Core Rule Set: gitea's ordinary requests pass by default (closes #198)
check / check (push) Failing after 3m17s

The eighth change, internal/waf/gitea.conf, has the fields where gitea
sends a search, a file name or a branch name skip the rules that refused
ordinary gitea requests, on gitea's paths only. Referer skips 944130 too.
A registry's layer reuse skips 932260 on from, the seventh change.

The new setting SWWAF_CORE_RULE_SET_EXCLUSIONS_FILE loads an operator's
own exclusions before the Core Rule Set's rules. A set file that cannot
be read, does not parse or names smallwebwaf's own ids stops the start
in every mode.

A test sends the recorded gitea requests at the defaults, none refused,
and three attacks, all refused.

Model: opus-5-5
This commit is contained in:
2026-11-07 02:17:34 +00:00
committed by sneak
parent f8676debda
commit be370bc8cf
13 changed files with 1092 additions and 69 deletions
+69 -16
View File
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ to them.
- the state files;
- a lookup database;
- a `SWWAF_` setting given as a file;
- the file `SWWAF_LOG_REMOTE_TLS_CA_FILE` names.
- the file `SWWAF_LOG_REMOTE_TLS_CA_FILE` names;
- the file `SWWAF_CORE_RULE_SET_EXCLUSIONS_FILE` names.
## Non-goals
@@ -81,7 +82,7 @@ to them.
of bans is full.
- `internal/rules`: reads the rule files at start and again when they
change, and tells which rules a request matches.
- `internal/waf`: the Core Rule Set, with the six changes listed under
- `internal/waf`: the Core Rule Set, with the eight changes listed under
"Attack detection", as Coraza directives.
- `internal/lookup`: looks clients up through GeoJS or in the lookup
database.
@@ -325,9 +326,10 @@ Conventions:
lists: `SWWAF_ADMIN_TOKEN_FILE` names the file that holds `SWWAF_ADMIN_TOKEN`.
The file's contents are the value, less one newline at the end, and are
checked as the value itself would be. Setting both forms stops the start, and
so does naming a file that cannot be read. `SWWAF_LOG_REMOTE_TLS_CA_FILE`
already holds a file name, so it has no `_FILE` form. No `SWRP_` setting has
one, since `rproxy` never touches disk.
so does naming a file that cannot be read. `SWWAF_LOG_REMOTE_TLS_CA_FILE` and
`SWWAF_CORE_RULE_SET_EXCLUSIONS_FILE` already hold a file name, so they have
no `_FILE` form. No `SWRP_` setting has one, since `rproxy` never touches
disk.
- Settings, files included, are read once at start. Changing one means
restarting the container. The files `servewaf` watches while it runs are its
state files, its rule files and the lookup database.
@@ -583,6 +585,24 @@ sends it.
probes these rules caught (see "Rule files"). A list you give replaces the
default, so name these six ids in it to keep them off.
- `SWWAF_CORE_RULE_SET_EXCLUSIONS_FILE` names a file of exclusions, written as
Coraza directives. An exclusion switches one rule off for some fields or paths
only, where `SWWAF_WAF_DISABLED_RULES` switches it off everywhere. The file
holds an app's own exclusions; the eighth change below holds gitea's.
- `servewaf` loads the file after `smallwebwaf`'s own setup rules and before
the Core Rule Set's rules. The Core Rule Set puts its own file of
exclusions that run before the rules in the same place.
- So the file holds only `SecAction` and `SecRule` lines that exclude with
`ctl:ruleRemoveTargetById` or `ctl:ruleRemoveById`. These run with each
request, before the rules they exclude, those of phase 1 included.
- A rule that `SWWAF_WAF_DISABLED_RULES` switches off and the file names is
simply off.
- The start stops on a file that cannot be read or does not parse, whatever
`SWWAF_WAF_MODE` is.
- It stops too on a file that names a number from 900000 to 900999, the ids
of `smallwebwaf`'s own rules, alone or in a range. Comment lines are not
checked.
- `SWWAF_WAF_BODY_LIMIT` switches body inspection on, up to that size. It takes
at most `64K`, since `servewaf` gets no more of a body than that (see "The
answer"). Form data and multipart bodies are read up to the size. JSON and XML
@@ -612,7 +632,7 @@ sends it.
scanner from an ordinary client. In front of gitea, registry and git clients
get `404` and `401` by design, hundreds of times a minute.
`smallwebwaf` changes the Core Rule Set 4.25.0 in six ways, since in front of
`smallwebwaf` changes the Core Rule Set 4.25.0 in eight ways, since in front of
gitea it would otherwise refuse ordinary requests. The changes hold in front of
every app, and no setting undoes them:
@@ -644,9 +664,10 @@ every app, and no setting undoes them:
or `docker-build`. In these parameters, what only these three rules would
catch reaches the app, such as the command `|cat /etc/passwd`. Path
traversal, SQL and script injection, and PHP, Java and Node.js code are
still refused there. Every other parameter keeps all three rules. An app
that uses one of these parameters as a file on the server, or passes it to a
shell, must check the value itself. A rule file can refuse it instead.
still refused there. Other parameters keep all three rules, except on the
gitea paths the eighth change names. An app that uses one of these
parameters as a file on the server, or passes it to a shell, must check the
value itself. A rule file can refuse it instead.
5. Two cookies are left out, and `Referer` keeps fewer rules:
- The Core Rule Set reads the request without the `gitea_flash` and
@@ -660,15 +681,47 @@ every app, and no setting undoes them:
only to its own pages. Every other cookie is read in full. An app that
reads a cookie of either name must check it itself.
- `Referer` is not checked for a Unix command given without arguments
(932340) or for Java starting a process (944110). `Referer` names the page
a request comes from, on everything that page loads and on every link
followed from it. The Core Rule Set takes some page addresses for attacks,
such as a search for `env`, or OpenJDK's `Runtime.java`, whose path holds
both `runtime` and `java.`. All of those requests would be refused.
`Referer` keeps the other rules. An app that passes `Referer` to a shell
must check it itself.
(932340), for Java starting a process (944110) or for a Java class name
(944130). `Referer` names the page a request comes from, on everything
that page loads and on every link followed from it. The Core Rule Set
takes some page addresses for attacks, such as a search for `env`,
OpenJDK's `Runtime.java`, whose path holds both `runtime` and `java.`, or
a file named `java.lang.String.md`. All of those requests would be
refused. `Referer` keeps the other rules, except after a gitea search (the
eighth change). An app that passes `Referer` to a shell must check it
itself.
6. Responses are not inspected. A raw file from a repository, such as a shell
script, looks to the response rules like source code leaking from the server.
7. The `from` parameter of a container registry's upload path,
`/v2/<image>/blobs/uploads/`, is not checked for command names (932260). When
a push reuses a layer, `from` names the image the layer comes from. An image
such as `owner/python3-app` would have that push refused.
8. On gitea's own paths, the fields where gitea sends a search, a file name or a
branch name skip the rules that refused ordinary gitea requests there.
`internal/waf/gitea.conf` lists each rule and the request it refused. The
fields are:
- `q` on gitea's search pages, for code, issues, pull requests, commits,
repositories, branches, tags, packages and users. A code search holds
code, such as `<script>`, `SELECT * FROM users WHERE` or `../`.
- `Referer` of a page opened from such a search, for script and SQL
injection and Java code (941110, 941120, 941160, 942100, 944100).
- The path of a file's page, raw file, download, blame, history, edit and
delete pages, and of the API's call for its contents. Names such as
`notes.txt~`, `process.env.d.ts` and `java.lang.String.md` were refused.
- A file name in a query parameter: `file` of a commit graph, `path` of the
API's list of commits, `body` of the API's call for several files,
`template` of a new issue, `redirect_to` of the sign-in page, and `name`
of an attachment uploaded through the API.
- A branch or tag name in a query parameter, for command names (932260).
gitea sends one to delete or restore a branch, to start a release from a
tag, to edit a branch protection rule, and to list a directory's last
commits.
- The `Content-Range` header of an artifact upload from
`actions/upload-artifact@v3` (920450).
Elsewhere these fields keep every rule. The paths are those of gitea at the
site root. An app other than gitea that serves one of them must check these
fields itself.
The parameter and cookie names in these changes are matched without regard to
case, as Coraza matches them.