README rewritten from scratch so a newcomer can follow it (closes #154 , closes #155 )

The old README opened with project history and one list of a hundred settings. The new one leads with what smallwebwaf is, what it protects against, how to build and deploy it, what happens to a request, the settings most deployments touch, how to check it works, the entrypoints, the rationale and the design, as REPO_POLICIES.md requires. The reference lists, every setting, the rule file format, the endpoints, the request log's fields, the alert events, the metrics, the state files, the image and the gitea notes, move to files under docs/, each linked from the README, with SPEC.md as the one place for behaviour. Every statement was checked against the code on next. Model: fable-5-1
README and SPEC name every offence that has a client checked (closes #151 )
2026-10-22 22:29:53 +00:00 · 2026-10-20 17:46:16 +02:00 · 2026-10-20 17:42:01 +02:00 · 2026-10-20 16:54:34 +02:00 · 2026-10-20 16:41:18 +02:00 · 2026-10-20 16:32:08 +02:00
24 changed files with 2306 additions and 2354 deletions
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 .PHONY: bootstrap setup test lint fmt fmt-check tidy check docker hooks build \
-	run example-app
+	run example-app gitea-requests

 # Makefile targets are thin shims; the implementations live in script/
 # per the scripts-to-rule-them-all pattern (see the Entrypoints section
 # of README.md). tidy writes go.mod and go.sum as `go mod tidy` does,
 # which test checks. build and run are for working on the code by hand;
-# example-app checks the image with an app built on it.
+# example-app checks the image with an app built on it; gitea-requests
+# reports the gitea requests the Core Rule Set refuses at the defaults.

 bootstrap:
 	@script/bootstrap
@@ -45,3 +46,6 @@ run:

 example-app:
 	@script/example-app
+
+gitea-requests:
+	@script/gitea-requests
@@ -225,9 +225,9 @@ address or one /64, so a permanent ban does not reach neighbours who did
 nothing.

 An offence is a request `smallwebwaf` holds against the client: one that carries
-a clear sign of attack, breaks a limit, or is refused by a rule file or the Core
-Rule Set. Offences are counted by kind in the client's history. Two kinds lead
-to a ban, each by its own rule:
+a clear sign of attack, breaks a limit, or is refused by a rule file, by the
+Core Rule Set or for a missing or wrong token. Offences are counted by kind in
+the client's history. Two kinds lead to a ban, each by its own rule:

 - A clear sign of attack: a request that matches a rule file rule whose action
  is `ban`, or asks for a path in `SWWAF_TRAP_PATHS`. Examples are a probe for a
@@ -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 +451,11 @@ 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 an error answer from the server, mostly `400 Bad Request`;
+      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
@@ -1324,9 +1326,16 @@ The two processes:
 - A `smallwebwaf` that stops at start, for example on invalid configuration, is
  started again every second and stops again, logging its message each time,
  until the cause is fixed. The health check fails meanwhile.
- `docker stop` sends SIGTERM to `runsvinit`, which has runit stop both
-  services, each with SIGTERM, and exits once they have stopped. `smallwebwaf`
-  writes its state files as it stops (see "Persistent state").
+- `docker stop` sends SIGTERM to `runsvinit`, which has runit stop both services
+  at once, each with SIGTERM, and exits once they have stopped. `smallwebwaf`
+  stops taking requests, gives those in progress five seconds to finish, and
+  writes its state files as it stops (see "Persistent state"). The requests in
+  progress can finish only while the app still answers. An app that exits at
+  once on SIGTERM ends them: the client gets `502`, or a response cut short if
+  the app had already begun to answer. An app that should let them finish keeps
+  taking and answering requests, not only the ones it already has, for the whole
+  five seconds after SIGTERM, since `smallwebwaf` can still pass it requests it
+  took before then.
 - The container's root filesystem stays writable: runit writes each service's
  status into its directory under `/etc/service`.

@@ -1477,8 +1486,47 @@ holds any token file.
          Saving such a rule stores it, but the branch settings page gitea then
          returns to gets the 403 answer of `smallwebwaf`, so the save looks as
          if it failed.
+        - A file name in a query parameter, those the fourth change leaves out
+          of 930120, 932160 and 932260 included, in which the Core Rule Set's
+          rules for Java, script, PowerShell and SQL find what they look for:
+          `runtime` in OpenJDK's
+          `src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/Runtime.java` (944110), a Java
+          class, as in `java.lang.String.md` (944130), `document.write.js`
+          (941180), `process.env.d.ts` (934100), `__proto__` (934130), the
+          PowerShell command `Install-Script`, as in `install-script.sh`
+          (932120), or a database's name, as in PostgreSQL's
+          `information_schema.sql` (942140). For such a file, the API's list of
+          its commits (`path`) is refused, and so are the API's call for the
+          contents of files that names it in its query (`body`), the commit
+          graph of that file alone (`file`), and the hidden lines of its diff
+          (`path`), which stay hidden. A visitor whom gitea sends to sign in on
+          the way to a page of such a file that needs signing in, such as its
+          edit page, gets the 403 answer of `smallwebwaf` in place of the
+          sign-in page (`redirect_to`), and can still sign in by opening the
+          sign-in page itself.
        - A path: a file name ending in `~`, or an `.xhtml` file whose path
          holds a space.
+        - A path that holds what the Core Rule Set takes for a Java class
+          (944130), as `java.lang.String.md` and
+          `META-INF/services/org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory` do, or for
+          Node.js code (934100), as `process.env.d.ts` does, or that has a
+          directory named `...` (930100, 930110), such as `.../notes.txt`. The
+          page of such a file, its raw file, its history, its blame and its edit
+          page are refused; the directory that holds it lists it, and a clone
+          carries it.
+        - A container image push that reuses a layer of an image docker has
+          pushed to that gitea before, when that image's owner, or its name
+          after the owner, starts with an entry on the list of commands
+          (932260), such as `owner/python3-app`, `owner/docker-base` or any
+          image of an owner named `ansible` or `docker-team`. docker asks gitea
+          to take the layer from that image, naming it in the query parameter
+          `from`, which 932260 checks, and gets the 403 answer of `smallwebwaf`.
+          A docker that keeps its images in containerd's image store, as a new
+          install of Docker Engine 29 does, then fails the push, and fails each
+          new try the same way. A docker that keeps them in its own older image
+          store uploads the layer instead, so the push succeeds after one
+          refusal for each layer it reuses, and each of those refusals counts
+          toward the error burst.
    - Artifact uploads from `actions/upload-artifact@v3` send the header
      `Content-Range`, which the Core Rule Set refuses (920450). The action
      sends two files at a time, does not retry a 403 and sends no further file
@@ -1566,10 +1614,19 @@ holds any token file.
 - Core Rule Set false positives against real apps (a search for code, and any
  body once `SWWAF_WAF_BODY_LIMIT` is set): a match refuses only that request
  and bans no one by itself; the request log names the rule, and exclusions by
-  rule id and path fix it. Further gitea requests the Core Rule Set may refuse
-  at the defaults, found by reading gitea's source rather than a running gitea,
-  are collected in https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/smallwebwaf/issues/30 and checked
-  when milestone 1 runs in front of a real gitea.
+  rule id and path fix it. `script/gitea-requests` runs gitea behind the image
+  at the defaults and sends through it a short sample of gitea's ordinary use
+  and some of the requests that three of the notes specific to gitea say are
+  refused: for each file the note on a file name in a query parameter names, the
+  API's list of its commits; for `Runtime.java` alone, the commit graph of that
+  file, the hidden lines of its diff and the API's call for the contents of
+  files that names it; the sign-in page gitea sends a visitor to on the way to
+  the edit page of `document.write.js`; the pages of `java.lang.String.md`,
+  `META-INF/services/org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory`, `process.env.d.ts`
+  and `.../notes.txt`; and one container image push that reuses a layer, which
+  it does not try again. It reports each request the Core Rule Set refuses, so
+  that those requests can be checked again when gitea or the Core Rule Set
+  changes version.
 - Attacks carried in request bodies: not refused by default, since on a code
  forge bodies are full of code the Core Rule Set takes for attacks. Most of
  what shows in URLs and headers is still refused, the client that sends an
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# Admin endpoints
+
+The endpoints under `/_smallwebwaf/`, what each takes and what each answers.
+"Admin endpoints" in [`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md) says which checks they go through
+and how their tokens work.
+
+- `GET /_smallwebwaf/healthz`: `200` and `ok`, to anyone.
+- `GET /_smallwebwaf/metrics`: the metrics, for `SWWAF_METRICS_TOKEN` (see
+  [`metrics.md`](metrics.md)).
+- `GET /_smallwebwaf/bans`: every ban held, under `bans`, each as `bans.json`
+  lists it. Needs `SWWAF_ADMIN_TOKEN`, as do the three below.
+- `POST /_smallwebwaf/bans`: bans a netblock. The body is a JSON object of
+  `netblock`, `duration` and, if you like, `reason`. `netblock` is a netblock
+  such as `203.0.113.0/24`, or a client's address, which bans its IPv4 netblock
+  (`SWWAF_BAN_SCOPE_V4_PREFIX`) or its IPv6 group. `duration` is a duration such
+  as `1h` or `7d`, or `permanent`. A bad body is answered `400`, saying what is
+  wrong:
+    - one that is not such an object, or has another field;
+    - one longer than 4 KiB;
+    - one that names an IPv4-mapped netblock, or an address with a zone.
+- `DELETE /_smallwebwaf/bans/<client>`: lifts every active ban covering the
+  address `<client>`. It answers `404` when none is active.
+- `GET /_smallwebwaf/clients/<ip>`: what `smallwebwaf` knows of the client.
+  Under `client`, its counters and history as `clients.json` holds them, or
+  `null` when `clients.json` does not hold it. Under `bans`, every ban covering
+  the address, with its notes.
+
+## Examples
+
+With `SWWAF_ADMIN_TOKEN` set, and the token in `$TOKEN`:
+
+```sh
+# Every ban.
+curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" https://app.example/_smallwebwaf/bans
+
+# Ban 203.0.113.0/24 for seven days.
+curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
+    --json '{"netblock": "203.0.113.0/24", "duration": "7d", "reason": "probes for logins"}' \
+    https://app.example/_smallwebwaf/bans
+
+# Lift the bans on 203.0.113.9.
+curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -X DELETE \
+    https://app.example/_smallwebwaf/bans/203.0.113.9
+
+# What smallwebwaf knows of 203.0.113.9.
+curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
+    https://app.example/_smallwebwaf/clients/203.0.113.9
+```
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+# Alerts
+
+The alert events, the JSON object the webhook gets, and the messages Slack and
+ntfy get. "Alerting" in [`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md) says when an alert is sent, held
+back or dropped.
+
+## Events
+
+- `ban`: a ban `smallwebwaf` made.
+- `permanent_ban`: a permanent ban it made, or an existing ban made permanent by
+  a request.
+- `waf_block`: the Core Rule Set scored a request at or over the threshold. The
+  request was refused unless the alert's `detail` gives `mode`: `detect` or
+  `observe`.
+- `anomaly`: a count over an anomaly threshold.
+- `reputation_hit`: a request from a client on a blocklist, the CrowdSec
+  decision list or a DNS blocklist, or with an AbuseIPDB score that is a hit.
+  One alert per source.
+- `source_failure`: one of:
+    - GeoJS failing;
+    - a list that cannot be fetched;
+    - a DNS blocklist or AbuseIPDB failing or refusing a query;
+    - the day's AbuseIPDB checks used up.
+- `file_error`: one of:
+    - a rule file or state file edit with an error;
+    - a state file that cannot be written;
+    - a replacement lookup database that cannot be read.
+- `summary`: the hourly summary of alerts held back.
+
+## The JSON object
+
+This is the alert for a ban for a broken rate limit, shown indented; it is sent
+on one line:
+
+```json
+{
+    "instance": "fsn1app1/gitea",
+    "time": "2026-10-06T12:00:00.123461Z",
+    "event": "ban",
+    "client": "203.0.113.9",
+    "netblock": "203.0.113.9/32",
+    "asn": "",
+    "as_name": "",
+    "country": "",
+    "reason": "requests per minute over the limit of 1000",
+    "detail": {
+        "ban_expires": "2026-10-06T13:00:00.123Z",
+        "cause": "limit",
+        "notes": {
+            "asn": "",
+            "as_name": "",
+            "country": "",
+            "kind": "requests",
+            "limit": 1000,
+            "window": "minute",
+            "count": 1001,
+            "request": {
+                "time": "2026-10-06T12:00:00.123456789Z",
+                "method": "GET",
+                "host": "app.example",
+                "path": "/owner/repo/commits/branch/main?page=812",
+                "status": 403,
+                "user_agent": "scraper/1.0"
+            },
+            "requests": 5210,
+            "refused": 0,
+            "earlier_bans": {
+                "limit": 0,
+                "attack": 0,
+                "admin": 0,
+                "crowdsec": 0
+            }
+        }
+    },
+    "suppressed_repeats": 0
+}
+```
+
+- `instance`: `SWWAF_INSTANCE_NAME`. `time`: when the alert was raised. `event`:
+  one of the events above.
+- `client`: the address whose request raised the alert. Empty for
+  `source_failure` and `file_error`.
+- `netblock`: empty for `source_failure` and `file_error`; otherwise one of:
+    - the ban's netblock;
+    - the netblock an anomaly counted;
+    - for the other events, the client as rate limiting counts it: an IPv4
+      address as a /32, or an IPv6 group.
+- `asn`, `as_name` and `country`: the client's, as known when the alert was
+  raised. They are empty when GeoJS had not answered yet.
+- `reason`: a short sentence, such as
+  `requests per minute over the limit of 1000` or `listed by a blocklist`.
+- `detail`: what is particular to the event:
+    - for a ban, its `cause`, `ban_expires` and `notes` (the notes are listed
+      under `bans.json` in [`state-files.md`](state-files.md));
+    - for an anomaly, the `scope`, `window`, `kind`, `count` and `threshold`;
+    - for a reputation hit, the `source` and, for AbuseIPDB, the `score`;
+    - for a Core Rule Set match, the `rule_ids`, `score`, `method` and `path`;
+    - for a source failure, the `source` and `error`;
+    - for a file error, the `file` and `error`;
+    - `mode`, when the request was not refused: `detect` or `observe`.
+- `suppressed_repeats`: how many repeats the cooldown held back before this
+  alert.
+
+## Slack and ntfy
+
+Slack and ntfy get a message with a title and a text. The title is the instance
+and the event, such as `fsn1app1/gitea: ban`. The text is the `reason`, then one
+line for each of these that the alert has:
+
+- the client, the netblock and the country;
+- the file, the source, the error and the mode from `detail`;
+- the suppressed repeats, if any.
+
+Slack gets the title in bold and the text below it, with `&`, `<` and `>`
+escaped. ntfy gets the text as the message, with these headers:
+
+- `Title`: the title;
+- `Authorization`: the token, as `Bearer <token>`, while
+  `SWWAF_ALERT_NTFY_TOKEN` is set;
+- `Priority` and `Tags`: by event, as listed below.
+
+The priority and tag by event:
+
+- `ban`: priority `default`, tag `no_entry`.
+- `permanent_ban`: priority `high`, tag `no_entry`.
+- `waf_block`: priority `default`, tag `shield`.
+- `anomaly`: priority `high`, tag `chart_with_upwards_trend`.
+- `reputation_hit`: priority `low`, tag `label`.
+- `source_failure` and `file_error`: priority `high`, tag `warning`.
+- `summary`: priority `default`, tag `bar_chart`.
@@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
+# smallwebwaf in front of gitea
+
+These notes record what `smallwebwaf` does in front of gitea at the default
+settings. They are observations, not requirements; the requirements are in
+[`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md). `script/gitea-requests` runs gitea behind the image and
+sends through it a sample of gitea's ordinary use and the requests named below.
+It reports each request the Core Rule Set refuses, so that these notes can be
+checked again when gitea or the Core Rule Set changes version.
+
+## What the defaults cover
+
+- SSH access to gitea does not pass through `smallwebwaf` and is not protected
+  by it.
+- A clone is a response. It fits the defaults of 30 minutes and 5 GiB for all
+  but the largest repositories and slowest links.
+- A push is a request, and so is every other upload:
+    - a git push;
+    - an LFS object;
+    - a container image layer;
+    - a package file;
+    - a release attachment.
+
+    At the defaults, an upload larger than 100 MiB or taking more than 60
+    seconds is cut off ("Size and time limits" in `SPEC.md`). A gitea that takes
+    large uploads needs `SWWAF_REQUEST_MAX_BYTES`,
+    `SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT` and `SWWAF_UPSTREAM_REQUEST_TIMEOUT` raised
+    to fit.
+
+- Archive download and blame or history pages are what scrapers hammer. The
+  request limits do most of the work there.
+- An Actions runner that reaches gitea through `smallwebwaf` sends requests all
+  day. One older than version 0.4 (April 2026) asks for work every 2 seconds,
+  43,200 requests a day, and reports a running job's log and state every second.
+  So it passes the day limit of 50,000 after about an hour and a quarter of
+  jobs. It is then banned, the job it is running fails, and each repeat within a
+  day makes the ban longer. Newer runners ask less often, but a busy one, or
+  several on one address, can still pass it. Put the runners' addresses in
+  `SWWAF_RATE_LIMIT_EXEMPT_NETS`.
+
+## What the Core Rule Set lets through
+
+At the defaults, the Core Rule Set lets gitea's ordinary use through, apart from
+the refusals in the next section:
+
+- browsing and views of files in a repository, with their history, blame and the
+  file tree;
+- diffs, including their hidden lines and large files, and pull request review;
+- git's clone, fetch and push over HTTP;
+- signing in, including the return to the page a visitor came from, and sign-in
+  with Git Credential Manager, git-credential-oauth or tea;
+- the API's calls for a file and its commits;
+- pushing and pulling container images and packages;
+- Actions runners, and artifacts uploaded with `actions/upload-artifact@v4`;
+- posting issues, pull requests, comments, wiki pages and files saved in the web
+  editor, code included, since no body is read;
+- the page gitea shows after a change, with its message naming what was done.
+
+## What the Core Rule Set still refuses
+
+Each refusal answers only that request ("Bans" in `SPEC.md` says what it counts
+toward). The request log names the rule in `waf_rule_ids`, which
+`SWWAF_WAF_DISABLED_RULES` can switch off.
+
+### A query string that reads as an attack
+
+Most often this is a search. A search term is a query parameter, which the Core
+Rule Set checks against its lists of system files and commands (see the fourth
+change under "Attack detection" in `SPEC.md`). A release attachment uploaded
+through the API as `docker-compose.yml` is refused the same way. Examples:
+
+- a name on those lists, such as `package.json`, `.gitignore` or
+  `docker-compose.yml`;
+- text that starts with a command name, such as `python3` or `ssh key`, or has
+  one right after a `/` in its first word, such as `feat/docker-support`;
+- a shell command with its options or a system path (`ls -la`, `sed -i`,
+  `/bin/sh`), or a command in backticks;
+- script code (`fetch(`, `${VAR}`, `process.env`), HTML (`<img src=`) or an SQL
+  statement (`SELECT * FROM users WHERE`);
+- a URL naming an IP address or `localhost`.
+
+### A branch, tag or file name that starts with a command name
+
+The Core Rule Set's list of commands (932260) holds names such as `docker-`,
+`python3`, `ansible`, `base64` and `whoami`. A query parameter holding a branch,
+tag or file name that starts with one is refused. So is one that has such a name
+right after a `/`, such as `feat/docker-support`, `fix/docker-build` or
+`renovate/docker-build-push-action-6.x`. gitea's own pages send the name in a
+query parameter that 930120, 932160 and 932260 still check:
+
+- `refSubUrl`, the branch or tag of a directory listing. A listing sends it when
+  it asks for its entries' last commits in a second request. It does so whenever
+  gitea takes more than a second to work them out;
+- `name`, when a branch is deleted or restored on the branches page;
+- `tag`, when a release is started from a tag;
+- `template`, the file of an issue template, when an issue is opened from it;
+- `rule_name`, when a branch protection rule is opened for editing in the
+  repository's settings or has just been saved.
+
+What a visitor sees, for a branch named `docker-build`:
+
+- A directory listing that makes that second request leaves those last commits
+  out and shows an error.
+- The branches page shows an error instead of deleting or restoring the branch.
+- A release started from such a tag gets the `403` answer of `smallwebwaf` in
+  place of its form. So does an issue opened from such a template, and such a
+  rule opened for editing.
+- Saving such a rule stores it. gitea then returns to the branch settings page,
+  which gets the `403` answer, so the save looks as if it failed.
+
+### A file name in a query parameter that trips the code rules
+
+The Core Rule Set's rules for Java, script, PowerShell and SQL find what they
+look for in some file names. This holds too in the ten query parameters that
+930120, 932160 and 932260 do not check (see the fourth change under "Attack
+detection" in `SPEC.md`). Examples:
+
+- `runtime` in OpenJDK's `src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/Runtime.java`
+  (944110);
+- a Java class, as in `java.lang.String.md` (944130);
+- `document.write.js` (941180);
+- `process.env.d.ts` (934100);
+- `__proto__` (934130);
+- the PowerShell command `Install-Script`, as in `install-script.sh` (932120);
+- a database's name, as in PostgreSQL's `information_schema.sql` (942140).
+
+For such a file, these requests are refused:
+
+- the API's list of its commits (`path`);
+- the API's call for the contents of files that names it in its query (`body`);
+- the commit graph of that file alone (`file`);
+- the hidden lines of its diff (`path`), which stay hidden;
+- the sign-in page, for a visitor who opens a page of the file that needs
+  signing in, such as its edit page (`redirect_to`). The visitor can still sign
+  in by opening the sign-in page itself.
+
+### A path
+
+- A file name ending in `~`, or an `.xhtml` file whose path holds a space.
+- A path that holds what the Core Rule Set takes for a Java class (944130), as
+  `java.lang.String.md` and
+  `META-INF/services/org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory` do.
+- A path that holds what it takes for Node.js code (934100), as
+  `process.env.d.ts` does.
+- A path with a directory named `...` (930100, 930110), such as `.../notes.txt`.
+
+For such a file, these are refused:
+
+- the page of the file;
+- its raw file;
+- its history and its blame;
+- its edit page.
+
+The directory that holds it lists it, and a clone carries it.
+
+### A container image push that reuses a layer
+
+A push can reuse a layer of an image docker has pushed to that gitea before.
+docker then asks gitea to take the layer from that image, naming it in the query
+parameter `from`, which 932260 checks. The request is refused when the image's
+owner starts with an entry on the list of commands. It is refused too when the
+image's name after the owner starts with one. Examples are `owner/python3-app`,
+`owner/docker-base`, and any image of an owner named `ansible` or `docker-team`.
+
+What happens next depends on docker's image store. A docker that keeps its
+images in containerd's image store fails the push, and fails each new try the
+same way. A new install of Docker Engine 29 does this. A docker that keeps them
+in its own older image store uploads the layer instead. The push then succeeds
+after one refusal for each layer it reuses, and each of those refusals counts
+toward the error burst ("Attack detection" in `SPEC.md`).
+
+### Artifact uploads from `actions/upload-artifact@v3`
+
+This action sends the header `Content-Range`, which the Core Rule Set refuses
+(920450). The action sends two files at a time, does not retry a `403`, and
+sends no further file once one is refused. So an upload is refused once or
+twice, however many files it holds, and the step fails. One upload does not ban
+the runner. The error burst ("Attack detection" in `SPEC.md`) bans it after more
+than 30 such refusals from its address in a minute, as when many jobs upload at
+once. `actions/upload-artifact@v4` does not send the header.
+
+## What body inspection refuses
+
+With `SWWAF_WAF_BODY_LIMIT` set, the Core Rule Set reads request bodies too. In
+front of gitea it then refuses these, until their rule ids, named in the request
+log, are added to `SWWAF_WAF_DISABLED_RULES`:
+
+- issue and comment text, wiki pages and files saved in the web editor that hold
+  shell commands or code (932125, 932235, 932250 and others);
+- package descriptions that show code;
+- PyPI uploads (922130);
+- attachments named like `debug.log` or `config.yml` (932180).
+
+## What `script/gitea-requests` sends
+
+Of the requests above, the script sends:
+
+- for each file named under "A file name in a query parameter that trips the
+  code rules", the API's list of its commits;
+- for `Runtime.java` alone, the commit graph of that file, the hidden lines of
+  its diff, and the API's call for the contents of files that names it;
+- the sign-in page for a visitor who opens the edit page of `document.write.js`;
+- the pages of `java.lang.String.md`,
+  `META-INF/services/org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory`, `process.env.d.ts`
+  and `.../notes.txt`;
+- one container image push that reuses a layer, which it does not try again.
+
+It does not send the raw file, history, blame or edit page of those four files,
+or the pages of the directories `META-INF/services` and `...`. It also sends a
+short sample of gitea's ordinary use:
+
+- signing in;
+- pages of files and commits, and a diff;
+- the API;
+- a push, and clone and fetch over HTTP;
+- two container image pushes.
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# What the image holds
+
+The contents of the `smallwebwaf` image, and how each part is pinned.
+"Deployment" in [`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md) says why each part is there and why it
+is pinned that way.
+
+## Contents
+
+- Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, pinned by digest.
+- `ca-certificates`, `nix-bin` and `runit` from Ubuntu, from the snapshot of its
+  archive at `20261001T000000Z`.
+- Nix, with nixpkgs `nixos-26.05.11045.774debe7a0d1` set up for root as
+  `nixpkgs`. No Nix daemon; `build-users-group =` in `/etc/nix/nix.conf`. Root's
+  Nix profile, `/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin`, last on the `PATH`.
+  Unpacked, nixpkgs takes about 500 MiB.
+- `runsvinit` as the entrypoint, built from `github.com/peterbourgon/runsvinit`
+  at a fixed commit hash.
+- The `smallwebwaf` binary, and the user `smallwebwaf` (uid and gid 65532).
+- The service directory `/etc/service/smallwebwaf`, with the `run` script
+  `share/smallwebwaf.run`.
+- `/var/lib/smallwebwaf` for the state files, and `/etc/smallwebwaf/rules.d`
+  with the default rule file `share/rules.d/00-default.rules`.
+- `EXPOSE 8080`, and the `HEALTHCHECK` that runs `smallwebwaf healthcheck`.
+
+## Pins
+
+- Ubuntu's packages: the snapshot service, `--snapshot 20261001T000000Z` on both
+  `apt-get update` and `apt-get install`. The SHA-256 hash of each of the
+  snapshot's `InRelease` files is named in the `Dockerfile` and checked after
+  `apt-get update`. The hashes are the amd64 archive's.
+- nixpkgs: the release file `nixexprs.tar.xz` of
+  `nixos-26.05.11045.774debe7a0d1` on `releases.nixos.org`, named with its
+  SHA-256 hash.
+- `runsvinit`: the archived repository, unchanged since 2015, at its last commit
+  (`b4b2c78`, eight commits after `v2.0.0`), by commit hash, with a `go.mod` the
+  build writes.
+- The Go image that builds `smallwebwaf`: by digest.
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+# The metrics
+
+The metrics `GET /_smallwebwaf/metrics` answers with, as "Metrics endpoint" in
+[`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md) describes it. Prometheus keeps the `instance` label as
+`exported_instance` unless the scrape sets `honor_labels: true`.
+
+## Traffic
+
+- `smallwebwaf_requests_total`, `smallwebwaf_request_bytes_total` and
+  `smallwebwaf_response_bytes_total`, by `status_class` such as `2xx` and by
+  `action`;
+- `smallwebwaf_request_duration_seconds` and
+  `smallwebwaf_upstream_duration_seconds`, as histograms;
+- `smallwebwaf_requests_in_flight`.
+
+## Limits and bans
+
+- `smallwebwaf_rate_limit_hits_total`, by `window` and by `kind` (`requests`,
+  `bytes` or `refusals`);
+- `smallwebwaf_size_and_time_limit_hits_total`, by `limit`, the setting passed;
+- `smallwebwaf_offences_total`, by `kind`;
+- `smallwebwaf_bans_made_total`, by `cause`;
+- `smallwebwaf_active_bans` and `smallwebwaf_permanent_bans`.
+
+## Attack detection
+
+- `smallwebwaf_rule_matches_total`, by `rule_id` and `action`, and
+  `smallwebwaf_rules_loaded`;
+- `smallwebwaf_waf_matches_total`, by `mode` and `rule_id`, for the rules that
+  fired.
+
+## Countries and AS numbers
+
+For the `SWWAF_METRICS_TOP_N` busiest of each, the rest as `other`:
+
+- `smallwebwaf_country_requests_total`,
+  `smallwebwaf_country_request_bytes_total`,
+  `smallwebwaf_country_response_bytes_total` and
+  `smallwebwaf_country_list_refusals_total`, by `country`;
+- `smallwebwaf_asn_requests_total`, `smallwebwaf_asn_request_bytes_total` and
+  `smallwebwaf_asn_response_bytes_total`, by `asn`.
+
+## Lookups
+
+- `smallwebwaf_geojs_requests_total` and `smallwebwaf_geojs_failures_total`;
+- `smallwebwaf_geojs_unanswered_total`: the requests that needed an answer and
+  went on without it;
+- with the file source,
+  `smallwebwaf_lookup_database_last_read_timestamp_seconds` and
+  `smallwebwaf_lookup_database_read_failures_total`.
+
+## Reputation sources
+
+By `source`: each list's URL, each zone, and `abuseipdb`:
+
+- `smallwebwaf_reputation_hits_total`, `smallwebwaf_reputation_queries_total`
+  and `smallwebwaf_reputation_failures_total`;
+- `smallwebwaf_reputation_last_fetch_timestamp_seconds`, for a list;
+- `smallwebwaf_reputation_daily_budget_remaining`, for AbuseIPDB.
+
+## State files
+
+By `file`:
+
+- `smallwebwaf_state_file_writes_total`,
+  `smallwebwaf_state_file_write_failures_total`,
+  `smallwebwaf_state_file_last_write_timestamp_seconds` and
+  `smallwebwaf_state_file_size_bytes`;
+- `smallwebwaf_state_file_edits_taken_in_total` and
+  `smallwebwaf_state_file_edits_set_aside_total`;
+- `smallwebwaf_tracked_clients`: the clients in the table.
+
+## Remote log, alerts and the process
+
+- while a syslog server is set, `smallwebwaf_remote_log_lines_sent_total`,
+  `smallwebwaf_remote_log_lines_dropped_total` and
+  `smallwebwaf_remote_log_buffer_depth`;
+- by `destination`, `smallwebwaf_alerts_sent_total`,
+  `smallwebwaf_alerts_failed_total`, `smallwebwaf_alerts_suppressed_total` and
+  `smallwebwaf_alerts_dropped_total`;
+- Go's own `go_` metrics and the process's `process_` metrics.
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+# The request log's fields
+
+The fields of the JSON object `smallwebwaf` writes for each request. "Request
+log" in [`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md) says when a line is written and how the log is
+sent to a syslog server. A field that does not apply to a request is left out.
+
+## Example
+
+```
+{"type":"request","time":"2026-10-03T12:00:00.123Z","instance":"fsn1app1/gitea","client_ip":"203.0.113.9","method":"GET","scheme":"https","host":"app.example","path":"/","query":"","protocol":"HTTP/1.1","status":200,"request_bytes":0,"response_bytes":5120,"referer":"","user_agent":"curl/8.9.1","request_id":"7Q2NHZ4KJ3VXW5YB6R3MEFTD2A","peer_ip":"172.18.0.2","forwarded_for":"203.0.113.9","client_group":"203.0.113.9/32","asn":"AS64496","as_name":"Example Net","country":"DE","request_headers":{"accept":"*/*"},"response_content_type":"text/html; charset=utf-8","upstream_status":200,"action":"forward","counts":{"minute":1,"hour":12,"day":40,"minute_bytes":5120,"hour_bytes":61440,"day_bytes":204800},"duration_total":3.217,"duration_checks":0.041,"duration_upstream_connect":0.052,"duration_upstream_first_byte":2.874,"duration_upstream_total":3.104}
+```
+
+## Every line
+
+Every line has:
+
+- `type`: `request` (the process's own messages have `process`);
+- the standard web log fields;
+- `request_id`, `peer_ip` and `client_group`;
+- `asn`, `as_name` and `country`;
+- `action` and `duration_total`.
+
+## Standard web log fields
+
+- `time`: when the request arrived, RFC 3339 with milliseconds, in UTC;
+- `instance`: `SWWAF_INSTANCE_NAME`;
+- `client_ip`, `method`, `scheme`, `host`, `path`, `query`, `protocol`;
+- `status`: what the client was sent, `0` if nothing;
+- `request_bytes` and `response_bytes`: body bytes each way;
+- `referer` and `user_agent`.
+
+## Request detail
+
+- `request_id`: the `X-Request-ID` a trusted proxy sent, or a new random one of
+  26 letters and digits.
+- `peer_ip`: the TCP peer, normally traefik.
+- `forwarded_for`: the `X-Forwarded-For` header as received.
+- `client_group`: the client as rate limiting counts it, an IPv4 address as a
+  /32 or an IPv6 group.
+- `asn`, `as_name` and `country`: the client's, as looked up. Each is empty
+  when:
+    - lookups are off;
+    - the client is not looked up;
+    - the source cannot place the client;
+    - GeoJS had not answered by the time the request went on.
+- `content_type` and `content_length`: the request's own.
+- `request_headers`: the headers listed in `SWWAF_LOG_REQUEST_HEADERS`, by name
+  in lower case.
+- `has_authorization` and `has_cookie`: true when the request had those headers.
+  Their values are never logged.
+- `websocket`: true when the app switched the connection to another protocol.
+
+## Response detail
+
+- `upstream_status`: what the app answered. It differs from `status` when
+  `smallwebwaf` answered itself.
+- `response_content_type`, `cache_control` and `location`: the answer's headers.
+- `aborted`: true when the client went away early.
+
+## Decision
+
+- `action`: what was done:
+    - `forward`: passed to the app;
+    - `denied`: refused for `SWWAF_DENY_NETS`, or for a reputation source with
+      the action `deny`;
+    - `banned`: refused under a ban, or for a `ban` rule, a trap path or a
+      CrowdSec decision, each of which bans the client;
+    - `country_denied`, `rate_limited`, `rule_blocked` and `waf_blocked`:
+      refused by that check;
+    - `too_large` and `timed_out`: a size or time limit was passed;
+    - `upstream_error`: the app could not be reached, or its answer broke off;
+    - `admin`: answered at one of `smallwebwaf`'s own endpoints.
+- `would_action`: in `observe` mode, what `enforce` mode would have done with a
+  request it would have refused. `action` then names what was done, normally
+  `forward`.
+- `limit_percent` and `limit_percent_setting`: the client's percentage of the
+  rate limits and the setting that lowered it, when one did. `bytes_percent` and
+  `bytes_percent_setting` do the same for the byte limits.
+- `counts`: the client's totals as rate limiting counts them, this request
+  included. It is left out when rate limiting did not count the request. It
+  holds:
+    - `minute`, `hour` and `day`: requests;
+    - `minute_bytes`, `hour_bytes` and `day_bytes`: bytes.
+
+    A count can have a fraction (see "Counting method" in
+    [`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md)).
+
+- `limit_hit`: the limit broken:
+    - `minute`, `hour` or `day` for a rate limit;
+    - `minute_bytes`, `hour_bytes` or `day_bytes` for a byte limit;
+    - `error_burst`.
+
+    A request whose bytes broke a limit was passed on whole, so its `action`
+    stays `forward`.
+
+- `rule_ids`: the rule file rules that matched, in order, up to the one that
+  refused.
+- `waf_score` and `waf_rule_ids`: the Core Rule Set's score and the rules that
+  matched, for a request it inspected.
+- `reputation`: the sources the client is on, in this order:
+    - blocklist URLs;
+    - the CrowdSec decision list's URL;
+    - DNS blocklist zones;
+    - `abuseipdb`.
+- `offence`: `limit`, for a request that broke a limit.
+- `ban_expires`: when the client's ban ends, for a request that made one or was
+  refused under one: a time, or `permanent`.
+
+## Timings
+
+All in milliseconds:
+
+- `duration_total`: from the request's headers being read to its log line;
+- `duration_checks`: to the end of the checks, before forwarding;
+- `duration_waf`: the part of that the Core Rule Set took;
+- `duration_upstream_connect`: from the hand-over to the app until there was a
+  connection;
+- `duration_upstream_first_byte`: until the first byte of the answer;
+- `duration_upstream_total`: until the end of the answer.
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+# Rule files
+
+The format of a rule file, and the default file the image ships. "Rule files" in
+[`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md) says how the files are read, watched and mounted, and
+what each action leads to.
+
+## The format
+
+A rule is a line of four fields separated by spaces or tabs: an id, a target, an
+action and a regex. The regex runs to the end of the line. Blank lines and lines
+starting with `#` are ignored.
+
+```
+# id           target      action  regex
+env-file       path        ban     (?i)^/\.env(\.[a-z]+)?$
+scanner-agent  user_agent  ban     (?i)\b(sqlmap|nikto|nuclei|wpscan)\b
+```
+
+- The id is letters, digits, `-` and `_`, unique across all files. The log line,
+  the metrics, the alerts and a ban's notes name the rule by it.
+- The target is what the regex is matched against:
+    - `path`: the path without the query;
+    - `uri`: the path and the query together;
+    - `query`: the query as sent;
+    - `method`, `host`, `user_agent` and `referer`;
+    - `header:<Name>`: any one request header but `Host` and
+      `Transfer-Encoding`.
+- The action is `log`, `block` or `ban`.
+- The regex is in Go's syntax, RE2. It matches anywhere in the target unless
+  anchored with `^` and `$`. `(?i)` at its front makes it ignore case.
+
+## The default file
+
+The image ships one file, `share/rules.d/00-default.rules`, installed as
+`/etc/smallwebwaf/rules.d/00-default.rules`:
+
+```
+# 00-default.rules: probes no real visitor sends, anchored at the site root
+
+# id             target      action  regex
+env-file         path        ban     (?i)^/\.env(\.[a-z]+)?$
+vcs-dir          path        ban     (?i)^/\.(git|svn|hg|bzr)(/|$)
+secrets-dir      path        ban     (?i)^/\.(aws|ssh|docker|kube)/
+secret-file      path        ban     (?i)^/\.(htpasswd|htaccess|npmrc|netrc|pgpass|git-credentials|bash_history|DS_Store)$
+editor-dir       path        ban     (?i)^/\.(vscode|idea)/
+backup-file      path        ban     (?i)^/[^/]+\.(php(\.[a-z0-9]+|~)|sql(\.[a-z0-9]+)?)$
+log-file         path        ban     (?i)^/(debug|error|access)\.log$
+compose-file     path        ban     (?i)^/(docker-)?compose\.ya?ml$
+php-shell        path        ban     (?i)^/(shell|c99|r57|wso|alfa)\.php$
+scanner-agent    user_agent  ban     (?i)\b(sqlmap|nikto|nuclei|masscan|zgrab|wpscan)\b
+path-traversal   uri         block   (\.\./){2,}
+empty-agent      user_agent  log     ^$
+```
+
+## A file of your own
+
+An app's `Dockerfile` adds rules of its own in a file named to sort after the
+default, such as `50-gitea.rules`:
+
+```
+# 50-gitea.rules: WordPress probes, which gitea never serves
+wp-probe         path        ban     (?i)^/(wp-login\.php|xmlrpc\.php|wp-admin/)
+```
+
+```dockerfile
+COPY 50-gitea.rules /etc/smallwebwaf/rules.d/50-gitea.rules
+```
@@ -0,0 +1,325 @@
+# Settings
+
+Every setting, its default and the values it takes, in the groups of "Settings"
+in [`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md). That section gives the conventions, the settings
+that take `off`, the `_FILE` form, and what each group does and why.
+
+## Forms of values
+
+- A duration is Go's syntax, with `d` for days: `90s`, `15m`, `24h`, `7d`. Zero
+  and negative durations are refused.
+- A size is a number of bytes with an optional `K`, `M` or `G`, which are powers
+  of 1024, so `1K` is 1024 bytes. Examples: `512K`, `100M`, `5G`.
+- A count is a whole number of requests, such as `1000`.
+- A list is comma separated, with spaces around items ignored. An empty item is
+  refused.
+- A netblock is an address and a prefix length, such as `10.0.0.0/8`. A bare
+  address stands for itself alone.
+- A country is a two-letter code of ISO 3166-1, in either case: `de` and `DE`
+  are the same. `xk` stands for Kosovo. A code that is not a country is refused,
+  such as `nk` (North Korea is `kp`) or the withdrawn `su`.
+- An AS number is `AS` and the number, in either case, such as `AS64496`.
+- A percentage is a whole number from 0 to 100.
+- A path prefix starts with `/`, such as `/assets/`.
+
+## Core
+
+- `SWWAF_UPSTREAM_URL` (default `http://127.0.0.1:8081`): the app. An `http` or
+  `https` URL with a host and an optional port, and nothing more.
+- `SWWAF_LISTEN_ADDR` (default `:8080`): where `smallwebwaf` listens: `:` and a
+  port, such as `:9000`. Leave the host out (see "Ports" in
+  [`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md)).
+- `SWWAF_INSTANCE_NAME` (default: the container's host name): the `instance`
+  name in every log line, alert and metric, such as `fsn1app1/gitea`. Valid
+  UTF-8. No control character while `SWWAF_ALERT_NTFY_URL` is set. 1 to 48
+  printable ASCII characters without a space while `SWWAF_LOG_REMOTE_URL` is set
+  and `SWWAF_LOG_REMOTE_APP_NAME` is not.
+- `SWWAF_MODE` (default `enforce`): `enforce` or `observe`.
+- `SWWAF_TRUSTED_PROXIES` (default `10.0.0.0/8,172.16.0.0/12,192.168.0.0/16`):
+  the netblocks whose `X-Forwarded-For` is believed. Set but empty, it trusts
+  nothing.
+- `SWWAF_IPV6_GROUP_PREFIX` (default `64`): the prefix length of an IPv6
+  client's group, from 32 to 128.
+- `SWWAF_MAX_TRACKED_CLIENTS` (default `20000`): the most clients kept, a whole
+  number above zero.
+- `SWWAF_MAX_BANS` (default `5000`): how many of its own bans `smallwebwaf`
+  keeps, a whole number above zero.
+
+## Tokens
+
+- `SWWAF_ADMIN_TOKEN` (default unset): the token for the ban endpoints and
+  `/_smallwebwaf/clients/<ip>`. At least 32 characters.
+- `SWWAF_METRICS_TOKEN` (default unset): the token for `/_smallwebwaf/metrics`.
+  At least 32 characters.
+
+## State files
+
+- `SWWAF_STATE_DIR` (default `/var/lib/smallwebwaf`): the directory of the state
+  files, an absolute path that exists and can be written.
+- `SWWAF_STATE_WRITE_DELAY` (default `10s`): how long `bans.json` waits to be
+  written after a ban is made, lifted or made permanent. A duration.
+- `SWWAF_STATE_COUNTER_INTERVAL` (default `15m`): how often every state file is
+  written. A duration.
+
+## Logging
+
+- `SWWAF_LOG_LEVEL` (default `info`): the least severe of `smallwebwaf`'s own
+  messages that are written: `debug`, `info`, `warn` or `error`.
+- `SWWAF_LOG_REQUEST_HEADERS` (default
+  `accept,accept-language,accept-encoding,content-type,origin,range`): the
+  request headers recorded in the log line, in either case. `Host` and
+  `Transfer-Encoding` are refused; the host is the field `host`.
+- `SWWAF_LOG_REMOTE_URL` (default unset): a syslog server that also gets every
+  line written to stdout: `syslog+udp://`, `syslog+tcp://` or `syslog+tls://`,
+  each with a host and a port and nothing more.
+- `SWWAF_LOG_REMOTE_TLS_CA_FILE` (default unset): a file of PEM certificates
+  that a `syslog+tls` server's certificate must chain to, instead of the host's
+  own. A file that cannot be read, or holds no certificate, is refused.
+- `SWWAF_LOG_REMOTE_BUFFER` (default `10000`): the most lines held while they
+  wait to be sent, a whole number above zero.
+- `SWWAF_LOG_REMOTE_FACILITY` (default `local0`): the syslog facility: `kern`,
+  `user`, `mail`, `daemon`, `auth`, `syslog`, `lpr`, `news`, `uucp`, `cron`,
+  `authpriv`, `ftp`, or `local0` to `local7`.
+- `SWWAF_LOG_REMOTE_APP_NAME` (default: `SWWAF_INSTANCE_NAME`): the app name in
+  each syslog record, 1 to 48 printable ASCII characters without a space.
+
+## Metrics
+
+- `SWWAF_METRICS_TOP_N` (default `50`): how many AS numbers and how many
+  countries get series of their own. A whole number above zero.
+
+## Static lists
+
+- `SWWAF_ALLOW_NETS` (default empty): netblocks you trust, such as your
+  monitoring. Their clients are refused only for a size or time limit or a
+  missing or wrong token.
+- `SWWAF_RATE_LIMIT_EXEMPT_NETS` (default empty): netblocks whose clients are
+  exempt from rate limiting and the byte limits.
+- `SWWAF_DENY_NETS` (default empty): netblocks whose clients are always refused.
+
+## Request rate limits, per client
+
+- `SWWAF_RATE_LIMIT_PER_MINUTE` (default `1000`), `SWWAF_RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR`
+  (default `10000`) and `SWWAF_RATE_LIMIT_PER_DAY` (default `50000`): the most
+  requests a client may make in each window. A count or `off`.
+- `SWWAF_RATE_LIMIT_EXEMPT_PATHS` (default empty): path prefixes exempt from
+  rate limiting and the byte limits, such as `/assets/`.
+
+## Byte limits, per client
+
+- `SWWAF_BYTES_LIMIT_PER_MINUTE` (default `10G`), `SWWAF_BYTES_LIMIT_PER_HOUR`
+  (default `20G`) and `SWWAF_BYTES_LIMIT_PER_DAY` (default `50G`): the most
+  bytes counted for a client in each window. A size or `off`.
+- `SWWAF_BYTES_COUNT` (default `both`): which body bytes the byte limits count:
+  `response`, `request` or `both`.
+
+## Size and time limits
+
+- `SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT` (default `60s`): how long a client may take to
+  send its request line and headers, and then, from the end of the headers, its
+  body. A duration or `off`.
+- `SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_HEADER_MAX_BYTES` (default `32K`): the largest request
+  line and headers. A size over `4K`; never `off`.
+- `SWWAF_CLIENT_IDLE_TIMEOUT` (default `120s`): how long a kept-open connection
+  may wait for its next request before it is closed. A duration or `off`.
+- `SWWAF_CLIENT_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT` (default `30m`): how long the answer may take
+  to reach the client, from the end of the request to the last byte. A duration
+  or `off`.
+- `SWWAF_UPSTREAM_REQUEST_TIMEOUT` (default `60s`): how long connecting to the
+  app and sending it the whole request may take. A duration or `off`.
+- `SWWAF_UPSTREAM_RESPONSE_TIMEOUT` (default `30m`): how long the app may take
+  to send its whole answer. A duration or `off`.
+- `SWWAF_REQUEST_MAX_BYTES` (default `100M`): the largest request body. A size
+  or `off`.
+- `SWWAF_RESPONSE_MAX_BYTES` (default `5G`): the largest response body. A size
+  or `off`.
+
+## Lookup of AS number and country
+
+- `SWWAF_LOOKUP_SOURCE` (default `geojs`): `geojs`, `file` or `off`.
+- `SWWAF_LOOKUP_DB_PATH` (default empty): the IPinfo Lite database file, in its
+  `.mmdb` form, for `SWWAF_LOOKUP_SOURCE=file`.
+- `SWWAF_LOOKUP_TIMEOUT` (default `1s`): how long a request waits for its
+  client's first answer from GeoJS, and how long a request to GeoJS may take. A
+  duration; never `off`.
+- `SWWAF_ADD_LOOKUP_HEADERS` (default `false`): `true` passes the app the
+  client's AS number in `X-Client-ASN` and its country in `X-Client-Country`.
+
+## Country lists
+
+- `SWWAF_DENIED_COUNTRIES` (default empty): countries whose clients are refused,
+  such as `cn,ru,kp`.
+- `SWWAF_EXCLUSIVELY_ALLOWED_COUNTRIES` (default empty): when set, the only
+  countries whose clients get through, such as `us,de`. A country on both lists
+  stops the start.
+
+## Biased thresholds
+
+- `SWWAF_ASN_LIMIT_PERCENT` (default empty): a list of AS numbers, each with `:`
+  and a percentage, such as `AS14061:50,AS16276:50,AS45102:25`. An AS number
+  listed twice is refused.
+- `SWWAF_COUNTRY_LIMIT_PERCENT` (default empty): the same by country, such as
+  `cn:25,ru:50`.
+- `SWWAF_ASN_BYTES_PERCENT` and `SWWAF_COUNTRY_BYTES_PERCENT` (default empty):
+  the same, for the byte limits alone.
+- `SWWAF_UNKNOWN_LIMIT_PERCENT` (default `100`): the percentage for a client the
+  lookup cannot place.
+- `SWWAF_ASN_LIMIT_PERCENT_URL` (default unset): the `http` or `https` URL of a
+  text file with one AS number and percentage on each line, such as
+  `AS64496:50`. A URL that is also in `SWWAF_BLOCKLIST_URLS` is refused.
+
+## Attack detection
+
+- `SWWAF_RULES_DIR` (default `/etc/smallwebwaf/rules.d`): the directory of the
+  rule files.
+- `SWWAF_RULES_ENABLED` (default `true`): `false` reads no rule file.
+- `SWWAF_TRAP_PATHS` (default empty): paths only scanners ask for, such as
+  `/wp-login.php,/xmlrpc.php`. Each starts with `/` and holds no `?`.
+- `SWWAF_WAF_MODE` (default `block`): `off`, `detect` or `block`.
+- `SWWAF_WAF_PARANOIA_LEVEL` (default `1`): the Core Rule Set's paranoia level,
+  from 1 to 4.
+- `SWWAF_WAF_ANOMALY_THRESHOLD` (default `5`): the score at which a request is a
+  match. A whole number above zero, or `off`.
+- `SWWAF_WAF_DISABLED_RULES` (default
+  `920340,920420,920440,920640,930130,930140`): the ids of Core Rule Set rules
+  to switch off. Each a whole number above zero. An id from 900000 to 900999 is
+  refused: those are the rules that set the Core Rule Set up, and
+  `smallwebwaf`'s own.
+- `SWWAF_WAF_EXEMPT_PATHS` (default empty): path prefixes the Core Rule Set does
+  not inspect.
+- `SWWAF_WAF_BODY_LIMIT` (default `off`): `off`, or how much of a request body
+  the Core Rule Set reads, a size of at most `1G`.
+- `SWWAF_ERROR_BURST_THRESHOLD` (default `30`): the most refusals of one client
+  in a minute for a rule match, a trap path, a Core Rule Set match or a failed
+  token check. A count or `off`.
+
+## Ban lengths, response and scope
+
+- `SWWAF_BAN_RESPONSE` (default `403`): `403`, `429` or `close`.
+- `SWWAF_LIMIT_BAN_DURATION` (default `1h`): the ban for a first broken limit. A
+  duration.
+- `SWWAF_LIMIT_BAN_REPEAT_WINDOW` (default `24h`): the time after a ban ends
+  within which breaking a limit again lengthens the next ban. A duration.
+- `SWWAF_MAX_BAN_DURATION` (default `7d`): the longest ban for a broken limit;
+  one that would be longer is permanent. A duration.
+- `SWWAF_ATTACK_BAN_DURATION` (default `7d`): the ban for a first clear sign of
+  attack. A duration.
+- `SWWAF_BAN_SCOPE_V4_PREFIX` (default `32`): how much a ban on an IPv4 client
+  covers: the prefix length of its netblock, from 0 to 32.
+
+## Reputation
+
+- `SWWAF_BLOCKLIST_URLS` (default empty): blocklists to fetch, such as
+  `https://www.spamhaus.org/drop/drop.txt`. Each an `http` or `https` URL
+  without a user or a fragment. A URL listed twice is refused.
+- `SWWAF_BLOCKLIST_REFRESH` (default `24h`): how long a list waits after its
+  last try before it is fetched again. A duration of `1h` or more.
+- `SWWAF_BLOCKLIST_ACTION` (default `deny`): `deny`, `limit:<percent>` or `log`.
+- `SWWAF_DNSBL_ZONES` (default empty): the DNS blocklists to ask, such as
+  `dnsbl.dronebl.org`. Each a DNS name of at most 189 characters. A Spamhaus
+  zone carries its key, as in `<key>.xbl.dq.spamhaus.net`. A zone listed twice
+  is refused, whatever its case or key.
+- `SWWAF_DNSBL_RESOLVER` (default unset): the resolver to ask the zones through,
+  such as `192.0.2.53` or `[2001:db8::53]:5353`. An IP address with an optional
+  port, 53 when none is given. Unset, the host's resolver is used.
+- `SWWAF_ABUSEIPDB_KEY` (default unset): the key of your AbuseIPDB account. A
+  control character in it is refused.
+- `SWWAF_ABUSEIPDB_MIN_SCORE` (default `75`): the least abuse confidence score,
+  from 0 to 100, that is a hit.
+- `SWWAF_ABUSEIPDB_DAILY_BUDGET` (default `900`): the most checks made in a day,
+  a whole number above zero. AbuseIPDB's free accounts may make 1,000.
+- `SWWAF_CROWDSEC_LAPI_URL` (default unset): the local API of a CrowdSec engine
+  you run, such as `http://172.17.0.1:8080`. An `http` or `https` URL without a
+  user or a fragment; its decision list is at `v1/decisions` under it. Set
+  without the key, it is refused. So is a decision list URL that is also in
+  `SWWAF_BLOCKLIST_URLS`, or that is `SWWAF_ASN_LIMIT_PERCENT_URL`.
+- `SWWAF_CROWDSEC_LAPI_KEY` (default unset): the key the engine gave for
+  `smallwebwaf`, as `cscli bouncers add smallwebwaf` prints it. Set without the
+  URL, it is refused.
+- `SWWAF_REPUTATION_ACTION` (default `limit:25`): `deny`, `limit:<percent>` or
+  `log`, for DNS blocklist and AbuseIPDB hits.
+- `SWWAF_REPUTATION_CACHE_TTL` (default `24h`): how long a zone's verdict or
+  AbuseIPDB's score is used. A duration.
+- `SWWAF_REPUTATION_TIMEOUT` (default `2s`): how long a query to a zone or a
+  check with AbuseIPDB may take. A duration.
+
+## Alerting
+
+- `SWWAF_ALERT_WEBHOOK_URL` (default unset): the webhook that receives each
+  alert as a JSON object. An `http` or `https` URL without a user or a fragment.
+- `SWWAF_ALERT_WEBHOOK_HEADERS` (default empty): headers sent with each post,
+  such as `Authorization:Bearer 0123456789abcdef`. A list of name, `:` and
+  value. A value cannot hold a comma.
+- `SWWAF_ALERT_SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL` (default unset): the Slack incoming webhook
+  that receives each alert as a message, checked as the webhook URL is.
+- `SWWAF_ALERT_NTFY_URL` (default unset): the ntfy topic that receives each
+  alert, as the topic's full URL, such as `https://ntfy.sh/my-alerts`, checked
+  as the webhook URL is.
+- `SWWAF_ALERT_NTFY_TOKEN` (default unset): an ntfy access token. A control
+  character in it is refused.
+- `SWWAF_ALERT_EVENTS` (default
+  `ban,permanent_ban,waf_block,anomaly,reputation_hit,source_failure,file_error`):
+  the event types alerts are sent for, from those in [`alerts.md`](alerts.md)
+  but `summary`. Any other name is refused.
+- `SWWAF_ALERT_COOLDOWN` (default `15m`): how long after an alert is sent its
+  repeats are held back. A duration or `off`.
+- `SWWAF_ALERT_MAX_PER_HOUR` (default `60`): the most alerts sent in an hour. A
+  whole number above zero, or `off`.
+
+## Anomaly thresholds
+
+Each scope has four thresholds: the most requests and the most bytes counted in
+a minute and in an hour. Requests are counts, bytes are sizes. Each is `off` by
+default. The four thresholds per client are:
+
+- `SWWAF_ANOMALY_CLIENT_REQUESTS_PER_MINUTE`;
+- `SWWAF_ANOMALY_CLIENT_REQUESTS_PER_HOUR`;
+- `SWWAF_ANOMALY_CLIENT_BYTES_PER_MINUTE`;
+- `SWWAF_ANOMALY_CLIENT_BYTES_PER_HOUR`.
+
+The other scopes' names have another prefix before the same four endings, such
+as `REQUESTS_PER_MINUTE`:
+
+- `SWWAF_ANOMALY_NET_...`: per netblock around a client. Two settings give the
+  netblock's length:
+    - `SWWAF_ANOMALY_NET_V4_PREFIX` (default `24`, from 0 to 32) for an IPv4
+      client;
+    - `SWWAF_ANOMALY_NET_V6_PREFIX` (default `48`, from 0 to 128) for an IPv6
+      client.
+- `SWWAF_ANOMALY_ASN_...`: per AS number. Needs a lookup source.
+- `SWWAF_ANOMALY_TOTAL_...`: the whole service.
+- `SWWAF_WATCH_...`: each netblock in `SWWAF_WATCH_NETS`, as a whole.
+  `SWWAF_WATCH_NETS` (default empty) is a list of name, `=` and netblock, such
+  as `office=203.0.113.0/24,scraper-x=198.51.100.0/22`. An item without `=` or a
+  name, or with a bad netblock, is refused. So is a name used twice.
+
+## Settings given as files
+
+To give a token as a file, as "Tokens" under "Deployment" in
+[`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md) describes, make the file on the host:
+
+```sh
+mkdir -p /srv/app/tokens
+openssl rand -hex 32 > /srv/app/tokens/metrics
+chown 65532:65532 /srv/app/tokens/metrics
+chmod 0400 /srv/app/tokens/metrics
+```
+
+Then mount its directory into the container read-only, and name the file:
+
+```sh
+docker run \
+    -v /srv/app/tokens:/etc/smallwebwaf/tokens:ro \
+    -e SWWAF_METRICS_TOKEN_FILE=/etc/smallwebwaf/tokens/metrics \
+    ...
+```
+
+## Fixed limits
+
+A few limits are fixed rather than settings:
+
+- at most 100,000 GeoJS answers are kept;
+- at most 100,000 DNS blocklist verdicts and 100,000 AbuseIPDB scores are kept;
+- at most 1,000 DNS blocklist queries are under way at once;
+- at most 20,000 anomaly counters are kept;
+- each alert destination's queue holds at most 1,000 alerts.
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+# State files
+
+The five JSON files in `SWWAF_STATE_DIR`, and what each holds. "Persistent
+state" in [`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md) says how they are written, read and edited.
+Each has a top-level `version` of 1.
+
+## `bans.json`
+
+Active and past bans: every ban an admin made, and up to `SWWAF_MAX_BANS` of
+those `smallwebwaf` made. Per entry:
+
+- `netblock`, `start` and `expires` (`null` for a permanent ban);
+- `cause`: `attack`, `limit`, `admin` or `crowdsec`;
+- `reason`: a short reason;
+- `lifted`: when an admin lifted it, if one did;
+- `notes`: the notes below.
+
+An entry an admin adds needs `netblock`, `start` and `expires`; `reason`,
+`notes` and `cause` may be left out, and the cause is then `admin`:
+
+```json
+{
+    "version": 1,
+    "bans": [
+        {
+            "netblock": "203.0.113.0/24",
+            "start": "2026-10-06T12:00:00Z",
+            "expires": null,
+            "reason": "probes for logins"
+        }
+    ]
+}
+```
+
+"Bans" in [`SPEC.md`](../SPEC.md) says how an edit lifts, keeps or forgets a
+ban. The notes:
+
+- `asn`, `as_name` and `country`: the client's, added when the lookup answers
+  (empty when lookups are off);
+- for a broken limit, `kind` (`requests`, `bytes` or `refusals`), `limit`,
+  `window` and `count`: what the limit was on, the limit, its window and the
+  count reached;
+- `limit_percent` and `limit_percent_setting`: the client's percentage of that
+  limit and the setting that gave it, when a setting lowered it;
+- for a clear sign of attack, `rule_id` and `target`, or `trap_path`;
+- `reputation`: the sources the client was on, each with its `source` and, for
+  AbuseIPDB, its `score`;
+- `request`: the request that caused the ban, each text cut to 256 bytes:
+    - `time`, `method` and `host`;
+    - `path`, with its query string;
+    - `status` and `user_agent`;
+- `requests` and `refused`: the netblock's requests since it was first seen, and
+  how many this ban has refused so far, kept up to date while the ban lasts;
+- `earlier_bans`: how many earlier bans the netblock had, by cause.
+
+## `clients.json`
+
+Per client, one per line: its minute, hour and day counters, and its history
+since it was first seen:
+
+- the first and last time seen;
+- the AS number, AS name and country last looked up, and when;
+- total requests, and how many were forwarded and how many refused;
+- bytes in each direction;
+- responses by status class;
+- offences by kind: `limit`, `attack`, `rule_blocked`, `waf_blocked` and
+  `token_refused`.
+
+## `lookups.json`
+
+GeoJS answers, one per line:
+
+- `client`;
+- `asn`, `as_name` and `country`;
+- `answered`: when GeoJS answered;
+- `used`: when the answer was last used.
+
+## `reputation.json`
+
+- the last good copy of each list fetched from a URL, with when it was last
+  tried;
+- each DNS blocklist verdict still in use;
+- AbuseIPDB's scores, and the checks spent today.
+
+## `alerts.json`
+
+- the anomaly counters;
+- the alert cooldowns: for each event and netblock, source, file or anomaly
+  scope, when it was last sent and the count of repeats held back since;
+- the alerts sent and held back in the current hour;
+- the alerts waiting for each destination.
+
+## Sizes
+
+- `clients.json`: about 1 KiB per client, about 20 MiB at the default
+  `SWWAF_MAX_TRACKED_CLIENTS`. Written every 15 minutes, that is under 2 GiB of
+  disk writes a day.
+- `bans.json`: about 1.2 KiB per ban, at most about 2.5 KiB, so about 6 MiB at
+  the default `SWWAF_MAX_BANS`. Written every 15 minutes, a full file comes to
+  about 600 MiB of writes a day, and a hundred new bans a day add about 600 MiB
+  more.
+- `lookups.json`: about 150 bytes per answer, under 1.5 GiB of writes a day when
+  full.
+- `reputation.json` and `alerts.json`: usually a few MiB or less.
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 package proxy

 import (
+	"bufio"
 	"errors"
 	"io"
+	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"sync/atomic"

@@ -211,9 +213,20 @@ func (w *responseWriter) FlushError() error {
 	return err
 }

+// Hijack takes over the connection to the client, which ReverseProxy does
+// only to pass on the app's 101 Switching Protocols: that is then the
+// status sent.
+func (w *responseWriter) Hijack() (net.Conn, *bufio.ReadWriter, error) {
+	conn, buffered, err := http.NewResponseController(w.ResponseWriter).Hijack()
+	if err == nil {
+		w.status = http.StatusSwitchingProtocols
+	}
+
+	return conn, buffered, err
+}
+
 // Unwrap lets http.ResponseController reach net/http's own
-// ResponseWriter, which is how ReverseProxy takes over the connection of
-// an upgraded request.
+// ResponseWriter for what responseWriter does not do itself.
 func (w *responseWriter) Unwrap() http.ResponseWriter {
 	return w.ResponseWriter
 }
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import (
 // limit while the Core Rule Set reads it, which it notes nothing of.
 func (rq *request) checkCoreRuleSet() string {
 	cfg := rq.h.config
-	if cfg.WAFMode == config.WAFModeOff || pathExempt(rq.in.URL, cfg.WAFExemptPaths) {
+	if cfg.WAFMode == config.WAFModeOff || pathExempt(rq.in, cfg.WAFExemptPaths) {
 		return ""
 	}

@@ -74,6 +74,47 @@ func TestPassesRequestAndAnswerUnchanged(t *testing.T) {
 	wantRequestFields(t, line, addr, len(requestBody), len(answerBody))
 }

+func TestPassesThePathAsSent(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	for _, path := range []string{
+		// An encoded slash and a character Go escapes: |, ^, and é sent
+		// as its UTF-8 bytes.
+		"/a%2Fb|c", "/feat%2Fx/file^1", "/x%2Fy/café",
+		// A path starting with //, which Go would send as a scheme and
+		// host if it were put in URL.Opaque.
+		"//a%2Fb",
+	} {
+		t.Run(path, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+
+			saw := make(chan string, 1)
+			app := startApp(t, func(_ http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+				saw <- r.RequestURI
+			})
+			addr, out := startProxy(t, app.URL, nil)
+
+			conn := dial(t, addr)
+			send(t, conn, "GET "+path+"?q=1 HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: "+appHost+"\r\n\r\n")
+
+			got := readResponse(t, conn)
+			if got.status != http.StatusOK {
+				t.Fatalf("status %d, want %d", got.status, http.StatusOK)
+			}
+
+			target := <-saw
+			if target != path+"?q=1" {
+				t.Errorf("app saw %s, want %s", target, path+"?q=1")
+			}
+
+			line := out.requestLine(t)
+			if line.Path != path {
+				t.Errorf("log line has path %s, want %s", line.Path, path)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 // wantAppSaw checks that the app received the test's request unchanged.
 func wantAppSaw(t *testing.T, saw appSaw, body []byte) {
 	t.Helper()
@@ -151,6 +192,36 @@ func wantRequestFields(t *testing.T, line logLine, host string, sent, received i
 	}
 }

+func TestAddsNoContentTypeTheAppDidNotSend(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	const typed = "text/plain"
+
+	app := startApp(t, func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		if r.URL.Path == "/typed" {
+			w.Header().Set("Content-Type", typed)
+		} else {
+			// The key with no value keeps Go's server from adding one.
+			w.Header()["Content-Type"] = nil
+		}
+
+		_, _ = io.WriteString(w, "<!doctype html><title>page</title>")
+	})
+	addr, _ := startProxy(t, app.URL, nil)
+
+	got := get(t, addr, "/")
+	if got.header.Values("Content-Type") != nil {
+		t.Errorf("client got Content-Type %q, want none",
+			got.header.Get("Content-Type"))
+	}
+
+	got = get(t, addr, "/typed")
+	if got.header.Get("Content-Type") != typed {
+		t.Errorf("client got Content-Type %q, want %q",
+			got.header.Get("Content-Type"), typed)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestStreamsTheRequestBody(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()

@@ -309,6 +380,23 @@ func echoAfterUpgrade(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	}
 }

+func TestAnswers502WhenTheAppSwitchesToAnotherProtocol(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	// answerAfterUpgrade switches to websocket whatever the client asked
+	// for, and ReverseProxy passes on a switch only to the protocol the
+	// client asked for, here "websocket, foo".
+	app := startApp(t, answerAfterUpgrade)
+	addr, out := startProxy(t, app.URL, nil)
+
+	conn := dial(t, addr)
+	send(t, conn, "GET /ws HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: app\r\n"+
+		"Connection: Upgrade\r\nUpgrade: websocket, foo\r\n\r\n")
+
+	wantStatus(t, readResponse(t, conn), http.StatusBadGateway)
+	wantLine(t, out.requestLine(t), http.StatusBadGateway, requestlog.ActionUpstreamError)
+}
+
 func TestServerHasTheDefaultLimits(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()

@@ -185,6 +185,9 @@ func TestRateLimitCountsPathsThatAreNotExempt(t *testing.T) {
 		"/assets/x%2Fy",
 		"/assets/x%2fy",
 		`/assets/x\y`,
+		// The same with a character Go escapes, |, for which Go's
+		// URL.EscapedPath gives /assets/x/y%7Cz, with no encoded slash.
+		"/assets/x%2Fy|z",
 	} {
 		t.Run(sent, func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import (
 	"net/http/httptrace"
 	"net/http/httputil"
 	"net/netip"
-	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"slices"
 	"strings"
@@ -22,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"sneak.berlin/go/smallwebwaf/internal/lookup"
 	"sneak.berlin/go/smallwebwaf/internal/ratelimit"
 	"sneak.berlin/go/smallwebwaf/internal/requestlog"
+	"sneak.berlin/go/smallwebwaf/internal/rules"
 )

 // flushAfterEachWrite has ReverseProxy pass on each part of the app's
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ func (h *handler) newRequest(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) *request {
 			Method:           r.Method,
 			Scheme:           scheme(r, peerTrusted),
 			Host:             r.Host,
-			Path:             r.URL.EscapedPath(),
+			Path:             rules.Path(r),
 			Query:            r.URL.RawQuery,
 			Protocol:         r.Proto,
 			Referer:          r.Referer(),
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ func (rq *request) checkClient(ctx context.Context) string {
 	}

 	rq.counted = !isInside(rq.client, cfg.RateLimitExemptNets) &&
-		!pathExempt(rq.in.URL, cfg.RateLimitExemptPaths)
+		!pathExempt(rq.in, cfg.RateLimitExemptPaths)
 	if rq.counted {
 		rq.limitPercent, rq.bytesPercent = rq.limitPercentages()
 		rq.line.LimitPercent, rq.line.LimitPercentSetting = rq.limitPercent.logged()
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ func (rq *request) checkClient(ctx context.Context) string {
 	return rq.checkCoreRuleSet()
 }

-// pathExempt reports whether a request for u is exempt under prefixes,
+// pathExempt reports whether r is exempt under prefixes,
 // SWWAF_RATE_LIMIT_EXEMPT_PATHS or SWWAF_WAF_EXEMPT_PATHS: whether its
 // path as sent, the path the app receives, not percent-decoded, starts
 // with one of prefixes, so that /%61ssets/x is not under /assets/ for an
@@ -316,10 +316,9 @@ func (rq *request) checkClient(ctx context.Context) string {
 // encoded slash (%2F or %2f), never is, since an app may act on it as a
 // path outside every prefix: /assets/..%2Flogin as /login, or /assets%2Fx
 // as one path segment, as Go's router does.
-func pathExempt(u *url.URL, prefixes []string) bool {
-	decoded := u.Path
-	// EscapedPath is the path as the app receives it, not decoded.
-	sent := u.EscapedPath()
+func pathExempt(r *http.Request, prefixes []string) bool {
+	decoded := r.URL.Path
+	sent := rules.Path(r)

 	if strings.Contains(decoded, "..") || strings.Contains(decoded, `\`) ||
 		strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(sent), "%2f") {
@@ -375,6 +374,17 @@ func (rq *request) rewrite(pr *httputil.ProxyRequest) {
 	// ReverseProxy drops query parameters it cannot parse; the app gets
 	// the query as the client sent it.
 	pr.Out.URL.RawQuery = pr.In.URL.RawQuery
+	// ReverseProxy sends the path URL.EscapedPath gives, which, for a path
+	// holding a character Go escapes, such as |, is the whole path decoded
+	// and escaped again, %2F turned into /. Opaque is sent as it is, so the
+	// app gets the path as the client sent it. Left out are a target that
+	// is no path, such as *, and a path starting with //, which Go would
+	// send in Opaque as a scheme and host.
+	path := rules.Path(pr.In)
+	if strings.HasPrefix(path, "/") && !strings.HasPrefix(path, "//") {
+		pr.Out.URL.Opaque = path
+	}
+
 	setForwardedHeaders(pr.In, pr.Out, rq.peer, rq.peerTrusted)
 	pr.Out.Header.Set(requestIDHeader, rq.line.RequestID)
 	pr.Out.Header.Del(asnHeader)
@@ -395,8 +405,10 @@ func (rq *request) modifyResponse(res *http.Response) error {
 		// timeouts. ReverseProxy writes this answer straight to the
 		// connection it takes over, not through rq.out, and then copies
 		// what passes each way through res.Body, the connection to the app.
+		// It may still refuse the switch, as when the app's Upgrade is not
+		// the client's, so the status is noted only once it has taken over
+		// the connection, by rq.out's Hijack.
 		rq.stopTimers()
-		rq.out.status = res.StatusCode
 		rq.line.Websocket = true

 		conn, ok := res.Body.(io.ReadWriteCloser)
@@ -419,6 +431,13 @@ func (rq *request) modifyResponse(res *http.Response) error {
 		return errResponseTooLarge
 	}

+	// Go's server adds a Content-Type it guesses from the body to a
+	// response whose headers have no Content-Type key. The key with no
+	// value sends none, as the app sent none.
+	if res.Header.Get("Content-Type") == "" {
+		rq.out.Header()["Content-Type"] = nil
+	}
+
 	res.Body = &responseBody{body: limitBody(res.Body, maxBytes), rq: rq}
 	rq.startClientResponseTimeout()

@@ -428,6 +447,13 @@ func (rq *request) modifyResponse(res *http.Response) error {
 // answerError is ReverseProxy's ErrorHandler: the request could not be
 // passed to the app, or the app's answer cannot be passed on.
 func (rq *request) answerError(_ http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request, err error) {
+	if rq.upgraded != nil {
+		// The app switched protocols, but the switch was not passed on,
+		// and ReverseProxy leaves the app's connection open when it
+		// refuses it.
+		_ = rq.upgraded.Close()
+	}
+
 	refused := rq.refused.Load()
 	if refused == nil {
 		if rq.in.Context().Err() != nil {
@@ -710,6 +736,16 @@ func (rq *request) requestTimedOut(limit string) {
 	}

 	if rq.body == nil || !rq.body.waiting.Load() {
+		// Once the app has answered, the transport, ReverseProxy and Go's
+		// server each close the client's body, and closing it reads what
+		// is left of a body under 256 KiB without requestBody.Read, so
+		// waiting is false while that read waits for the client. That
+		// read ends now, before refuse: should smallwebwaf still answer
+		// itself, answer then sets the deadline it gives its own answers.
+		if !rq.answerStarted.IsZero() {
+			rq.stopReadingBody(time.Now())
+		}
+
 		rq.refuse(refusal{
 			status: http.StatusGatewayTimeout,
 			action: requestlog.ActionTimedOut,
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+package proxy
+
+import (
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"testing"
+
+	"sneak.berlin/go/smallwebwaf/internal/config"
+)
+
+func TestAnAnswerWithoutAContentTypeGetsNone(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(
+		func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+			rq := &request{
+				h:   &handler{config: &config.Config{}},
+				out: &responseWriter{ResponseWriter: w},
+			}
+			app := &http.Response{
+				StatusCode: http.StatusOK,
+				Header:     http.Header{},
+				Body:       http.NoBody,
+			}
+
+			err := rq.modifyResponse(app)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Errorf("modifyResponse: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			// The headers go out with this, the first part of the body,
+			// which Go's server would guess a Content-Type from.
+			_, _ = io.WriteString(w, "<!doctype html><title>page</title>")
+		}))
+	t.Cleanup(srv.Close)
+
+	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(t.Context(), http.MethodGet, srv.URL,
+		http.NoBody)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("new request: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	res, err := srv.Client().Do(req)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("get: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	_ = res.Body.Close()
+
+	if res.Header.Values("Content-Type") != nil {
+		t.Errorf("client got Content-Type %q, want none",
+			res.Header.Get("Content-Type"))
+	}
+}
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"testing"
@@ -248,6 +249,97 @@ func TestClientStopsSendingAfterTheAppHasAnswered(t *testing.T) {
 	wantLimitHits(t, addr, clientRequestTimeout, 1)
 }

+func TestClientStopsSendingWithLittleOfItsBodyLeft(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		name string
+		// limit is the setting set to shortTimeout, which runs out, and
+		// clientTimeout what SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT is set to when it
+		// is not limit.
+		limit, clientTimeout string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:  "client request timeout",
+			limit: clientRequestTimeout,
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "upstream request timeout, client request timeout off",
+			limit:         upstreamRequestTimeout,
+			clientTimeout: off,
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "upstream request timeout, client request timeout longer",
+			limit:         upstreamRequestTimeout,
+			clientTimeout: longTimeoutSetting,
+		},
+	} {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+
+			// appClosed is closed once smallwebwaf has closed its
+			// connection to the app, which it does once it has the app's
+			// answer.
+			appClosed := make(chan struct{})
+
+			// The app answers without reading the rest of the body, and
+			// says it closes the connection, only once smallwebwaf waits
+			// for the client to send more: it takes the bytes the client
+			// sent, and then waits half the timeout, far longer than
+			// smallwebwaf takes to go on to wait.
+			app := startApp(t, func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+				conn, buf, err := http.NewResponseController(w).Hijack()
+				if err != nil {
+					return
+				}
+
+				_, _ = io.ReadFull(buf.Reader, make([]byte, len("the first bytes")))
+
+				time.Sleep(shortTimeout / 2)
+
+				_, _ = buf.WriteString("HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found\r\n" +
+					"Content-Length: 0\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n")
+				_ = buf.Flush()
+				_, _ = io.Copy(io.Discard, buf.Reader)
+				_ = conn.Close()
+
+				close(appClosed)
+			})
+
+			env := map[string]string{tc.limit: shortTimeoutSetting, metricsToken: token}
+			if tc.clientTimeout != "" {
+				env[clientRequestTimeout] = tc.clientTimeout
+			}
+
+			addr, out := startProxy(t, app.URL, env)
+
+			// Less than 256 KiB of the body is left after the first bytes,
+			// little enough for Go's server in smallwebwaf to read the rest
+			// itself before it sends the app's answer.
+			start := time.Now()
+			conn := dial(t, addr)
+			send(t, conn, "POST /upload HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: app\r\nContent-Length: 200000\r\n\r\n"+
+				"the first bytes")
+
+			select {
+			case <-appClosed:
+			case <-time.After(waitLimit):
+				t.Fatal("smallwebwaf did not close its connection to the app")
+			}
+
+			// More of the body, which can no longer go to the app, and then
+			// nothing.
+			send(t, conn, strings.Repeat("x", 8<<10))
+
+			got := readResponse(t, conn)
+			wantTimedOut(t, start)
+			wantStatus(t, got, http.StatusNotFound)
+			wantLine(t, out.requestLine(t), http.StatusNotFound, requestlog.ActionTimedOut)
+			wantLimitHits(t, addr, tc.limit, 1)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func TestAppTooSlowToAnswer(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()

@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ var (
 	// errMissing is for an entry without a field it needs.
 	errMissing     = errors.New("has no")
 	errCause       = errors.New("is not limit, attack, admin or crowdsec")
+	errExpires     = errors.New("is not after its start")
 	errDestination = errors.New("is not webhook, slack or ntfy")
 	errScope       = errors.New("is not client, net, asn, total or watch")
 	errWaitingList = errors.New(`waiting is a list, but now lists the alerts by ` +
@@ -646,8 +647,10 @@ func (e BanEntry) ban() bans.Ban {
 // client, a start, from which the length of the netblock's next ban is
 // worked out, or an expires, which would make it permanent. A permanent
 // ban's expires is null, which Bans cannot tell from a missing one, so
-// each expires is read again as written. A cause other than limit,
-// attack, admin or crowdsec, most likely misspelt, is refused too.
+// each expires is read again as written. An expires not after the start
+// is refused too, since the netblock's next ban for a broken limit, three
+// times as long as this one, would then refuse nothing; and so is a cause
+// other than limit, attack, admin or crowdsec, most likely misspelt.
 func (f *bansFile) check(data []byte) error {
 	var written struct {
 		Bans []struct {
@@ -668,6 +671,8 @@ func (f *bansFile) check(data []byte) error {
 			return missing(i, "start")
 		case written.Bans[i].Expires == nil:
 			return missing(i, "expires")
+		case entry.Expires != nil && !entry.Expires.After(entry.Start):
+			return fmt.Errorf("entry %d's expires %w", i+1, errExpires)
 		case entry.Cause != "" && entry.Cause != bans.CauseLimit &&
 			entry.Cause != bans.CauseAttack && entry.Cause != bans.CauseAdmin &&
 			entry.Cause != bans.CauseCrowdSec:
@@ -865,6 +865,21 @@ func TestBanWithAnotherCauseStopsTheStart(t *testing.T) {
 		`: entry 4's cause "atack" is not limit, attack, admin or crowdsec`)
 }

+func TestBanThatDoesNotEndAfterItsStartStopsTheStart(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	// The first ban ends a second after its start; the second ends as it
+	// starts, or an hour before.
+	for _, expires := range []string{`"2026-10-06T00:00:00Z"`, `"2026-10-05T23:00:00Z"`} {
+		wantRefused(t, bansJSON, `{"version": 1, "bans": [`+
+			`{"netblock": "203.0.113.9/32", "start": "2026-10-06T00:00:00Z", `+
+			`"expires": "2026-10-06T00:00:01Z"}, `+
+			`{"netblock": "203.0.113.10/32", "start": "2026-10-06T00:00:00Z", `+
+			`"expires": `+expires+`}]}`,
+			`: entry 2's expires is not after its start`)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestUnknownVersionStopsTheStart(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()

@@ -5,12 +5,15 @@
 # served through smallwebwaf, that a second one in a minute bans the
 # client, that a probe for /.env bans another client, which its next
 # request bans for good, that `sv stop` stops smallwebwaf in order, that
-# `docker stop` stops the container without having to kill it, and that
-# a new container on the same volume still refuses the banned client. The
+# `docker stop` stops the container without having to kill it, that a
+# new container on the same volume still refuses the banned client, that
+# a container with its state files on a new volume mounted at the
+# directory SWWAF_STATE_DIR_FILE names becomes healthy, and that one whose
+# SWWAF_STATE_DIR does not exist logs smallwebwaf's message about it. The
 # containers run with SWWAF_LOOKUP_SOURCE=off, so that no address is sent
-# to GeoJS. The containers, the volume and both images are removed however
-# the script ends. Building the app needs network access, for nixpkgs'
-# binary cache. script/check does not run this.
+# to GeoJS. The containers, the volumes and both images are removed
+# however the script ends. Building the app needs network access, for
+# nixpkgs' binary cache. script/check does not run this.
 set -eu

 SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd -P)"
@@ -23,10 +26,15 @@ IMAGE="$NAME-base"
 APP_IMAGE="$NAME-app"
 CONTAINER="$NAME"
 VOLUME="$NAME-state"
+# The volumes of the container whose state directory SWWAF_STATE_DIR_FILE
+# names: its state files, and the file that names their directory.
+MOVED_VOLUME="$NAME-moved-state"
+SETTINGS_VOLUME="$NAME-settings"

 cleanup() {
    docker rm --force "$CONTAINER" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
-    docker volume rm --force "$VOLUME" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+    docker volume rm --force "$VOLUME" "$MOVED_VOLUME" "$SETTINGS_VOLUME" \
+        >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
    docker rmi --force "$APP_IMAGE" "$IMAGE" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
 }

@@ -76,6 +84,27 @@ start_container() {
    address="$(docker port "$CONTAINER" 8080/tcp)"
 }

+# start_moved_container: run the app's container with the state files on
+# a new volume at /srv/state, which SWWAF_STATE_DIR_FILE names in a file
+# only the smallwebwaf user can read, as under "Settings given as files"
+# in docs/settings.md, and wait until it is healthy. smallwebwaf can write the
+# new volume only once the run script has given it to that user.
+start_moved_container() {
+    docker volume create "$MOVED_VOLUME" >/dev/null
+    docker volume create "$SETTINGS_VOLUME" >/dev/null
+    docker run --rm --volume "$SETTINGS_VOLUME:/settings" \
+        --entrypoint bash "$IMAGE" -c 'echo /srv/state > /settings/state-dir &&
+            chown smallwebwaf:smallwebwaf /settings/state-dir &&
+            chmod 0400 /settings/state-dir'
+    docker run --detach --name "$CONTAINER" \
+        --volume "$MOVED_VOLUME:/srv/state" \
+        --volume "$SETTINGS_VOLUME:/etc/smallwebwaf/settings:ro" \
+        --env SWWAF_STATE_DIR_FILE=/etc/smallwebwaf/settings/state-dir \
+        --env SWWAF_LOOKUP_SOURCE=off \
+        "$APP_IMAGE" >/dev/null
+    wait_for "the health check did not pass" healthy
+}
+
 # refused: a request to the container gets 403, SWWAF_BAN_RESPONSE's
 # default.
 refused() {
@@ -140,6 +169,20 @@ main() {
    wait_for "smallwebwaf logged no request refused under the ban" \
        logged '"action":"banned"'
    echo "example-app: a new container on the same volume keeps the ban"
+
+    docker rm --force "$CONTAINER" >/dev/null
+    start_moved_container
+    echo "example-app: the run script gives the state files' directory named" \
+        "by SWWAF_STATE_DIR_FILE to the smallwebwaf user"
+
+    docker rm --force "$CONTAINER" >/dev/null
+    docker run --detach --name "$CONTAINER" \
+        --env SWWAF_STATE_DIR=/srv/missing \
+        --env SWWAF_LOOKUP_SOURCE=off \
+        "$APP_IMAGE" >/dev/null
+    wait_for "smallwebwaf did not report the missing state directory" \
+        logged "SWWAF_STATE_DIR cannot be written"
+    echo "example-app: smallwebwaf reports a state directory that does not exist"
 }

 main "$@"
@@ -0,0 +1,335 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# script/gitea-requests: build the image and run gitea 1.27.3 behind it,
+# with every setting of smallwebwaf at its default but SWWAF_UPSTREAM_URL,
+# which names gitea's container. Then send through it the gitea requests
+# that reading gitea's source found the Core Rule Set refuses, and a short
+# sample of gitea's ordinary use: signing in, pages of files and commits,
+# a diff, the API, a push, clone and fetch over HTTP, and two container
+# image pushes. Last, print each request smallwebwaf logged, with what it
+# did with it and the ids of the Core Rule Set's rules that matched it.
+# Every request comes from one client, docker's gateway, so more than
+# SWWAF_ERROR_BURST_THRESHOLD, 30, refusals in a minute would ban it, and
+# the requests after would show as banned. The containers, the network,
+# the images and the files the script makes are removed however it ends;
+# gitea's own image stays, as the base images of a build do. It needs
+# network access, and a docker daemon that pushes to a registry on
+# localhost over plain HTTP, as docker does by default. script/check does
+# not run this.
+set -eu
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd -P)"
+ROOT="$(cd "$SCRIPT_DIR/.." && pwd -P)"
+
+# gitea 1.27.3, 2026-08-29
+GITEA_IMAGE="gitea/gitea@sha256:87a67ee09d3ae0d1df5fda5dcda3e2a1f9236a45b0a59025d6e00e46adc43bef"
+
+# Named after this run, so that runs in other clones on the same host
+# never touch each other's.
+NAME="$("$SCRIPT_DIR/projectname")-gitea-$$"
+IMAGE="$NAME-image"
+NETWORK="$NAME"
+SMALLWEBWAF="$NAME-smallwebwaf"
+GITEA="$NAME-gitea"
+
+# gitea's one user, who owns the repository and the container images.
+PASSWORD="owner-password"
+
+BROWSER="Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:131.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/131.0"
+
+# The files the script makes, and smallwebwaf's address once it runs,
+# localhost and the port docker publishes it on: a host name, since the
+# Core Rule Set takes a Host that is an IP address for a warning (920350).
+WORK=""
+address=""
+
+cleanup() {
+    # So that a signal cannot stop it partway through.
+    trap '' HUP INT TERM
+    docker rm --force --volumes "$SMALLWEBWAF" "$GITEA" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+    docker network rm "$NETWORK" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+    docker rmi --force "$IMAGE" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+    if [ -n "$address" ]; then
+        docker rmi --force "$address/owner/python3-app:1" "$address/owner/app:1" \
+            >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+    fi
+    rm -rf "$WORK"
+}
+
+fail() {
+    echo "gitea-requests: $*" >&2
+    report
+    exit 1
+}
+
+# wait_for <what fails> <command>...: run the command every second until
+# it succeeds, for at most a minute.
+wait_for() {
+    failure="$1"
+    shift
+    tries=0
+    until "$@"; do
+        tries=$((tries + 1))
+        [ "$tries" -lt 60 ] || fail "$failure"
+        sleep 1
+    done
+}
+
+healthy() {
+    status="$(docker inspect --format '{{.State.Health.Status}}' "$SMALLWEBWAF")"
+    [ "$status" = healthy ]
+}
+
+# logged <text>...: a line of smallwebwaf's output holds every text, in
+# any order.
+logged() {
+    lines="$(docker logs "$SMALLWEBWAF" 2>&1)"
+    for text in "$@"; do
+        lines="$(printf '%s\n' "$lines" | grep -F "$text")" || return 1
+    done
+}
+
+# send <label> <path> <curl option>...: send a request for path to
+# smallwebwaf, with label as its X-Request-ID, which the report gives,
+# and keep the body of the answer in $WORK/answer. The Core Rule Set
+# reads that header too, so a label names no file the cases name.
+send() {
+    label="$1"
+    path="$2"
+    shift 2
+    curl --silent --show-error --max-time 30 --output "$WORK/answer" \
+        --header "X-Request-ID: $label" "$@" "http://$address$path"
+}
+
+# page <label> <path> <curl option>...: send the request as a browser
+# does, with the cookies gitea has set. Its Referer is the repository's
+# page, which links to the others, and never a page the Core Rule Set
+# refused: its address would have the next request refused too.
+page() {
+    label="$1"
+    path="$2"
+    shift 2
+    send "$label" "$path" --compressed --user-agent "$BROWSER" \
+        --header "Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,*/*;q=0.8" \
+        --header "Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5" \
+        --cookie "$WORK/cookies" --cookie-jar "$WORK/cookies" \
+        --referer "http://$address/owner/repo" "$@"
+}
+
+# api <label> <path> <curl option>...: send the request as a client of
+# gitea's API does, as the owner.
+api() {
+    label="$1"
+    path="$2"
+    shift 2
+    send "$label" "$path" --user "owner:$PASSWORD" \
+        --header "Accept: application/json" "$@"
+}
+
+# repo_git <git argument>...: run git as the owner, without the host's
+# own git settings, so that nothing it does is kept outside $WORK.
+repo_git() {
+    GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL=/dev/null GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM=1 git \
+        -c user.name=owner -c user.email=owner@example.invalid "$@"
+}
+
+# lines: forty lines of text, enough for a diff to hide some of them.
+lines() {
+    i=1
+    while [ "$i" -le 40 ]; do
+        echo "line $i"
+        i=$((i + 1))
+    done
+}
+
+# make_repository: create the repository owner/repo, holding a file of
+# each name the cases name, and push it, which is the push over HTTP of
+# the sample. The second commit adds a line at the end of Runtime.java,
+# so that its diff hides the lines above.
+make_repository() {
+    status="$(api create-repository /api/v1/user/repos \
+        --header "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"name":"repo"}' \
+        --write-out '%{http_code}')"
+    [ "$status" = 201 ] || fail "creating the repository was answered $status"
+
+    dir="$WORK/repo"
+    repo_git init --quiet --initial-branch=main "$dir"
+    for file in \
+        src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/Runtime.java \
+        java.lang.String.md \
+        META-INF/services/org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory \
+        document.write.js \
+        process.env.d.ts \
+        test/fixtures/__proto__.json \
+        install-script.sh \
+        src/backend/catalog/information_schema.sql \
+        .../notes.txt \
+        README.md; do
+        mkdir -p "$dir/$(dirname "$file")"
+        lines >"$dir/$file"
+        repo_git -C "$dir" add "$file"
+    done
+    repo_git -C "$dir" commit --quiet --message "Add the files"
+    echo "line 41" >>"$dir/src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/Runtime.java"
+    repo_git -C "$dir" commit --quiet --all --message "Add a line"
+
+    repo_git -C "$dir" -c "http.extraHeader=X-Request-ID: git-push" push --quiet \
+        "http://owner:$PASSWORD@$address/owner/repo.git" main ||
+        fail "the push of the repository failed"
+}
+
+# browse: sign in, then open pages as a person does. The cases are those
+# of https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/smallwebwaf/issues/30.
+browse() {
+    # Case: gitea sends a visitor who is not signed in to the sign-in
+    # page, with the page asked for in redirect_to, when that page needs
+    # signing in, as a file's edit page does.
+    page issue-30-case /owner/repo/_edit/main/document.write.js --location
+
+    page sign-in /user/login
+    status="$(page sign-in /user/login --header "Origin: http://$address" \
+        --data-urlencode user_name=owner --data-urlencode "password=$PASSWORD" \
+        --write-out '%{http_code}')"
+    [ "$status" = 303 ] || fail "signing in was answered $status"
+
+    page browse /
+    page browse /owner/repo
+    page browse /owner/repo/src/branch/main/README.md
+    page browse /owner/repo/commits/branch/main
+    page browse "/owner/repo/commit/$(repo_git -C "$WORK/repo" rev-parse HEAD)"
+
+    # Case: expanding the lines the diff hides, by the link the diff's
+    # page gives for it.
+    excerpt="$(sed -n 's/.*data-fetch-url="\([^"]*blob_excerpt[^"]*\)".*/\1/p' \
+        "$WORK/answer" | head -n 1 | sed 's/&amp;/\&/g')"
+    [ -n "$excerpt" ] || fail "the diff's page has no link to its hidden lines"
+    page issue-30-case "$excerpt"
+
+    # Cases: the commit graph of one file, and the pages of files whose
+    # path the Core Rule Set takes for an attack.
+    page issue-30-case "/owner/repo/graph?file=src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/Runtime.java"
+    page issue-30-case /owner/repo/src/branch/main/META-INF/services/org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory
+    page issue-30-case /owner/repo/src/branch/main/java.lang.String.md
+    page issue-30-case /owner/repo/src/branch/main/process.env.d.ts
+    page issue-30-case /owner/repo/src/branch/main/.../notes.txt
+}
+
+# call_api: the API's calls the cases name: the commits of a file, for a
+# file of each name the Core Rule Set takes for an attack in the query
+# parameter path, and the file-contents call, which takes its list of
+# files as JSON in the query parameter body.
+call_api() {
+    for file in \
+        src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/Runtime.java \
+        java.lang.String.md \
+        document.write.js \
+        process.env.d.ts \
+        test/fixtures/__proto__.json \
+        install-script.sh \
+        src/backend/catalog/information_schema.sql; do
+        api issue-30-case /api/v1/repos/owner/repo/commits --get --data-urlencode "path=$file"
+    done
+    api issue-30-case /api/v1/repos/owner/repo/file-contents --get \
+        --data-urlencode 'body={"files":["src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/Runtime.java"]}'
+}
+
+# push_images: push a container image to owner/python3-app, then the same
+# image to owner/app. For the second, the case, docker asks gitea to take
+# its layer from owner/python3-app, naming it in the query parameter
+# from. docker sends no X-Request-ID, so its requests have the ids
+# smallwebwaf gives them. The image is one small file, imported rather
+# than built.
+push_images() {
+    echo "$NAME" >"$WORK/layer.txt"
+    tar -cf - -C "$WORK" layer.txt |
+        docker import - "$address/owner/python3-app:1" >/dev/null
+    docker tag "$address/owner/python3-app:1" "$address/owner/app:1"
+
+    # The login is written here rather than made with docker login, which
+    # would keep it in the host's credential helper when it has one.
+    mkdir "$WORK/docker"
+    printf '{"auths":{"%s":{"auth":"%s"}}}\n' "$address" \
+        "$(printf 'owner:%s' "$PASSWORD" | base64)" >"$WORK/docker/config.json"
+    for image in "$address/owner/python3-app:1" "$address/owner/app:1"; do
+        DOCKER_CONFIG="$WORK/docker" docker push --quiet "$image" >/dev/null ||
+            echo "gitea-requests: the push of $image failed" >&2
+    done
+}
+
+# clone_and_fetch: the clone and fetch over HTTP of the sample.
+clone_and_fetch() {
+    repo_git -c "http.extraHeader=X-Request-ID: git-clone" clone --quiet \
+        "http://owner:$PASSWORD@$address/owner/repo.git" "$WORK/clone" ||
+        fail "the clone failed"
+    repo_git -C "$WORK/clone" -c "http.extraHeader=X-Request-ID: git-fetch" fetch --quiet ||
+        fail "the fetch failed"
+}
+
+# field <name> <line>: the text of the field name in line, a line of the
+# request log, or nothing when it has none.
+field() {
+    printf '%s\n' "$2" | sed -n "s/.*\"$1\":\"\([^\"]*\)\".*/\1/p"
+}
+
+# report: print a line for each request smallwebwaf logged, but its
+# health checks: what it did with the request, the ids of the Core Rule
+# Set's rules that matched it, its X-Request-ID, and the request.
+# waf_blocked is a refusal by the Core Rule Set, and forward a request
+# passed on to gitea, whatever gitea answered.
+report() {
+    docker logs "$SMALLWEBWAF" 2>/dev/null | grep '"type":"request"' |
+        grep -v '"action":"admin"' | sed 's/\\u0026/\&/g' >"$WORK/requests"
+    while IFS= read -r line; do
+        ids="$(printf '%s\n' "$line" | sed -n 's/.*"waf_rule_ids":\[\([0-9,]*\)\].*/\1/p')"
+        query="$(field query "$line")"
+        printf '%-11s %-13s %-17s %s %s%s\n' "$(field action "$line")" "${ids:--}" \
+            "$(field request_id "$line")" "$(field method "$line")" \
+            "$(field path "$line")" "${query:+?$query}"
+    done <"$WORK/requests"
+    echo "gitea-requests: $(grep -c . "$WORK/requests") requests," \
+        "$(grep -c '"action":"waf_blocked"' "$WORK/requests") refused by the Core Rule Set"
+}
+
+main() {
+    cd "$ROOT"
+    trap cleanup EXIT
+    trap 'exit 1' HUP INT TERM
+    WORK="$(mktemp -d)"
+
+    docker build --no-cache -t "$IMAGE" .
+
+    # smallwebwaf first, so that gitea can be given the address it is
+    # reached at, and gitea's image pulled before, so that gitea starts
+    # within the minute smallwebwaf's health check waits for it.
+    docker pull --quiet "$GITEA_IMAGE" >/dev/null
+    docker network create "$NETWORK" >/dev/null
+    docker run --detach --name "$SMALLWEBWAF" --network "$NETWORK" \
+        --publish 127.0.0.1::8080 \
+        --env SWWAF_UPSTREAM_URL="http://$GITEA:3000" \
+        "$IMAGE" >/dev/null
+    published="$(docker port "$SMALLWEBWAF" 8080/tcp)"
+    address="localhost:${published##*:}"
+
+    docker run --detach --name "$GITEA" --network "$NETWORK" \
+        --env GITEA__security__INSTALL_LOCK=true \
+        --env GITEA__server__ROOT_URL="http://$address/" \
+        "$GITEA_IMAGE" >/dev/null
+    # smallwebwaf's health check passes once gitea takes connections.
+    wait_for "the health check did not pass" healthy
+    docker exec --user git "$GITEA" gitea admin user create --admin \
+        --username owner --password "$PASSWORD" --email owner@example.invalid \
+        --must-change-password=false >/dev/null
+
+    make_repository
+    browse
+    call_api
+    push_images
+    clone_and_fetch
+
+    # The fetch's last request is the last of all; once it is logged, so
+    # is every other.
+    wait_for "smallwebwaf logged no line for the fetch" \
+        logged '"request_id":"git-fetch"' '"method":"POST"'
+    report
+}
+
+main "$@"
@@ -5,12 +5,32 @@ set -euo pipefail
 # exits; the wait spaces out the restarts. The state directory and every
 # file in it are given to the smallwebwaf user, so that a volume mounted
 # there needs no change of owner; chown -R changes a symbolic link itself,
-# never what it points to. exec, so that the signal `sv stop` sends
-# reaches smallwebwaf itself.
+# never what it points to. When SWWAF_STATE_DIR, in either form, cannot be
+# read or is not the absolute path of a directory, no owner is changed,
+# and smallwebwaf starts and stops with a message naming the setting. A
+# change of owner that fails, as on a volume mounted read-only, does not
+# end the script either: smallwebwaf reports a directory it cannot write.
+# exec, so that the signal `sv stop` sends reaches smallwebwaf itself.
 main() {
    sleep 1
-    chown -R smallwebwaf:smallwebwaf "${SWWAF_STATE_DIR:-/var/lib/smallwebwaf}"
+    local dir
+    if dir="$(state_dir)" && [[ "$dir" == /* && -d "$dir" ]]; then
+        chown -R smallwebwaf:smallwebwaf "$dir" || true
+    fi
    exec chpst -u smallwebwaf:smallwebwaf /usr/local/bin/smallwebwaf
 }

+# state_dir prints SWWAF_STATE_DIR, /var/lib/smallwebwaf when it is unset,
+# or what is in the file SWWAF_STATE_DIR_FILE names, less every newline at
+# its end. It fails when both are set or the file cannot be read.
+state_dir() {
+    if [[ ! -v SWWAF_STATE_DIR_FILE ]]; then
+        printf '%s\n' "${SWWAF_STATE_DIR-/var/lib/smallwebwaf}"
+    elif [[ ! -v SWWAF_STATE_DIR ]]; then
+        cat -- "$SWWAF_STATE_DIR_FILE" 2>/dev/null
+    else
+        return 1
+    fi
+}
+
 main "$@"
Author	SHA1	Message	Date
sneak	1dbe17e594	README rewritten from scratch so a newcomer can follow it (closes #154 , closes #155 ) check / check (push) Waiting to run Details The old README opened with project history and one list of a hundred settings. The new one leads with what smallwebwaf is, what it protects against, how to build and deploy it, what happens to a request, the settings most deployments touch, how to check it works, the entrypoints, the rationale and the design, as REPO_POLICIES.md requires. The reference lists, every setting, the rule file format, the endpoints, the request log's fields, the alert events, the metrics, the state files, the image and the gitea notes, move to files under docs/, each linked from the README, with SPEC.md as the one place for behaviour. Every statement was checked against the code on next. Model: fable-5-1	2026-10-22 22:29:53 +00:00
clawbot	eafcc3fd73	README and SPEC name every offence that has a client checked (closes #151 ) check / check (push) Canceled after 0s Details The AbuseIPDB section of README.md listed only a broken rate limit or byte limit, a ban rule match, and a refusal by a block rule or the Core Rule Set. A client is checked once its history counts any offence, so it now also names the error burst, a request for a trap path and a refusal for a missing or wrong token, as "What it does so far" does. The definition of an offence under "Bans" in SPEC.md now names a refusal for a missing or wrong token too, as the code counts one. Model: opus-5-5	2026-10-20 17:46:16 +02:00
clawbot	da0c182a47	A ban in bans.json that ends at or before its start is refused, as other malformed entries are (closes #150 ) check / check (push) Canceled after 0s Details A netblock's next ban for a broken limit within SWWAF_LIMIT_BAN_REPEAT_WINDOW lasts three times its last limit or admin ban. A hand-written entry with an expires at or before its start made that length zero or less, so the next limit ban refused nothing. The bans.json checks now refuse such an entry: it stops the start, and an edit holding one is set aside as bans.json.bad while running. README's "State files" lists it with the other refused entries. Model: opus-5-5	2026-10-20 17:42:01 +02:00
clawbot	4cc492004a	smallwebwaf starts with SWWAF_STATE_DIR given as a file on a new volume (closes #137 ) check / check (push) Canceled after 0s Details The run script gave ${SWWAF_STATE_DIR:-/var/lib/smallwebwaf} to the smallwebwaf user and never read SWWAF_STATE_DIR_FILE, so a new volume at the directory that file names stayed root's. The run script now takes the setting from the variable or the file, and changes the owner only when it is the absolute path of a directory that exists; otherwise it starts smallwebwaf, which stops with its message naming the setting. A chown that fails, as on a read-only volume, no longer ends the run script. script/example-app, and its entry in README.md, gain two steps: a container on such a volume becomes healthy, and a missing state directory reaches smallwebwaf's message. Model: opus-5-5	2026-10-20 16:54:34 +02:00
clawbot	69178da59a	An answer from the app without a Content-Type reaches the client without one (closes #127 ) check / check (push) Canceled after 0s Details Go's server adds a Content-Type it guesses from the body when the response's headers have no Content-Type key, which happened to some of the app's answers and not others, as the first part of the body or the headers went out first. When the app sends none, smallwebwaf now sets the key with no value on the client's response, which sends none. Model: opus-5-5	2026-10-20 16:41:18 +02:00
clawbot	d1d21a0469	README and SPEC say a client too slow to send its request line and headers may get an error answer (closes #138 ) check / check (push) Canceled after 0s Details A client too slow to send its request line and headers within SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT gets either no answer or an error answer from Go's server, mostly 400 Bad Request; 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	2026-10-20 16:32:08 +02:00
clawbot	7acc6ae153	A path holding a character Go escapes reaches the app as the client sent it (closes #126 ) check / check (push) Canceled after 0s Details ReverseProxy sends the path URL.EscapedPath gives, which decodes and escapes again a path holding a character such as \|, turning %2F into /. The path as sent now goes in URL.Opaque, which Go sends as it is; the rate limit and WAF exempt paths and the log line's path use the same path. A path starting with // is left as before: Go would send it in Opaque as a scheme and host. Model: opus-5-5	2026-10-20 16:09:46 +02:00
clawbot	75f28ee0b5	An upgrade the app accepts under another protocol name is answered 502 (closes #131 ) check / check (push) Canceled after 0s Details ReverseProxy refuses a 101 whose Upgrade is not the one the client asked for, but modifyResponse had already counted the 101 as sent, so answerError sent nothing and the client got an empty 200. The 101 now counts as sent only once ReverseProxy has taken over the client's connection, and answerError closes the app's switched connection, which ReverseProxy leaves open when it refuses the switch. Model: opus-5-5	2026-10-20 15:36:30 +02:00
clawbot	b0d54a2c51	README and SPEC say what docker stop does to requests in progress when the app exits at once (closes #139 ) check / check (push) Canceled after 0s Details runit stops smallwebwaf and the app at the same time, so the five seconds smallwebwaf gives requests in progress help only while the app still answers them. Both documents now say so, say what the client gets when the app exits at once on SIGTERM, and say what an app does to let its requests in progress finish. Model: opus-5-5	2026-10-20 15:28:31 +02:00
clawbot	d9f7344ae6	A client that stops sending with little of its body left after the app has answered is timed out (closes #136 ) check / check (push) Canceled after 0s Details When less than 256 KiB of a client's body is left after the app has answered, the rest is read by closing the body, which the transport, ReverseProxy and Go's server each do, not through requestBody.Read. waiting was then false, so a request timeout that ran out took the 504 branch, which set no read deadline, and the request held its connection for as long as the client kept it open. Once the app has answered, that branch now ends reading the client's body at once, whichever of SWWAF_CLIENT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT and SWWAF_UPSTREAM_REQUEST_TIMEOUT ran out. Model: opus-5-5	2026-10-20 15:09:16 +02:00
clawbot	60c49a6740	script/gitea-requests, and the gitea refusals it confirms named in SPEC.md (closes #30 ) check / check (push) Canceled after 0s Details script/gitea-requests runs gitea 1.27.3 behind the image at its defaults, sends through it the requests that reading gitea's source found the Core Rule Set refuses, with a short sample of ordinary use, and prints each request with the rule ids that matched it. make gitea-requests runs it; make check does not. Every case still holds, and each fix would let through what SPEC.md says stays refused, so the notes specific to gitea now name them with how each refusal plays out: file names in query parameters that read as Java, script, PowerShell or SQL, such paths, and an image push that reuses a layer of an image named like a command. Model: opus-5-5	2026-10-20 13:39:05 +02:00
clawbot	47aac0235d	A ban's earlier_bans counts a ban dropped after an admin's ban (closes #128 ) check / check (push) Canceled after 0s Details earlierBans took the counts in the notes of the netblock's first ban held, so a ban dropped after an admin's ban, which came first, went uncounted. Each ban held now gives a count, its notes' counts plus one for it and each ban held after it, and the count that names the most bans is taken whole. Counting from the newest ban alone would lose the bans before an admin's ban added to bans.json without notes; taking each cause from a different count would count twice a ban an admin keeps, which later bans' notes count under its old cause. Model: opus-5-5	2026-10-20 12:59:52 +02:00