URL Decoding Question

[Thoku Hansen <th...@gmail.com>]

Hi,

Does Tomcat decode a URL-encoded request before evaluating it against  
servlet url-patterns?

I have a form whose submit action URL includes the jsessionid like this:
<form  
action="Example.action;jsessionid=196273839CE41F0BFBA445F63D3880EB"  
method="post">

When the form is submitted, the request is going through a kind of  
proxy that performs a URL encode before forwarding the request.
When the request is received by Tomcat (v. 6.0.14) it looks like this:
http://foo/Example.action%3Bjsessionid% 
3D196273839CE41F0BFBA445F63D3880EB

I have a servlet url-pattern for "*.action". It works fine for  
request URLs like:
http://foo/Example.action
and also
http://foo/Example.action;jsessionid=196273839CE41F0BFBA445F63D3880EB

But when the re-encoded request URL is encountered (below again),  
Tomcat gives a 404 error.
http://foo/Example.action%3Bjsessionid% 
3D196273839CE41F0BFBA445F63D3880EB

I do not have any control over the proxy that is doing this re-encoding.

I have two questions:
1. Is the URL encoding that is being done in the above example  
appropriate?
2. Shouldn't Tomcat be URL-decoding this and turning it into its  
original form?

Hope you can shed some light on this.

Thanks,

T.

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Re: URL Decoding Question

[Bill Barker <wb...@wilshire.com>]

"Thoku Hansen" <th...@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:210E6334-1309-4B43-AEAE-63EEEDA7095C@gmail.com...
> Hi,
>
> Does Tomcat decode a URL-encoded request before evaluating it against 
> servlet url-patterns?
>
> I have a form whose submit action URL includes the jsessionid like this:
> <form  action="Example.action;jsessionid=196273839CE41F0BFBA445F63D3880EB" 
> method="post">
>
> When the form is submitted, the request is going through a kind of  proxy 
> that performs a URL encode before forwarding the request.
> When the request is received by Tomcat (v. 6.0.14) it looks like this:
> http://foo/Example.action%3Bjsessionid% 3D196273839CE41F0BFBA445F63D3880EB
>
> I have a servlet url-pattern for "*.action". It works fine for  request 
> URLs like:
> http://foo/Example.action
> and also
> http://foo/Example.action;jsessionid=196273839CE41F0BFBA445F63D3880EB
>
> But when the re-encoded request URL is encountered (below again),  Tomcat 
> gives a 404 error.
> http://foo/Example.action%3Bjsessionid% 3D196273839CE41F0BFBA445F63D3880EB
>
> I do not have any control over the proxy that is doing this re-encoding.
>
> I have two questions:
> 1. Is the URL encoding that is being done in the above example 
> appropriate?

No, ';' is a legitimate character in a URL, so by encoding it the proxy is 
changing the name of the resource being asked for.

> 2. Shouldn't Tomcat be URL-decoding this and turning it into its  original 
> form?
>

No, because with the ';' it is a parameter to the URL, and with %3B it is 
just a normal character in the URL (e.g. a file name that happens to have a 
';' in it's name).

> Hope you can shed some light on this.
>
> Thanks,
>
> T.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To start a new topic, e-mail: users@tomcat.apache.org
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscribe@tomcat.apache.org
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>
> 




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