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allow empty header values #139

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Merged
kevinkreiser merged 3 commits into from
Nov 19, 2025
Merged

allow empty header values #139

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71df844
add failing test
kevinkreiser Nov 19, 2025
b87f3fb
tests pass
kevinkreiser Nov 19, 2025
1f07490
lint
kevinkreiser Nov 19, 2025
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10 changes: 6 additions & 4 deletions src/http_protocol.cpp
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ const http_request_t::request_exception_t
"The HTTP request version is not supported",
{CORS}));

template <class T> size_t name_max(const std::unordered_map<std::string, T>& methods) {
template <class T>
size_t name_max(const std::unordered_map<std::string, T>& methods) {
Comment on lines -54 to +55
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@kevinkreiser kevinkreiser Nov 19, 2025

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stupid linters

size_t i = 0;
for (const auto& kv : methods)
i = std::max(i, kv.first.size());
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -460,10 +461,11 @@ http_request_t::from_stream(const char* start, size_t length, size_t max_size) {
// while the char is in the set, basically implement TRIM.. lets instead hope to ditch our
// custom parser
size_t field_end, value_begin;
if ((field_end = partial_buffer.find(':')) == std::string::npos ||
(value_begin = partial_buffer.find_first_not_of(' ', field_end + 1)) ==
std::string::npos)
if ((field_end = partial_buffer.find(':')) == std::string::npos)
throw RESPONSE_400;
Comment on lines +464 to 465
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@kevinkreiser kevinkreiser Nov 19, 2025

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ok so we still bail if you send headers with no : to separate name and value

if ((value_begin = partial_buffer.find_first_not_of(' ', field_end + 1)) ==
std::string::npos)
value_begin = partial_buffer.size();
Comment on lines +466 to +468
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@kevinkreiser kevinkreiser Nov 19, 2025

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but now if you dont send a value or if your value is all whitespace we detect that and set the value to empty string

headers.insert({partial_buffer.substr(0, field_end), partial_buffer.substr(value_begin)});
} // the end or body
else {
Expand Down
36 changes: 28 additions & 8 deletions test/http.cpp
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -39,12 +39,12 @@ class testable_http_server_t : public http_server_t {
// remember the last response that was sent
std::vector<http_response_t> last_responses;
virtual bool dequeue(const http_request_info_t& info, const zmq::message_t& response) {
last_responses.emplace_back(http_response_t::from_string(static_cast<const char*>(response.data()), response.size()));
last_responses.emplace_back(
http_response_t::from_string(static_cast<const char*>(response.data()), response.size()));
try {
return http_server_t::dequeue(info, response);
}
catch(const std::runtime_error& e){
if(std::string(e.what()).find("unreachable") == std::string::npos) {
} catch (const std::runtime_error& e) {
if (std::string(e.what()).find("unreachable") == std::string::npos) {
throw e;
}
}
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -189,6 +189,27 @@ void test_request_parsing() {
auto content_length = request.headers.find("content-length");
if (content_length == request.headers.cend() || content_length->second != "11")
throw std::runtime_error("Request parsing failed");

request_str = "GET /empty HTTP/1.1\r\nx-often-empty-header: \r\n\r\n";
request = http_request_t::from_string(request_str.c_str(), request_str.size());
auto empty = request.headers.find("x-often-empty-header");
if (empty == request.headers.cend() || !empty->second.empty())
throw std::runtime_error("Request parsing failed");

request_str = "GET /empty HTTP/1.1\r\nx-often-empty-header:\r\n\r\n";
request = http_request_t::from_string(request_str.c_str(), request_str.size());
auto still_empty = request.headers.find("x-often-empty-header");
if (still_empty == request.headers.cend() || !still_empty->second.empty())
throw std::runtime_error("Request parsing failed");
Comment on lines +193 to +203
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@kevinkreiser kevinkreiser Nov 19, 2025

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we try with no value but a ton of whitespace and then again with literally nothing, then below we make sure that no colon still fails


request_str = "GET /bad_header HTTP/1.1\r\nx-bad-header-no-colon \r\n\r\n";
try {
request = http_request_t::from_string(request_str.c_str(), request_str.size());
throw std::runtime_error("Request parsing should have failed");
} catch (const http_request_t::request_exception_t& e) {
if (e.code != 400)
throw std::runtime_error("Request parsing failed");
}
}

void test_query_parsing() {
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -265,10 +286,9 @@ void test_response_parsing() {
void test_shortcircuit() {
// a server who lets us snoop on what its doing
zmq::context_t context;
testable_http_server_t server(context, "ipc:///tmp/test_http_server",
"ipc:///tmp/test_http_proxy_upstream", "ipc:///tmp/test_http_results",
"ipc:///tmp/test_http_interrupt", false,
MAX_REQUEST_SIZE, -1,
testable_http_server_t server(
context, "ipc:///tmp/test_http_server", "ipc:///tmp/test_http_proxy_upstream",
"ipc:///tmp/test_http_results", "ipc:///tmp/test_http_interrupt", false, MAX_REQUEST_SIZE, -1,
Comment on lines -268 to +291
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@kevinkreiser kevinkreiser Nov 19, 2025

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more linter blowback

[](const http_request_t& r) -> bool { return r.path == "/health_check"; },
http_response_t{200, "OK", "foo_bar_baz"}.to_string());
server.passify();
Expand Down
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