Reports are taken only as application/json (closes #126)

A page on another origin can POST text/plain or a form without a CORS
preflight, so its visitors' browsers could store reports although the
server sends no CORS headers. decodeJSON now refuses a request whose
Content-Type is not application/json (parameters such as charset
allowed), and the report handler answers it 415 with the usual error
body, storing nothing. A JSON POST waits for the preflight, which only
an origin in CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS passes; the page already sends
application/json.

Model: opus-5-5

README.md

@@ -231,9 +231,15 @@ Files are created with `O_EXCL` to prevent overwrites.
 #### Report limits
 
 `POST /api/v1/reports` takes reports from anyone who can reach it, without
-credentials, so it is bounded instead. Both refusals below answer with the same
+credentials, so it is bounded instead. Each refusal below answers with the same
 `{"status":"error"}` body as any other error.
 
+- **JSON only.** A report must be sent with `Content-Type: application/json`,
+  parameters such as `charset` allowed, as the page sends it; any other is
+  refused with 415, and nothing of it is stored. A page on another origin can
+  send a `text/plain` POST, or a form, without a CORS preflight; refusing them
+  keeps any site from making its visitors' browsers store reports (see
+  [CORS](#cors)).
 - **Rate limit.** Each client address, resolved through `TRUSTED_PROXIES`, may
   send `REPORTS_PER_MINUTE` reports a minute; past that it gets 429 with
   `Retry-After: 60`. The minute slides: reports from the minute before still

TODO.md

@@ -21,6 +21,17 @@ Run `make frontend-viewport-test` in CI as its own step; it is not part of
 
 # Completed Steps
 
+- 2026-10-14: `POST /api/v1/reports` takes only a report sent with
+  `Content-Type: application/json`, parameters such as `charset` allowed, and
+  refuses any other with 415 and the usual error body, storing nothing
+  ([#126](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/netwatch/issues/126)). A page on another
+  origin can send a `text/plain` POST without a CORS preflight, so any site
+  could make its visitors' browsers store reports; a JSON POST waits for the
+  preflight, which only an origin in `CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS` passes. The page
+  already sent `application/json`. A test posts a report as `text/plain`, as
+  `application/x-www-form-urlencoded`, as `multipart/form-data`, with no
+  `Content-Type`, and as `application/json` with and without a charset, and
+  checks which are stored
 - 2026-10-14: changing the interval no longer drops the samples not yet reported
   to the backend ([#124](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/netwatch/issues/124)). The
   interval menu resets each host with the new `HostState.reset`, which moves the

internal/handlers/handlers.go

@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ package handlers
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"log/slog"
+	"mime"
 	"net/http"
 
 	"sneak.berlin/go/netwatch/internal/globals"
@@ -18,6 +20,10 @@ import (
 
 const jsonContentType = "application/json; charset=utf-8"
 
+// errNotJSON is what decodeJSON returns for a request whose
+// Content-Type is not application/json.
+var errNotJSON = errors.New("content type is not application/json")
+
 // reportAppender is the subset of the report buffer the handlers
 // depend on. Defining it here keeps the storage failure path
 // exercisable with a stub in tests.
@@ -80,14 +86,25 @@ func (s *Handlers) respondJSON(
 	}
 }
 
-// decodeJSON decodes the request body into v. The body is
+// decodeJSON decodes the request body into v. It returns errNotJSON,
-// expected to already be bounded by the body-size middleware, so
+// reading nothing, unless the request's Content-Type is
-// a caller can distinguish an over-limit body from malformed
+// application/json, with or without parameters such as charset. The
-// JSON by testing the returned error for *http.MaxBytesError.
+// body is expected to already be bounded by the body-size middleware,
+// so a caller can distinguish an over-limit body from malformed JSON
+// by testing the returned error for *http.MaxBytesError.
 func (s *Handlers) decodeJSON(
 	_ http.ResponseWriter,
 	r *http.Request,
 	v any,
 ) error {
+	// A page on another origin can POST text/plain or a form without
+	// a CORS preflight, so its visitors' browsers would send it
+	// whatever the CORS settings. A JSON POST waits for the
+	// preflight, so only JSON is taken.
+	mediaType, _, err := mime.ParseMediaType(r.Header.Get("Content-Type"))
+	if err != nil || mediaType != "application/json" {
+		return errNotJSON
+	}
+
 	return json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(v)
 }

internal/handlers/report.go

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ type report struct {
 }
 
 // HandleReport returns a handler that accepts telemetry
-// reports from NetWatch clients.
+// reports from NetWatch clients, sent as application/json.
 func (s *Handlers) HandleReport() http.HandlerFunc {
 	type response struct {
 		Status string `json:"status"`
@@ -66,9 +66,15 @@ func (s *Handlers) HandleReport() http.HandlerFunc {
 }
 
 // decodeErrorStatus logs a report decode failure and returns the
-// status to send: 413 when the body exceeded the size limit,
+// status to send: 415 when the report was not sent as JSON, 413 when
-// otherwise 400 for malformed JSON.
+// the body exceeded the size limit, otherwise 400 for malformed JSON.
 func (s *Handlers) decodeErrorStatus(err error) int {
+	if errors.Is(err, errNotJSON) {
+		s.log.Warn("report refused: Content-Type is not application/json")
+
+		return http.StatusUnsupportedMediaType
+	}
+
 	var tooLarge *http.MaxBytesError
 	if errors.As(err, &tooLarge) {
 		s.log.Warn("report body too large", "limit_bytes", tooLarge.Limit)

internal/handlers/report_test.go

@@ -27,6 +27,17 @@ type stubAppender struct {
 
 func (s stubAppender) Append(any) error { return s.err }
 
+// recordingAppender keeps every report the handler stores.
+type recordingAppender struct {
+	reports []any
+}
+
+func (a *recordingAppender) Append(v any) error {
+	a.reports = append(a.reports, v)
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 func newTestHandlers(buf stubAppender, out io.Writer) *handlers.Handlers {
 	return handlers.NewForTest(buf, slog.New(slog.NewJSONHandler(out, nil)))
 }
@@ -83,6 +94,7 @@ func TestHandleReportAcceptsValidReports(t *testing.T) {
 				http.MethodPost, "/api/v1/reports",
 				strings.NewReader(tt.body),
 			)
+			req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 
 			h.HandleReport().ServeHTTP(rec, req)
 
@@ -103,6 +115,89 @@ func TestHandleReportAcceptsValidReports(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestHandleReportStoresOnlyJSON checks that a report is stored only
+// when sent as application/json, as the page sends it. One sent as
+// text/plain or as a form, which a page on another origin can send
+// without a CORS preflight, is refused with 415.
+func TestHandleReportStoresOnlyJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name        string
+		contentType string
+		wantStatus  int
+		wantStored  int
+	}{
+		{
+			name:        "text/plain",
+			contentType: "text/plain;charset=UTF-8",
+			wantStatus:  http.StatusUnsupportedMediaType,
+			wantStored:  0,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "a urlencoded form",
+			contentType: "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
+			wantStatus:  http.StatusUnsupportedMediaType,
+			wantStored:  0,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "a multipart form",
+			contentType: "multipart/form-data; boundary=x",
+			wantStatus:  http.StatusUnsupportedMediaType,
+			wantStored:  0,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "no Content-Type",
+			contentType: "",
+			wantStatus:  http.StatusUnsupportedMediaType,
+			wantStored:  0,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "application/json",
+			contentType: "application/json",
+			wantStatus:  http.StatusOK,
+			wantStored:  1,
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "application/json with a charset",
+			contentType: "application/json;charset=UTF-8",
+			wantStatus:  http.StatusOK,
+			wantStored:  1,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+
+			var stored recordingAppender
+
+			h := handlers.NewForTest(&stored, slog.New(slog.DiscardHandler))
+
+			rec := httptest.NewRecorder()
+			req := httptest.NewRequestWithContext(t.Context(),
+				http.MethodPost, "/api/v1/reports",
+				strings.NewReader(`{"clientId":"c1","hosts":[]}`),
+			)
+
+			if tt.contentType != "" {
+				req.Header.Set("Content-Type", tt.contentType)
+			}
+
+			h.HandleReport().ServeHTTP(rec, req)
+
+			if rec.Code != tt.wantStatus {
+				t.Errorf("status = %d, want %d", rec.Code, tt.wantStatus)
+			}
+
+			if len(stored.reports) != tt.wantStored {
+				t.Errorf("reports stored = %d, want %d",
+					len(stored.reports), tt.wantStored)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestHandleReportStorageFailureIsNon2xx(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
@@ -113,6 +208,7 @@ func TestHandleReportStorageFailureIsNon2xx(t *testing.T) {
 		http.MethodPost, "/api/v1/reports",
 		strings.NewReader(`{"clientId":"c1","hosts":[]}`),
 	)
+	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 
 	h.HandleReport().ServeHTTP(rec, req)
 
@@ -138,6 +234,7 @@ func TestHandleReportFullIs507(t *testing.T) {
 		http.MethodPost, "/api/v1/reports",
 		strings.NewReader(`{"clientId":"c1","hosts":[]}`),
 	)
+	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 
 	h.HandleReport().ServeHTTP(rec, req)
 
@@ -161,6 +258,7 @@ func TestHandleReportMalformedJSONIs400(t *testing.T) {
 		http.MethodPost, "/api/v1/reports",
 		strings.NewReader(`{not json`),
 	)
+	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 
 	h.HandleReport().ServeHTTP(rec, req)
 
@@ -185,6 +283,8 @@ func TestHandleReportOversizeIs413(t *testing.T) {
 		http.MethodPost, "/api/v1/reports",
 		strings.NewReader(`{"clientId":"`+strings.Repeat("x", 200)+`"}`),
 	)
+	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+
 	// No declared length, so only the middleware's read cap can
 	// stop this body.
 	req.ContentLength = -1
@@ -213,6 +313,7 @@ func TestHandleReportDoesNotLogRawGeo(t *testing.T) {
 			`{"clientId":"c1","geo":{"raw":"`+sentinel+`"},"hosts":[]}`,
 		),
 	)
+	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 
 	h.HandleReport().ServeHTTP(rec, req)
 
@@ -245,6 +346,7 @@ func TestHandleReportLogsClientIDCutToBound(t *testing.T) {
 			`{"clientId":"`+long+`","timestamp":"`+long+`","hosts":[]}`,
 		),
 	)
+	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 
 	h.HandleReport().ServeHTTP(rec, req)
 
@@ -284,6 +386,7 @@ func TestHandleReportDecodeErrorLogIsBounded(t *testing.T) {
 		http.MethodPost, "/api/v1/reports",
 		strings.NewReader(`{"hosts":[{"history":[{"t":`+huge+`}]}]}`),
 	)
+	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 
 	h.HandleReport().ServeHTTP(rec, req)
 

internal/server/routes_test.go

@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ func TestReportsAreRateLimited(t *testing.T) {
 			http.MethodPost, "/api/v1/reports",
 			strings.NewReader(`{"clientId":"c1","hosts":[]}`),
 		)
+		req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
 		srv.ServeHTTP(rec, req)
 
 		return rec.Code