python / python/cpython

urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.can_fetch crashes on a malformed URL

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stdlib type-bug
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Bug description:

urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.can_fetch is documented to return a bool,
but it passes url straight to urllib.parse._urlsplit, so a malformed URL
(an unterminated IPv6 authority) raises a bare ValueError instead of a
result:

import urllib.robotparser
p = urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser()
p.parse(["User-agent: *", "Disallow: /"])
p.can_fetch("*", "http://[::1")   # ValueError: Invalid IPv6 URL

The url argument is crawl-frontier-controlled (it comes from parsed pages).

Proposed behavior: a URL that cannot be parsed matches no rule, so can_fetch
returns True (RFC 9309 default that access is not restricted when no rule
applies), rather than raising or being conservatively False.

This is a sibling of #153404 (robotparser raising ValueError on a non-decimal
digit in Crawl-delay / Request-rate); the sink there is the robots.txt
content, here it is the url argument.

CPython versions tested on:

3.13, 3.14, 3.15

Operating systems tested on:

macOS

Linked PRs
  • gh-153796

Contributor guide

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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 urllib.robotparser.RobotFileParser.can_fetch and reproduce the malformed URL case with an unterminated IPv6 authority. Check how urllib.parse._urlsplit handles the input. Done means can_fetch returns True instead of raising ValueError, with coverage for the malformed URL behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
networking
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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