I don't think you get my meaning. Consider

 my $exitcod_zero_means_something = system
  '/usr/local/bin/drupal_fun_authenticator',
  '--cookie=cookie',
  ...
;;;;;

### or
sub is_authorized {
  my ( $authcookie, ... ) = @_;
  my $wget = join ' ', map { "'$_'" }
    "--header=cookie:$authcookie",
    'https://localhost:3000/hey_drupal_authenticate_by_cookie',
  ...
;;;;;

  my $json_auth_str = qx{wget $wget } 
  my $auth = decode_json(   $json_auth_str  );
  return 1 if $auth->{is_authorized};
  return 0;
}
[download]

drupal, being so popular and what not, surely has such an interface -- I'd go looking for it -- official API is safer than peeking into the database