[jira] [Created] (VALIDATOR-429) UrlValidator - path is invalid due to using java.net.URI for validation (regression)

["Marcus Craske (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

Marcus Craske created VALIDATOR-429:
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             Summary: UrlValidator - path is invalid due to using java.net.URI for validation (regression)
                 Key: VALIDATOR-429
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/VALIDATOR-429
             Project: Commons Validator
          Issue Type: Bug
          Components: Routines
    Affects Versions: 1.6
            Reporter: Marcus Craske


h1. Summary
We've been hit by a bug in a real world application after upgrading 1.4.1 to 1.6, where previously valid URLs are no longer valid, which looks to be due to using java.net.URI for validating the path of a URL.

h2. Steps to Reproduce
Our application went to validate URLs similar to the following:
* http://example.com//_test

This is no longer valid in 1.6.1, but the following cases are:
* http://example.com//test
* http://example.com/_test

h2. Impact
It seems paths in UrlValidator are being parsed/validated as host-names, per java.net.URI's validation.

h2. Technical
It looks like this may have been introduced by the following change:
https://github.com/apache/commons-validator/commit/03bf0d33143ebd13e4f389cd4ecac8aec17c2057

Specifically due to now using java.net.URI to validate a path. The usage is as follows in org.apache.commons.validator.routines.UrlValidator:
{code}
URI uri = new URI(null,null,path,null);
{code}

It looks like URI is trying to parse the path as a hostname when the schema and hostname are not specified.

Example to reproduce:
{code}
new URI(null, null, "//_test", null);   // throws URISyntaxException
{code}

Same example with other parts, no longer throwing exception:
{code}
new URI(null, "test", "//_test", null);
{code}

Even though java.net.URI states string components can be null, it seems the URL built internally, which is validated, is slightly different. So when specifying a hostname with URI, internally it constructs:
* //test//_test

Using no hostname, in the same way as UrlValidator, the following is constructed and validated internally:
* //_test

Therefore it looks like there's either a bug in java.net.URI, or its usage is not correctly documented.

h2. Fix
A potential fix is to change org.apache.commons.validator.routines.UrlValidator to pass an empty string in the hostname. Internally, in java.net.URI, this produces:
* ////_test

Thus the hostname is empty, which is considered empty, and the correct path is validated.

Would this fix be appropriate, or considered too fragile?

Alternatively the fix could be to extract similar logic to java.net.URI, to validate the path, which appears to be just checking the characters are valid and between a certain range. This logic can be seen in java.net.URI.parseHierarchical, which calls upon checkChars.



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