The admin panel of my Laravel backend refuses to authenticate. Submitting correct credentials simply refreshes the page and leaves the user on the login screen, so no session is being established. I need the root cause identified and a clean, well-documented fix applied directly in the existing codebase. The project uses standard Laravel authentication without social logins or third-party guards. You will have SSH/Git access to a staging server and can run any artisan or composer commands you need. Please focus on: • Diagnosing why the authentication attempt is not persisting (middleware, sessions, CSRF, or config issues). • Implementing a stable solution that works across production and staging. • Providing a brief write-up of the changes made so I can replicate them in future deployments. Once the fix is in place I will test by logging in/out multiple times; the job is complete when the admin dashboard consistently loads after login.