Enforce HTTP RFC compliance
NetScaler Web App Firewall inspects the incoming traffic for HTTP RFC compliance and drops any request that has RFC violations by default. However, there are certain scenarios, where the appliance might have to bypass or block a non-RFC compliance request. In such cases, you can configure the appliance to bypass or block such requests at global or profile level.
Block or bypass non-RFC compliant requests at global level
The HTTP module identifies a request as invalid if it is incomplete and such requests cannot be processed by WAF. For example, an incoming HTTP request having a host header missing. To block or bypass such invalid requests, you must configure the malformedReqAction option in the application firewall global settings.
The ‘malformedReqAction’ parameter validates the incoming request for invalid content length, invalid chunked request, no HTTP version, and incomplete header.
Note:
If you disable the block option in the
malformedReqActionparameter, the appliance bypasses the entire app firewall processing for all non-RFC compliance requests and forwards the requests to the next module.
To block or bypass invalid non-RFC complaint HTTP requests by using the command line interface
To block or bypass invalid requests, enter the following command:
set appfw settings -malformedreqaction <action>
Example:
set appfw settings –malformedReqAction block
To display malformed request action settings
To display malformed request action settings, enter the following command:
show appfw settings
Output:
DefaultProfile: APPFW_BYPASS UndefAction: APPFW_BLOCK SessionTimeout: 900 LearnRateLimit: 400 SessionLifetime: 0 SessionCookieName: citrix_ns_id ImportSizeLimit: 134217728 SignatureAutoUpdate: OFF SignatureUrl:"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NSAppFwSignatures/SignaturesMapping.xml" CookiePostEncryptPrefix: ENC GeoLocationLogging: OFF CEFLogging: OFF EntityDecoding: OFF UseConfigurableSecretKey: OFF SessionLimit: 100000 MalformedReqAction: block log stats
Done
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To block or bypass invalid non-RFC complaint HTTP requests by using the NetScaler GUI
- Navigate to Security > NetScaler Web App Firewall.
- In the NetScaler Web App Firewall page, click Change Engine Settings under Settings.
- In the Configure NetScaler Web App Firewall Settings page, select the Log Malformed Request option as Block, Log, or Stats.
- Click OK and Close.
Note:
If you unselect the block action or do not select any malformed request action, the appliance bypasses the request without intimating the user.
Block or bypass non-RFC compliant requests at profile level
Other non-RFC compliant requests can be configured to block or bypass at profile level. You must configure the RFC profile either in Block or Bypass mode. By doing this configuration, any invalid traffic that matches the Web App Firewall profile is either bypassed or blocked accordingly. The RFC profile validates the following security checks:
- Invalid GWT-RPC requests
- Invalid content type headers
- Invalid Multipart requests
- Invalid JSON requests
- Duplicate cookie name value pair checks
Note:
When you set the
RFCprofile in “Bypass” mode, you must make sure you disable the transformation option in the HTML Cross-Site Scripting Settings and in the HTML SQL Injection Settings sections. If you enable and set theRFCprofile in Bypass mode, the appliance displays a warning message, “Transform cross-site scripts” and “Transform SQL special characters” are both currently ON. Recommend turning it off when used withAPPFW_RFC_BYPASS.Important:
Also, the appliance displays a warning note, “Appfw Security checks enabled might not be applicable to requests which violates RFC checks when this profile is set. Enabling any transformation setting is not recommended as requests might be partially transformed that contains RFC violations.”
To configure an RFC profile in the Web App Firewall profile by using the command line interface
At the command prompt, type the following commands:
set appfw profile <profile_name> -rfcprofile <rfcprofile_name
Example
set appfw profile P1 -rfcprofile APPFW_RFC_BLOCK
Note:
By default, the
RFCprofile is bound to the Web App Firewall profile in Block mode.
To configure an RFC profile in the Web App Firewall profile by using the GUI
- Navigate to Security > NetScaler Web App Firewall > Profiles.
- In the Profiles page, select a profile and click Edit.
- In the Web App Firewall Profile page, click Profile settings from the Advanced Settings section.
- In the HTML Settings section, set the
RFCprofile inAPPFW_RFC_BYPASSmode. The system displays a warning message, “Appfw Security checks enabled might not be applicable to requests which violates RFC checks when this profile is set. Enabling any transformation setting is not recommended as requests might be partially transformed that contains RFC violations”.