diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/workspace/server/GWTWorkspaceServiceImpl.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/workspace/server/GWTWorkspaceServiceImpl.java
index 7596415..9d26830 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/workspace/server/GWTWorkspaceServiceImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/user/workspace/server/GWTWorkspaceServiceImpl.java
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ public class GWTWorkspaceServiceImpl extends RemoteServiceServlet implements GWT
 
 	// for the data catalogue 
 	public static final String CKAN_TOKEN_KEY = "ckanToken";
-	public static final String CKAN_ROLE = "ckanRole"; // editor, admin, member
+	public static final String CKAN_ROLE = "ckanRole"; // a true value means the user has editor/admin role, false means member
 
 	// ckan utils methods
 	private CKanUtilsImpl instance;
@@ -2704,7 +2704,7 @@ public class GWTWorkspaceServiceImpl extends RemoteServiceServlet implements GWT
 				firstName = user.getFirstName();
 				lastName = user.getLastName();
 				email = user.getEmail();
-				
+
 				// check if he has catalogue role
 				catalogueEditor = hasUserRoleAdminOrEditor();
 			}catch (UserManagementSystemException e) {
@@ -3433,13 +3433,18 @@ public class GWTWorkspaceServiceImpl extends RemoteServiceServlet implements GWT
 	public boolean hasUserRoleAdminOrEditor() {
 		ASLSession asl = WsUtil.getAslSession(this.getThreadLocalRequest().getSession());
 		String username = asl.getUsername();
-		
+
 		if(!isWithinPortal()){
 			workspaceLogger.warn("OUT FROM PORTAL DETECTED RETURNING TRUE");
-			asl.setAttribute(CKAN_ROLE, "editor");
+			asl.setAttribute(CKAN_ROLE, true);
 			return true;
 		}
 
+		if(username.equals(WsUtil.TEST_USER)){
+			workspaceLogger.warn("Session expired");
+			return false;
+		}
+
 		// check if this information was already into the ASL Session (true means the user has at least in one org
 		// the role editor/admin), false that he is just a member so he cannot publish
 		Boolean role = (Boolean)asl.getAttribute(CKAN_ROLE);
@@ -3449,9 +3454,11 @@ public class GWTWorkspaceServiceImpl extends RemoteServiceServlet implements GWT
 			return role;
 		else{
 
+			CKanUtilsImpl ckanUtils = getCkanUtils();
+
 			try{
 				// first of all, check if the user is a sysadmin in the catalog (in this case he can do everything)
-				boolean isSysAdmin = getCkanUtils().isSysAdmin(username, getUserCKanTokenFromSession());
+				boolean isSysAdmin = ckanUtils.isSysAdmin(username, getUserCKanTokenFromSession());
 
 				if(isSysAdmin){
 
@@ -3468,9 +3475,9 @@ public class GWTWorkspaceServiceImpl extends RemoteServiceServlet implements GWT
 
 					// we need to iterate over vres of the user
 					List<GCubeGroup> groups = groupManager.listGroupsByUser(userManager.getUserId(username));
-					
+
 					workspaceLogger.debug("The list of organizations of the user " + username + " is " + groups);
-					
+
 					boolean toReturn = false;
 
 					for (GCubeGroup gCubeGroup : groups) {
@@ -3506,16 +3513,16 @@ public class GWTWorkspaceServiceImpl extends RemoteServiceServlet implements GWT
 							continue;
 
 						// with this invocation, we check if the role is present in ckan and if it is not it will be added
-						toReturn &= getCkanUtils().checkRole(username, groupName, correspondentRoleToCheck);
+						toReturn &= ckanUtils.checkRole(username, groupName, correspondentRoleToCheck);
 
 					}
-					
+
 					// set true in the asl session
 					workspaceLogger.debug("Setting CKAN_ROLE for " + username + " to " + toReturn);
 					asl.setAttribute(CKAN_ROLE, toReturn);
 					return toReturn;
 				}
-			
+
 			}catch(Exception e){
 				workspaceLogger.error("Unable to retrieve the role information for this user. Returning FALSE", e);
 			}
@@ -3536,25 +3543,22 @@ public class GWTWorkspaceServiceImpl extends RemoteServiceServlet implements GWT
 	 * @return String the ckan user's token
 	 */
 	private String getUserCKanTokenFromSession(){
-
 		HttpSession httpSession = this.getThreadLocalRequest().getSession();
 		ASLSession session = WsUtil.getAslSession(httpSession);
 		String username = session.getUsername();
 		workspaceLogger.debug("User in session is " + username);
 
 		String token = null;
-		if(this.getThreadLocalRequest().getSession().getAttribute(CKAN_TOKEN_KEY) != null)
-			token = (String)this.getThreadLocalRequest().getSession().getAttribute(CKAN_TOKEN_KEY);
+		if(session.getAttribute(CKAN_TOKEN_KEY) != null)
+			token = (String)session.getAttribute(CKAN_TOKEN_KEY);
 		else{
 
 			token = getCkanUtils().getApiKeyFromUsername(username);
-			this.getThreadLocalRequest().getSession().setAttribute(CKAN_TOKEN_KEY, token);
+			session.setAttribute(CKAN_TOKEN_KEY, token);
 			workspaceLogger.debug("Ckan token has been set for user " + username);
 		}
-
-		workspaceLogger.debug("Found ckan token " + token + " for user " + username);
+		workspaceLogger.debug("Found ckan token " + token.substring(0, 3) + "********************" + " for user " + username);
 		return token;
-
 	}
 
 	@Override