How to make websocket server authorization on php server?

Question

PHP

I found this article here: live-notes.ru . There, the guy authorizes an http request from the websocket server (node ​​js) to the main server (php), simulating a request from a client browser with php session cookies. In php it checks if the user is logged in or not. Question: how reliable is it, because cookies can be substituted by others and also by a user agent?