RE: changing the error status code for forbiddenresources

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matt Rigor [mailto:MRigor@xxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 4:16 PM
> To: users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re:  changing the error status code for 
> forbiddenresources
> 
> Joshua,
> 
> Three questions in hopes of bettering my understanding of Apache.
> 
> Why not just edit the conf file to take the 403 error and have it
> redirect to the Apache 404 error page
> within the error directory? Example below.
> 
> ErrorDocument 403 /error/HTTP_NOT_FOUND.html.var
> ErrorDocument 404 /error/HTTP_NOT_FOUND.html.var
> 
> As an alternative, why not just edit the actual 403 error 
> page contents
> to reflect the error you desire.
> 
> Finally, You mention that "it's more than a waste of time, it is
> deliberately crippling of HTTP".  Why?

It's a waste of time because there's no risk. The server is already
denying the resource..

It's "crippling" because the request and response headers were defined
to help set-up and debug the web as it grew. If every server lied about
what was really happening it would be much harder to carry out said
set-up and debug.

However; I wasn't going to mention this, but since the question has
arisen, RFC 2616 section 10.4.4 actually *does* allow the server to
masquerade a 403 as a 404 if "the server does not wish to make this
information [reason request refused] available to the client"...

I understand the reluctance to support these "security by obscurity"
ploys, but I think in this case that maybe the RFC has it right I guess
it's a bit like the common trick on firewalls whereby a request for a
denied socket is silently dropped (nothing sent back to client) rather
than actively refused (refusal sent back to client immediately). The
idea is that the attacker can't distinguish between a real block at the
FW and simple network or application latency and has to wait a long time
to find out.

Rgds,
Owen Boyle
Disclaimer: Any disclaimer attached to this message may be ignored. 



> 
> 
> 
> >>> joshua@xxxxxxxx 5/22/2007 7:28 PM >>>
> On 5/22/07, Bhagwati Gupta <bpg10000@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >     I am running Apache 2.2.3 on my Debian 3.1 sarge machine. My
> local
> > web security team has examined the system and generated a detailed
> > security report. One of the issues that I am having difficulty to
> fix
> > relates to hidden directories. I have been advised to change the
> server
> > configuration such that '404 - not found' response is issued for
> > forbidden resources as opposed to '403 - forbidden' response. I have
> > tried looking on the web but have yet to find anything that could
> solve
> > my problem. I am not sure exactly how server responses for hidden
> > directories (or missing files) can be customized. Could you please
> help?
> > Thanks!
> 
> Sounds like a silly waste of time to me. (Actually, it's more than a
> waste of time, it is deliberately crippling of HTTP.)
> 
> But anyway, if you want to lie about error codes, you can go all the
> way and change the to redirects:
> 
> ErrorDocument 404 http://example.com/not_found.html 
> ErrorDocument 403 http://example.com/not_found.html 
> 
> If you just want to lie about 403 only, then the only way I know
> (other than editing the code)  is to point to a cgi script that emits
> its own "Status: 404" header:
> ErrorDocument 403 /cgi-bin/lie-about-the-status-code.pl
> 
> Joshua.
> 
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