Undefined variable: $_SESSION

You need make sure to start the session at the top of every PHP file where you want to use the $_SESSION superglobal. Like this:

<?php
  session_start();
  echo $_SESSION['youritem'];
?>

You forgot the Session HELPER.

Check this link : book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/core-libraries/helpers/session.html

Turned out there was some extra code in the AppModel that was messing things up:

in beforeFind and afterFind:

App::Import("Session");
$session = new CakeSession();
$sim_id = $session->read("Simulation.id");

I don't know why, but that was what the problem was. Removing those lines fixed the issue I was having.

Another possibility for this warning (and, most likely, problems with app behavior) is that the original author of the app relied on session.auto_start being on (defaults to off)

If you don't want to mess with the code and just need it to work, you can always change php configuration and restart php-fpm (if this is a web app):

/etc/php.d/my-new-file.ini :

session.auto_start = 1

(This is correct for CentOS 8, adjust for your OS/packaging)