns. Most queries stop right away, but one that doesn't check for
+termination (for example, a long-running function call) runs until it
+finishes, and its transaction is then not committed. If the session has an
+open explicit transaction (it ran `BEGIN` but hasn't committed), that
+transaction is rolled back: its uncommitted changes are discarded and any
+writes it holds are released, so conflicting transactions can proceed. A
+transaction that is already committing isn't interrupted; it completes.


This is very hard for me to grasp all the information it's trying to convey. I would need a bullet point list. This makes it easier to understand what IF IF ELSE structure is happening here

When I'm reading this block of text I'm unsure where one scenario ends and another one ends

The termination of the session depends on the session type:

Idle session - closes immediately

Session running a query - Memgraph will abort transactions and close the session (why connection?) as soon as the query returns. If the query doesn't check for termination (like, for example, a long-running function call), the transaction will not be committed once it finishes running.

Session with an open explicit transaction - If SOMETHING SOMETHING happened (description of an explicit transaction) the transaction is rolled back and uncommitted changes are discarded. If the transaction is already committing, it isn't interrupted and it can complete committing.

I also feel like this paragraph, and the two after it require some kind of subtitle or intro... so this is describing the termination behavior based on session type

below is Client behavior upon session termination

and i guess i would first explain how to terminate all kinds of sessions, mine or other ppls, then explain behaviour?

katarinasupe added this to the 3.14 milestone Oct 7, 2026

katarinasupe added the feature Documentation related to a new product feature of feature update label Oct 7, 2026

katarinasupe self-assigned this Oct 7, 2026

vercel Bot deployed to Preview October 7, 2026 07:30 View deployment

katarinasupe mentioned this pull request Oct 7, 2026

feat(query): SHOW/TERMINATE SESSIONS (SessionQuery) + close the user_or_role_ foreign-read UAF memgraph/memgraph#4577

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andrejtonev reviewed Oct 7, 2026

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andrejtonev mentioned this pull request Oct 7, 2026

Memgraph v3.14.0 #1764

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77 of 87 tasks

katarinasupe and others added 2 commits October 7, 2026 13:48

docs: apply review on SHOW/TERMINATE SESSIONS

54ce812

Also fix the TERMINATE TRANSACTIONS parameter claim and add the database column of SHOW TRANSACTIONS.

katarinasupe force-pushed the docs/session-user-read-uaf branch from 5f68665 to 54ce812 Compare October 7, 2026 11:48

vercel Bot deployed to Preview October 7, 2026 11:52 View deployment

vpavicic reviewed Oct 8, 2026

View reviewed changes

	\| `SHOW SESSIONS` \| None \| `SHOW SESSIONS` lists the user's own sessions. With `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT`, it also lists other users' sessions on the databases where the user has the privilege. \|
	\| `SHOW SESSIONS` \| None \| `SHOW SESSIONS` lists the user's own sessions. With `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT` privilege, it also lists other users' sessions on the databases where the user has the privilege. \|

	[`DROP DATABASE`](/database-management/multi-tenancy#drop-database-with-force)
	[`DROP DATABASE`](/database-management/multi-tenancy#drop-database-with-force) query

	fail with `Cannot delete <name>, it is currently being used.` Available since
	fail with `Cannot delete <name>, it is currently being used.` error message. Available since

	coordinator they fail with `Coordinator can run only coordinator queries!`.
	coordinator they fail with `Coordinator can run only coordinator queries!` error message.

		They run as implicit transactions only; running them inside an explicit
		transaction raises an error.

	You see your own sessions, and the sessions on every database where you have
	Running the 'SHOW SESSION;' query will show your own sessions, and the sessions on every database where you have

	In the following example, `admin` has `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT` on every
	In the following example, `admin` has `TRANSACTION_MANAGEMENT` privilege on every

	one on `memgraph`. The session running the query is listed too:
	one on `memgraph` database. The session running the query is listed too:

	`SESSION_ID` is a `session_id` from `SHOW SESSIONS`, written as a string
	`SESSION_ID` is a `session_id` from `SHOW SESSIONS` output, written as a string

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