While explicit patch details are unavailable, the vulnerability description and JIRA ticket (HIVE-22708) indicate the issue was in cookie signature verification. In Java web applications, HMAC signature verification using non-constant time comparisons typically occurs in the cookie validation() routine. The HiveAuthFactory.CookieSigner class is the logical location for this functionality based on Hive's authentication architecture. The medium confidence reflects the need to infer implementation details without seeing actual code changes, but the specific vulnerability characteristics strongly suggest this function would be involved in the insecure comparison.