whatwg / whatwg/fetch

Delay network errors to prevent port scanning

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#338 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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security/privacy
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Description

See https://www.ietf.org/proceedings/96/slides/slides-96-saag-1.pdf for details.

I'm not entirely sure what the best way to do this is. Perhaps just include a recommendation somewhere that all network errors are delayed to make port scanning harder.

(Note that although the slides mention WebSocket, it's likely to be more generally applicable.)

Reportedly Firefox already throttles network errors.

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 with the linked IETF slides and the Fetch Standard context around network errors; the issue does not name a file, test, or entry point. Determine whether the standard should recommend delaying these errors, including whether the guidance applies beyond WebSocket. Done requires an agreed scope and corresponding standard change.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
networking, security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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