python / python/cpython

urlsplit manufactures hostnames because it strips off tabs before validating them

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type-bug
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Bug report

Bug description:
import urllib.parse

# prints "abcxyz.test"
print(urllib.parse.urlsplit("http://abc\txyz.test/").netloc)

Current urlsplit is implemented according to this spec:

https://url.spec.whatwg.org/#concept-basic-url-parser

The spec does say in item 3 to strip tabs, but I believe there's a bug in the specification (perhaps they wanted to say leading/trailing whitespace) because the item 7 in host parsing says

If asciiDomain contains a forbidden domain code point, domain-invalid-code-point validation error, return failure.

, and tab is listed as a "forbidden domain code point". If tabs are stripped from the entire input before any other work is done, checking for tabs in host names wouldn't make much sense.

I created a bug in the specification project, so maybe they will provide some guidance later on.

https://github.com/whatwg/url/issues/829

CPython versions tested on:

3.10

Operating systems tested on:

Linux, Windows

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at the urllib.parse.urlsplit entry point and run the reproducer from the issue to confirm how an embedded tab changes the netloc. Read the linked WHATWG URL issue 829 for guidance on the specification conflict; done means tabs in the hostname are not silently turned into a different hostname.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
networking
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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