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Christoph Leiter e22c85373c fix(server): keep the client port in X-Forwarded-Host (#2288)
* fix(server): keep the client port in X-Forwarded-Host

The service proxy stripped the port when setting X-Forwarded-Host, so a
workspace service that derives its public origin from forwarded headers
emitted absolute URLs pointing at port 80. Opening a service at
http://api--branch--repo.localhost:6767/ and letting it redirect gave
back a Location without the port, which the browser followed to nothing.

Host was already forwarded intact, so services reading Host were fine.
Nothing rewrites Location on the way back, so the wrong URL reached the
browser unchanged.

The strip was not localhost-only: buildPublicServiceProxyUrl preserves
an explicit port in publicBaseUrl, so a public alias on :8443 hit the
same path. It was a no-op only on the default-port public case.

Forward the authority verbatim instead, and add X-Forwarded-Port under a
never-invent, never-clobber rule: report only a port observed in the
Host header, and leave any value an upstream proxy already set alone.
Deriving it from the scheme would overwrite nginx's port on a
non-default listener, and the upgrade path's hardcoded "http" would turn
a correct 443 into 80. An empty inbound value carries no port, so it
does not count as a value to preserve; out-of-range ports are dropped
rather than passed on, since the authority is client-supplied.

The header block existed in four copies. Collapse them: the subsystem
now delegates to createScriptProxyMiddleware and
createScriptProxyUpgradeHandler (passing passthroughUnknown explicitly,
since the factory defaults it to true), and both remaining call sites
share one buildForwardedHeaders helper.

Adds the first tests to cover any x-forwarded-* header on this path,
driven over a real proxy with an upstream that echoes what it received.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(server): let the observed authority win over a forged port

X-Forwarded-Port deferred to an inbound value, so a client connecting
directly could send Host: svc.localhost:63735 with a forged
X-Forwarded-Port: 443 and have services build URLs for 443. Frameworks
apply X-Forwarded-Port after X-Forwarded-Host, so the forged value won.

This was inconsistent with the line above it: X-Forwarded-Host is
overwritten with the real authority unconditionally, and there is a test
asserting that. Both headers carry the same trust, so both now follow
the same rule.

First-hand observation wins; an inbound value is a fallback, never an
override. A port parsed from Host replaces any inbound X-Forwarded-Port.
When Host carries no port there is nothing to observe, so a proxy's
value survives untouched: the nginx-on-:8443 case, where $host drops
the port and X-Forwarded-Port is the only source.

The empty-inbound-value special case is gone; always overwriting when we
have an observation covers it with one branch less.

Reported by Greptile on #2288. Not a regression: before this branch an
inbound X-Forwarded-Port passed through untouched, so the forged value
already reached services.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* docs(server): correct the forwarded-port comment and note the limit

The comment claimed the parsed port was "the port the client really
connected on". It is not: parseHostHeaderPort reads the Host header,
which the client writes, and route lookup normalizes the port away
before matching, so any value reaches the proxy. The only observed
port would be req.socket.localPort, which this code does not use.

Replaced it with the actual reason the Host port wins, which is keeping
x-forwarded-host and x-forwarded-port from disagreeing: the former is
set from Host, and frameworks apply the latter afterwards, so a
mismatched inbound value would silently override the forwarded
authority.

Added a LIMITATION note recording that the forwarded authority is not
authenticated, that inbound x-forwarded-port is not checked against
trustedProxies, and that closing this needs that config threaded into
the subsystem and the upgrade path, which has no Express trust context.
Both predate this branch: Host has always carried a client-chosen port
and an inbound x-forwarded-port has always passed straight through.

Docs gain a matching section telling service authors to pin their public
origin in configuration rather than derive it from request headers.

No behavior change. Raised by Greptile on #2288.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

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Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-24 21:17:16 +08:00
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