`http.cookies.SimpleCookie.load()` fails to consistently handle malformed cookies
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Description
Bug report
Bug description:
There are several issues with http.cookies.SimpleCookie.load() that deviate from current browser behavior:
- Malformed cookies are not processed at all
Consider the cookie a=b;c=d\x09d;e=f. The e value contains \x09, which is not allowed per RFC 6265, Section 4.1.1.
When this is sent to a browser (Chrome 130), the browser processes all valid cookies and filters out invalid ones:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html
Set-Cookie: a=b;
Set-Cookie: c=d d;
Set-Cookie: e=f
Resulting behavior:
> document.cookie
< 'a=b; e=f'
However, http.cookies.SimpleCookie.load() ignores the entire cookie string:
>>> from http import cookies
>>> C = cookies.SimpleCookie()
>>> C.load("a=b;c=d\x09d;e=f")
>>> C.output()
''
- Malformed cookies are inconsistently processed
Consider the cookie a=b;c={"d":"e"};f=g. The c value is invalid per RFC 6265, Section 4.1.1.
Browsers process this cookie without an issue:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html
Set-Cookie: a=b;
Set-Cookie: c={"d":"e"};
Set-Cookie: f=g
Resulting behavior:
> document.cookie
< 'a=b; c={"d":"e"}; f=g'
However, http.cookies.SimpleCookie.load() processes only the valid portion before the malformed cookie and stops entirely:
>>> from http import cookies
>>> C = cookies.SimpleCookie()
>>> C.load('a=b; c={"d":"e"}; f=g')
>>> C.output()
'Set-Cookie: a=b'
It seems we should ensure consistent handling by (a) processing all valid cookies and discarding only invalid ones, or
(b) rejecting the entire cookie string if any invalid cookie is present.
CPython versions tested on:
CPython main branch
Operating systems tested on:
No response
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the http.cookies.SimpleCookie.load() entry point and reproduce both malformed-cookie examples from the issue. Determine whether the intended behavior is to process valid cookies while discarding invalid ones or reject the entire string; the issue is done when that behavior is implemented consistently and covered by tests.
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
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100