Observe mode: log what would be refused, refuse nothing (closes #78)
check / check (push) Waiting to run

SWWAF_MODE (default enforce) takes enforce or observe. In observe mode a
request that SWWAF_DENY_NETS, a ban, the country lists or a rate limit
would refuse is passed to the app, and its log line names that refusal
in would_action. The size and time limits and the 401 still apply. A
broken limit makes no ban; bans read from bans.json are kept but refuse
nothing, and Ledger.Find reads them without counting a refusal in their
notes.

Judgement call: in observe mode a broken limit does not reset the
client's counters, since the reset comes with the ban.
Judgement call: a request a ban would refuse keeps ban_expires.

Model: opus-5-5
This commit was merged in pull request #81.
This commit is contained in:
2026-10-06 13:04:43 +02:00
parent 234c5eac60
commit cff385af41
11 changed files with 425 additions and 88 deletions
+18
View File
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ type Config struct {
ListenAddr string
// UpstreamURL is the app (SWWAF_UPSTREAM_URL).
UpstreamURL *url.URL
// Observe is true in observe mode, when SWWAF_MODE is observe rather
// than enforce: a request that SWWAF_DENY_NETS, a ban, the country
// lists or a rate limit would refuse is passed to the app instead, and
// no ban is made.
Observe bool
// TrustedProxies are the netblocks whose X-Forwarded-For is
// believed (SWWAF_TRUSTED_PROXIES).
TrustedProxies []netip.Prefix
@@ -162,6 +167,7 @@ var (
errNotAbsolutePath = errors.New(
"is not an absolute path, such as /var/lib/smallwebwaf")
errShortToken = errors.New("is shorter than 32 characters")
errNotMode = errors.New("is not enforce or observe")
)
// FromEnvironment reads the settings with lookupEnv, normally
@@ -172,6 +178,7 @@ func FromEnvironment(lookupEnv func(string) (string, bool)) (*Config, error) {
cfg := &Config{
ListenAddr: env.address("SWWAF_LISTEN_ADDR", ":8080"),
UpstreamURL: env.appURL("SWWAF_UPSTREAM_URL", "http://127.0.0.1:8081"),
Observe: env.observe("SWWAF_MODE", "enforce"),
TrustedProxies: env.netblocks("SWWAF_TRUSTED_PROXIES", privateRanges),
ClientRequestTimeout: env.duration("SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT", "60s"),
ClientRequestHeaderMaxBytes: env.headerSize(
@@ -274,6 +281,17 @@ func (e *environment) appURL(name, defaultValue string) *url.URL {
return upstream
}
// observe reads the setting that is the mode, enforce or observe, and
// reports whether it is observe.
func (e *environment) observe(name, defaultValue string) bool {
mode := e.value(name, defaultValue)
if mode != "enforce" && mode != "observe" {
e.check(name, fmt.Errorf("%q %w", mode, errNotMode))
}
return mode == "observe"
}
// netblocks reads a setting that is a list of netblocks.
func (e *environment) netblocks(name, defaultValue string) []netip.Prefix {
netblocks, err := parseNetblocks(e.value(name, defaultValue))