From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
To: <git@vger.kernel.org>
Cc: Aaron Plattner <aplattner@nvidia.com>,
Rahul Rameshbabu <rrameshbabu@nvidia.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] http: preserve wwwauth_headers across redirects
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2026 08:26:14 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <xmqq8q60u82x.fsf@gitster.g> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260819-http-preserve-wwwauth-redirect-v2-1-4c61039432b0@nvidia.com> (Aaron Plattner's message of "Wed, 19 Aug 2026 20:21:04 -0700")
For those of you who are watching from the sidelines, this v2 lacks
the threading history.
The v1 is at https://lore.kernel.org/git/20260602161150.1527493-1-aplattner@nvidia.com/
Thanks.
Aaron Plattner <aplattner@nvidia.com> writes:
> When cURL follows a redirect, it calls the CURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION for
> each header received including ones from a redirect. http_request() sets
> fwrite_wwwauth() as the header function, which will record the wwwauth[]
> entries for the last step in the redirection chain.
>
> However, when http_request_recoverable() sees that cURL followed a
> redirect, it attempts to update the credentials for the request from the
> new URL using credential_from_url(). The first thing that does is call
> credential_clear(), which clears everything including wwwauth_headers.
>
> If the new URL should use a credential helper rather than credentials
> embedded in the URL, this loses the list of authentication methods that
> the server provided in the redirect.
>
> The WWW-Authenticate challenge is not derived from the URL; it is
> populated from the server's response, and after a redirect it describes
> how to authenticate to the redirect target and it needs to survive the
> URL update so that credential helpers can know which authentication
> methods are allowed.
>
> Add a new credential_update_url() that wraps credential_from_url() and
> preserves wwwauth_headers specifically. Use SWAP() to avoid having to
> copy the whole strbuf.
>
> Signed-off-by: Aaron Plattner <aplattner@nvidia.com>
> ---
> I decided to come back to this after I noticed that at least one other
> person had run into the same bug:
>
> https://lore.kernel.org/all/CADoNwcscDrx+YcfbcW4YKONDZZQgnPiwEOxL4QYV_C7_=FOFcg@mail.gmail.com/
>
> Rather than reworking everything about how credentials are stored, I
> took your advice in [1] and just moved the code to preserve the wwwauth_headers
> into credential.c. That way any future credential fields that need to be
> preserved can be added there without having to hunt down other places
> like http.c that are reaching into it.
>
> [1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/xmqqpl28scll.fsf@gitster.g/
> ---
> Changes in v2:
> - Move strvec preservation into a helper function in credential.c
> - Use SWAP instead of strvec_pushv() to avoid having to copy the
> contents of the strvec.
> - Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20260602161150.1527493-1-aplattner@nvidia.com
> ---
> credential.c | 16 ++++++++++++++++
> credential.h | 8 ++++++++
> http.c | 9 ++++++++-
> t/lib-httpd/apache.conf | 1 +
> t/t5563-simple-http-auth.sh | 45 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 5 files changed, 78 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/credential.c b/credential.c
> index 2594c0c422..035399d7ee 100644
> --- a/credential.c
> +++ b/credential.c
> @@ -708,3 +708,19 @@ void credential_from_url(struct credential *c, const char *url)
> if (credential_from_url_gently(c, url, 0) < 0)
> die(_("credential url cannot be parsed: %s"), url);
> }
> +
> +void credential_update_url(struct credential *c, const char *url)
> +{
> + struct strvec wwwauth_headers = STRVEC_INIT;
> +
> + /*
> + * credential_from_url() clears the whole credential. Preserve the
> + * WWW-Authenticate list, which is derived from the server's original
> + * response rather than from the URL and is required to authenticate to
> + * the new URL.
> + */
> + SWAP(wwwauth_headers, c->wwwauth_headers);
> + credential_from_url(c, url);
> + SWAP(c->wwwauth_headers, wwwauth_headers);
> + strvec_clear(&wwwauth_headers);
> +}
> diff --git a/credential.h b/credential.h
> index c78b72d110..b90f666e33 100644
> --- a/credential.h
> +++ b/credential.h
> @@ -305,6 +305,14 @@ void credential_write(const struct credential *, FILE *,
> void credential_from_url(struct credential *, const char *url);
> int credential_from_url_gently(struct credential *, const char *url, int quiet);
>
> +/*
> + * Update the URL-derived fields (protocol, host, path) of an existing
> + * credential to match a new URL. Unlike credential_from_url(), this function
> + * preserves state that was derived from a server's HTTP redirect response,
> + * such as the WWW-Authenticate headers.
> + */
> +void credential_update_url(struct credential *c, const char *url);
> +
> int credential_match(const struct credential *want,
> const struct credential *have, int match_password);
>
> diff --git a/http.c b/http.c
> index a0d399b274..e8abb9f95a 100644
> --- a/http.c
> +++ b/http.c
> @@ -2427,7 +2427,14 @@ static int http_request_recoverable(const char *url,
> if (options->effective_url && options->base_url) {
> if (update_url_from_redirect(options->base_url,
> url, options->effective_url)) {
> - credential_from_url(&http_auth, options->base_url->buf);
> + /*
> + * Use credential_update_url() rather than
> + * credential_from_url() so that the WWW-Authenticate
> + * challenge the server sent with the redirect target's
> + * response is preserved and handed to the credential
> + * helper.
> + */
> + credential_update_url(&http_auth, options->base_url->buf);
> url = options->effective_url->buf;
> }
> }
> diff --git a/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf b/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
> index 4149fc1078..0627ef1433 100644
> --- a/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
> +++ b/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
> @@ -203,6 +203,7 @@ RewriteRule ^/dumb-redir/(.*)$ /dumb/$1 [R=301]
> RewriteRule ^/smart-redir-perm/(.*)$ /smart/$1 [R=301]
> RewriteRule ^/smart-redir-temp/(.*)$ /smart/$1 [R=302]
> RewriteRule ^/smart-redir-auth/(.*)$ /auth/smart/$1 [R=301]
> +RewriteRule ^/custom_auth_redir/(.*)$ /custom_auth/$1 [R=302]
> RewriteRule ^/smart-redir-limited/(.*)/info/refs$ /smart/$1/info/refs [R=301]
> RewriteRule ^/ftp-redir/(.*)$ ftp://localhost:1000/$1 [R=302]
>
> diff --git a/t/t5563-simple-http-auth.sh b/t/t5563-simple-http-auth.sh
> index a7d475dd68..349ae4ab39 100755
> --- a/t/t5563-simple-http-auth.sh
> +++ b/t/t5563-simple-http-auth.sh
> @@ -557,6 +557,51 @@ test_expect_success 'access using bearer auth' '
> EOF
> '
>
> +test_expect_success 'bearer auth after redirect preserves wwwauth headers' '
> + test_when_finished "per_test_cleanup" &&
> +
> + set_credential_reply get <<-EOF &&
> + capability[]=authtype
> + authtype=Bearer
> + credential=YS1naXQtdG9rZW4=
> + EOF
> +
> + cat >"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/custom-auth.valid" <<-EOF &&
> + id=1 creds=Bearer YS1naXQtdG9rZW4=
> + EOF
> +
> + cat >"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/custom-auth.challenge" <<-EOF &&
> + id=1 status=200
> + id=default response=WWW-Authenticate: FooBar param1="value1" param2="value2"
> + id=default response=WWW-Authenticate: Bearer authorize_uri="id.example.com" p=1 q=0
> + id=default response=WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="example.com"
> + EOF
> +
> + test_config_global credential.helper test-helper &&
> + test_config_global credential.useHttpPath true &&
> + git ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/custom_auth_redir/repo.git" &&
> +
> + expect_credential_query get <<-EOF &&
> + capability[]=authtype
> + capability[]=state
> + protocol=http
> + host=$HTTPD_DEST
> + path=custom_auth/repo.git
> + wwwauth[]=FooBar param1="value1" param2="value2"
> + wwwauth[]=Bearer authorize_uri="id.example.com" p=1 q=0
> + wwwauth[]=Basic realm="example.com"
> + EOF
> +
> + expect_credential_query store <<-EOF
> + capability[]=authtype
> + authtype=Bearer
> + credential=YS1naXQtdG9rZW4=
> + protocol=http
> + host=$HTTPD_DEST
> + path=custom_auth/repo.git
> + EOF
> +'
> +
> test_expect_success 'access using bearer auth with invalid credentials' '
> test_when_finished "per_test_cleanup" &&
>
>
> ---
> base-commit: dea0ea3582e6980ddbc1173cc8e3e9f9db91cde0
> change-id: 20260819-http-preserve-wwwauth-redirect-a3fe4dab6b35
prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-08-20 15:26 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 2+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-08-20 3:21 [PATCH v2] http: preserve wwwauth_headers across redirects Aaron Plattner
2026-08-20 15:26 ` Junio C Hamano [this message]
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