README and SPEC say a client too slow to send its request line and headers may get 400 (closes #138)
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A client too slow to send its request line and headers within
SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT gets either no answer or, depending on how
much of them had arrived, 400 Bad Request from Go's server; either way
its connection is closed, nothing reaches the app, and no request log
line is written. The README's "Request log" and SPEC's size and time
limits said such a client always gets no answer. Both documents'
summaries of smallwebwaf's own answers now cover only limits passed
after the request line and headers have been read, and give 408 only
for a slow body; SPEC names Go's server as the one answering 431.

Model: opus-5-5
This commit is contained in:
2026-10-20 12:39:48 +00:00
parent 60c49a6740
commit de36f24ed5
2 changed files with 33 additions and 27 deletions
+16 -13
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@@ -110,16 +110,16 @@ in `bin/state` unless `SWWAF_STATE_DIR` is set, and the default rule file of
`X-Forwarded-Proto`, and `X-Forwarded-For` with the peer added at the end. It
also gets the request's id in `X-Request-ID`, the same id as in the request's
log line (see `request_id` in "Request log" below).
- Enforces the timeouts and the size limits below. A limit passed before the
response has started gets `smallwebwaf`'s own answer: `408` for a client too
slow to send its request, `413` for a request body that is too large, `504`
for an app too slow to answer, and `502` for a response that is too large or
an app that cannot be reached. A request that announces a body over the limit
is refused before anything reaches the app. While a request body is still on
its way, a request timeout that runs out answers `408` if `smallwebwaf` was
waiting for the client to send more, and `504` if it was waiting for the app
to take what it had. Once the response has started, a limit can only cut the
connection.
- Enforces the timeouts and the size limits below. Once a request's line and
headers have been read, a limit passed before the response has started gets
`smallwebwaf`'s own answer: `408` for a client too slow to send its body,
`413` for a request body that is too large, `504` for an app too slow to
answer, and `502` for a response that is too large or an app that cannot be
reached. A request that announces a body over the limit is refused before
anything reaches the app. While a request body is still on its way, a request
timeout that runs out answers `408` if `smallwebwaf` was waiting for the
client to send more, and `504` if it was waiting for the app to take what it
had. Once the response has started, a limit can only cut the connection.
- Counts each client's requests over a minute, an hour and a day. A request that
takes the client over one of the rate limits below is refused with
`SWWAF_BAN_RESPONSE`, `403` by default, before anything reaches the app, and
@@ -1042,9 +1042,12 @@ less severe than `SWWAF_LOG_LEVEL` are not written.
Go's HTTP server, on which `smallwebwaf` is built, reads a request's line and
headers before `smallwebwaf` sees the request, and some requests end there,
without a line in the log: headers over `SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_HEADER_MAX_BYTES`,
which it answers `431`, headers slower than `SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT`,
whose connection it closes without an answer, and requests it cannot read at
all, which it answers itself, mostly with `400`.
which it answers `431`, and requests it cannot read at all, which it answers
itself, mostly with `400`. A client too slow to send its request line and
headers within `SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT` gets either no answer or,
depending on how much of them had arrived, `400 Bad Request` from the server;
either way the server closes its connection, nothing reaches the app, and no
line is written in the log.
### Sending the log to a syslog server
+17 -14
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@@ -414,10 +414,10 @@ The settings, by group:
to send its request line and headers, and then, from the end of the
headers, its body.
- `SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_HEADER_MAX_BYTES` (default `32K`): the largest
request line and headers a client may send. Over it, `smallwebwaf` answers
`431` and closes the connection, and nothing reaches the app. It must be
more than `4K`, and cannot be `off`: Go's HTTP server always has such a
limit, and reads 4 KiB past the one it is given before it refuses.
request line and headers a client may send. Over it, Go's HTTP server
answers `431` and closes the connection, and nothing reaches the app. It
must be more than `4K`, and cannot be `off`: Go's HTTP server always has
such a limit, and reads 4 KiB past the one it is given before it refuses.
- `SWWAF_CLIENT_IDLE_TIMEOUT` (default `120s`): how long a kept-open
connection may wait for its next request before `smallwebwaf` closes it.
It is longer than the 90 seconds after which traefik, by default, closes a
@@ -435,12 +435,13 @@ The settings, by group:
the client sends it and the app receives it.
- `SWWAF_RESPONSE_MAX_BYTES` (default `5G`): the largest response body, as
the app sends it and the client receives it.
- When a limit is passed before the response has started, `smallwebwaf`
answers itself: `413` for a request body that is too large, `408` for a
client that is too slow, `502` for a response that is too large, `504` for
an app that is too slow. A request that announces a body larger than its
limit is refused before anything reaches the app. Once the response has
started it can only be cut off, and the connection is closed.
- When a limit is passed after a request's line and headers have been read,
but before the response has started, `smallwebwaf` answers itself: `413`
for a request body that is too large, `408` for a client too slow to send
its body, `502` for a response that is too large, `504` for an app that is
too slow. A request that announces a body larger than its limit is refused
before anything reaches the app. Once the response has started it can only
be cut off, and the connection is closed.
- Since a request body streams through, each side can hold up the other: a
slow client slows the send to the app, and an app slow to take the body
slows the client's send. So while a request body is still on its way, a
@@ -450,10 +451,12 @@ The settings, by group:
waiting for the app to take what it had.
- Go's HTTP server, on which `smallwebwaf` is built, reads a request's line
and headers before `smallwebwaf` sees the request. A client that takes
longer than `SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT` to send them gets no answer:
the server closes its connection. Headers over
`SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_HEADER_MAX_BYTES` are answered `431` by the server
itself. Neither request gets a line in the request log.
longer than `SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT` to send them gets either no
answer or, depending on how much of them had arrived, `400 Bad Request`
from the server; either way the server closes its connection and nothing
reaches the app. Headers over `SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_HEADER_MAX_BYTES` are
answered `431` by the server itself. Neither request gets a line in the
request log.
- A WebSocket connection leaves these limits behind once it is upgraded: it
stays open until either side closes it.
- Lookup of AS number and country (R7). On by default through GeoJS, which needs