wafrift_encoding/url_mutate.rs
1//! URL / query-string payload mutation — opt-in attack surface for
2//! the proxy `--mutate-url` flag and the strategy engine's URL-aware
3//! evade variants.
4//!
5//! Most production attacks live in the URL, not the request body:
6//! `?id=1' OR 1=1--`, `?q=<script>alert(1)</script>`,
7//! `?file=../../etc/passwd`. The default proxy pipeline only mutates
8//! HTTP-layer artefacts (headers, body) which leaves this surface
9//! uncovered. This module fills that gap when the operator opts in.
10//!
11//! Scope:
12//! - mutates query parameter VALUES (not names — those drive routing)
13//! - optionally mutates the path's last segment (rest is routing)
14//! - never touches the host / scheme / port — those are pre-routing
15//! - returns the URL unchanged when no `?` is present and path
16//! mutation is disabled
17//!
18//! Mutation strategies are intentionally a small fixed set chosen to
19//! be effective against signature WAFs without requiring the heavier
20//! grammar/encoding pipeline. Callers that want full pipeline
21//! mutation should round-trip through `wafrift_strategy::evade` with
22//! the parameter value lifted into the request body.
23
24use std::borrow::Cow;
25
26/// Knobs for [`mutate_url`].
27#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq)]
28pub struct UrlMutateConfig {
29 /// Mutate the query string. Default true.
30 pub mutate_query_values: bool,
31 /// Mutate the path's last segment (everything after the last `/`).
32 /// Default false — disabled because changing path semantics is
33 /// likely to break routing on most targets.
34 pub mutate_last_path_segment: bool,
35 /// Strategy to apply per value.
36 pub strategy: UrlStrategy,
37}
38
39impl Default for UrlMutateConfig {
40 fn default() -> Self {
41 Self {
42 mutate_query_values: true,
43 mutate_last_path_segment: false,
44 strategy: UrlStrategy::PercentEncodeAggressive,
45 }
46 }
47}
48
49/// Hard cap on the input size accepted by [`UrlStrategy::DoublePercentEncode`].
50/// Two passes of aggressive percent-encoding can produce up to ~9×
51/// the input length, so an unbounded input is a DoS vector. Real WAF
52/// values are kilobytes at most; 1 MB is generous.
53pub const MAX_DOUBLE_ENCODE_INPUT: usize = 1024 * 1024;
54
55/// Per-value mutation choice.
56#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq)]
57pub enum UrlStrategy {
58 /// Percent-encode every byte that isn't alphanumeric. Most signatures
59 /// match decoded payloads but verify by raw-byte regex — this
60 /// breaks both checks at once.
61 PercentEncodeAggressive,
62 /// Double-percent-encode (`%` → `%25`, then percent-encode again).
63 /// Bypasses URL-decode-then-match WAFs that decode exactly once.
64 DoublePercentEncode,
65 /// Mix in `+` for spaces, `0x2F` for `/`, etc. — non-canonical
66 /// encodings that some upstream parsers normalise but signatures
67 /// don't.
68 NonCanonicalSpaces,
69 /// Insert empty PHP-style array brackets `[]` after the param name
70 /// to force HTTP Parameter Pollution path. Only meaningful when
71 /// the *name* needs to change; otherwise no-op.
72 Hpp,
73}
74
75impl UrlStrategy {
76 /// Apply the strategy to a single decoded value, returning the
77 /// mutated raw form (already URL-safe — caller does not re-encode).
78 #[must_use]
79 pub fn apply(self, value: &str) -> String {
80 self.apply_bytes(value.as_bytes())
81 }
82
83 /// Byte-clean variant of [`Self::apply`] for percent-encoding
84 /// strategies. Lets callers run a non-UTF-8 byte sequence (e.g.
85 /// the raw bytes from a percent-decode on `%FF%FE`) through the
86 /// pipeline without it being silently rewritten to U+FFFD by
87 /// `String::from_utf8_lossy`. Each strategy that only operates
88 /// on bytes (PercentEncodeAggressive, DoublePercentEncode) is
89 /// byte-pure here. Strategies that need character semantics
90 /// (NonCanonicalSpaces) lossy-convert internally.
91 #[must_use]
92 pub fn apply_bytes(self, value: &[u8]) -> String {
93 match self {
94 Self::PercentEncodeAggressive => percent_encode_aggressive_bytes(value),
95 Self::DoublePercentEncode => {
96 // Two passes of aggressive percent-encoding can blow
97 // up to roughly 9× the input size on worst-case
98 // inputs (every byte → %XX → %25%XX). Cap the input
99 // so a malicious caller can't OOM via a 100 MB
100 // string asking for 900 MB of output.
101 if value.len() > MAX_DOUBLE_ENCODE_INPUT {
102 return percent_encode_aggressive_bytes(value);
103 }
104 let first = percent_encode_aggressive_bytes(value);
105 percent_encode_aggressive_bytes(first.as_bytes())
106 }
107 Self::NonCanonicalSpaces => {
108 // NonCanonicalSpaces is char-based by design (its
109 // rules target Unicode whitespace + ASCII glyphs);
110 // lossy-convert here so the str path stays sane.
111 let s = String::from_utf8_lossy(value);
112 non_canonical_spaces(&s)
113 }
114 Self::Hpp => String::from_utf8_lossy(value).into_owned(),
115 }
116 }
117
118 /// Stable name used for technique logging.
119 #[must_use]
120 pub fn label(self) -> &'static str {
121 match self {
122 Self::PercentEncodeAggressive => "url:percent_encode",
123 Self::DoublePercentEncode => "url:double_percent",
124 Self::NonCanonicalSpaces => "url:noncanon_spaces",
125 Self::Hpp => "url:hpp",
126 }
127 }
128}
129
130/// Mutate `path_and_query` (no scheme/host) per `cfg`. Returns the
131/// mutated string and a list of technique labels actually applied.
132///
133/// Inputs are accepted in either form:
134/// `/path/segment?a=1&b=2`
135/// `/path/segment` (no query — query mutation is a no-op)
136/// `?a=1` (no path — path mutation is a no-op)
137/// `/path?a=1#frag` (fragment preserved verbatim)
138///
139/// Never panics, never returns empty for non-empty input.
140#[must_use]
141pub fn mutate_url(path_and_query: &str, cfg: &UrlMutateConfig) -> (String, Vec<&'static str>) {
142 // Reject full URLs (with scheme://host/...) at the boundary —
143 // mutate_url's contract is "path-and-query only". Pre-fix a full
144 // URL got split on '?' such that the scheme + host leaked into
145 // the "path" and got mutated, e.g. `https://example.com/p?q=1`
146 // had `https://example.com/p` percent-encoded as the last path
147 // segment. The caller almost certainly meant to pass the
148 // path-and-query directly; pass-through is the safe behaviour.
149 if path_and_query.starts_with("http://")
150 || path_and_query.starts_with("https://")
151 || path_and_query.starts_with("//")
152 {
153 return (path_and_query.to_string(), Vec::new());
154 }
155
156 // Split off any #fragment FIRST so query mutation can't encode the
157 // '#' delimiter and destroy fragment routing. Pre-fix the
158 // mutator turned `/p?q=1#frag` into `/p?q=1%23frag`, which the
159 // upstream then treated as a single (broken) query value.
160 let (without_frag, fragment) = match path_and_query.split_once('#') {
161 Some((rest, frag)) => (rest, Some(frag)),
162 None => (path_and_query, None),
163 };
164
165 let (path, query) = match without_frag.split_once('?') {
166 Some((p, q)) => (p.to_string(), Some(q.to_string())),
167 None => (without_frag.to_string(), None),
168 };
169 let mut techniques: Vec<&'static str> = Vec::new();
170
171 let new_path = if cfg.mutate_last_path_segment {
172 match mutate_last_segment(&path, cfg.strategy) {
173 Some(p) => {
174 techniques.push("url:path_segment");
175 techniques.push(cfg.strategy.label());
176 p
177 }
178 None => path,
179 }
180 } else {
181 path
182 };
183
184 let new_query = if cfg.mutate_query_values {
185 if let Some(q) = query.as_ref() {
186 let (mq, applied) = mutate_query_string(q, cfg.strategy);
187 if applied {
188 techniques.push("url:query_values");
189 techniques.push(cfg.strategy.label());
190 }
191 Some(mq)
192 } else {
193 query
194 }
195 } else {
196 query
197 };
198
199 let mut result = match new_query {
200 Some(q) => format!("{new_path}?{q}"),
201 None => new_path,
202 };
203 if let Some(frag) = fragment {
204 result.push('#');
205 result.push_str(frag);
206 }
207 (result, techniques)
208}
209
210fn mutate_last_segment(path: &str, strategy: UrlStrategy) -> Option<String> {
211 // Treat both literal '/' and percent-encoded slash (%2F or %2f)
212 // as segment boundaries — otherwise an attacker who pre-encodes
213 // a slash inside what looks like the last segment (e.g.
214 // /a/b%2Fc) would have the WHOLE tail (b%2Fc) mutated, when the
215 // logical last segment is `c`.
216 let normalized_last_slash = {
217 let lit = path.rfind('/');
218 let pct_upper = path.rfind("%2F").map(|i| i + 2);
219 let pct_lower = path.rfind("%2f").map(|i| i + 2);
220 [lit, pct_upper, pct_lower].into_iter().flatten().max()?
221 };
222 let (head, tail) = path.split_at(normalized_last_slash + 1);
223 if tail.is_empty() {
224 return None;
225 }
226 // Decode pre-existing percent escapes BEFORE re-applying the
227 // mutation strategy, into raw bytes (NOT through from_utf8_lossy)
228 // so that `%FF%FE` and other non-UTF-8 byte sequences survive
229 // the round-trip instead of being silently mangled into U+FFFD
230 // sequences (`%EF%BF%BD`).
231 let decoded = percent_decode_bytes(tail);
232 let mutated = strategy.apply_bytes(&decoded);
233 Some(format!("{head}{mutated}"))
234}
235
236/// Mutate every `name=value` pair, leaving `name` alone and mutating
237/// `value`. Pairs without `=` (bare flags) are passed through.
238///
239/// Empty pairs (consecutive `&&` separators) are PRESERVED rather
240/// than collapsed — some upstream frameworks (e.g. PHP, Rails 5+)
241/// treat them as distinct empty parameters, so collapsing changes
242/// the parsed parameter count.
243///
244/// `+` in a query value is interpreted as space per RFC 1866 form
245/// encoding before the strategy is applied — otherwise `q=1+1`
246/// would be mutated as if `+` were a literal plus sign.
247fn mutate_query_string(query: &str, strategy: UrlStrategy) -> (String, bool) {
248 let mut out = Vec::with_capacity(8);
249 let mut applied = false;
250 for pair in query.split('&') {
251 if pair.is_empty() {
252 // Preserve `&&` so the upstream sees the original
253 // parameter count.
254 out.push(String::new());
255 continue;
256 }
257 if let Some((name, value)) = pair.split_once('=') {
258 if value.is_empty() {
259 out.push(format!("{name}="));
260 continue;
261 }
262 // Form-decode `+` to space BEFORE percent-decoding so
263 // application/x-www-form-urlencoded semantics survive
264 // the mutation pipeline. Decode into raw bytes (NOT
265 // from_utf8_lossy) so non-UTF-8 escapes survive — see
266 // percent_decode_bytes for the U+FFFD-avoidance rationale.
267 let form_decoded = value.replace('+', " ");
268 let decoded = percent_decode_bytes(&form_decoded);
269 let mutated = strategy.apply_bytes(&decoded);
270 // Only set applied=true if the mutator actually changed
271 // the value. An all-alphanumeric value passed through
272 // PercentEncodeAggressive comes out byte-equal; reporting
273 // a technique was applied would falsely inflate the
274 // technique log.
275 if mutated.as_bytes() != value.as_bytes() {
276 applied = true;
277 }
278 out.push(format!("{name}={mutated}"));
279 } else {
280 out.push(pair.to_string());
281 }
282 }
283 (out.join("&"), applied)
284}
285
286/// Aggressive percent-encoding: every byte that is not `[A-Za-z0-9]`
287/// is encoded. Drops the URL safe-list (`-._~`) intentionally — those
288/// are the bytes signatures most often fail to canonicalise.
289#[allow(dead_code)]
290fn percent_encode_aggressive(s: &str) -> String {
291 percent_encode_aggressive_bytes(s.as_bytes())
292}
293
294/// Byte-clean variant of [`percent_encode_aggressive`]. Used by the
295/// byte-pipeline paths so non-UTF-8 input bytes (which a real
296/// `%FF%FE`-style WAF-bypass payload contains) survive end-to-end
297/// instead of being silently rewritten to U+FFFD.
298fn percent_encode_aggressive_bytes(bytes: &[u8]) -> String {
299 let mut out = String::with_capacity(bytes.len().saturating_mul(3));
300 for &b in bytes {
301 if b.is_ascii_alphanumeric() {
302 out.push(b as char);
303 } else {
304 use std::fmt::Write;
305 let _ = write!(&mut out, "%{b:02X}");
306 }
307 }
308 out
309}
310
311fn non_canonical_spaces(s: &str) -> String {
312 // saturating_mul to avoid usize overflow on 32-bit targets when
313 // someone hands us a ~2 GB string.
314 let mut out = String::with_capacity(s.len().saturating_mul(3));
315 // Pre-fix the `_ => out.push(other)` arm passed through `&`, `=`,
316 // `%`, `#`, `+`, `?`, `\0`, control chars, etc. After percent-decode
317 // had already turned `%26c%3Devil` into the literal bytes `&c=evil`,
318 // this re-emitted them verbatim and the server then split the value
319 // on `&` and `=` into THREE pairs — HTTP parameter injection. The
320 // audit caught this as CRITICAL.
321 //
322 // Fix: percent-encode every byte that would be parsed as URL/form
323 // structure or as an ASCII control. The cosmetic substitutions above
324 // (` `→`+`, `/`→`%2F`, etc.) are kept for the WAF-bypass shape; the
325 // dangerous bytes get the standard `%XX` form.
326 for ch in s.chars() {
327 match ch {
328 ' ' => out.push('+'),
329 '/' => out.push_str("%2F"),
330 '\\' => out.push_str("%5C"),
331 '<' => out.push_str("%3C"),
332 '>' => out.push_str("%3E"),
333 '\'' => out.push_str("%27"),
334 '"' => out.push_str("%22"),
335 '(' => out.push_str("%28"),
336 ')' => out.push_str("%29"),
337 // Structural URL / form delimiters — must always be encoded
338 // so they cannot escape the value into a sibling pair.
339 '&' => out.push_str("%26"),
340 '=' => out.push_str("%3D"),
341 '%' => out.push_str("%25"),
342 '#' => out.push_str("%23"),
343 '?' => out.push_str("%3F"),
344 '+' => out.push_str("%2B"),
345 ';' => out.push_str("%3B"),
346 // Control chars (incl. NUL): %XX-encode exactly.
347 other if (other as u32) < 0x20 || other as u32 == 0x7F => {
348 use std::fmt::Write;
349 let _ = write!(&mut out, "%{:02X}", other as u32);
350 }
351 other => out.push(other),
352 }
353 }
354 out
355}
356
357/// Decode `%xx` escapes into raw bytes, treating invalid sequences
358/// (lone `%`, `%G1`) as literal. Unlike [`percent_decode_lossy`],
359/// this never round-trips through `from_utf8_lossy` so non-UTF-8
360/// byte sequences (e.g. `%FF%FE`, overlong UTF-8 `%C0%AF`) survive
361/// intact. The downstream encoders re-emit them as exact `%XX`
362/// pairs instead of mangling them into `%EF%BF%BD` (U+FFFD), which
363/// is what removes WAF-bypass vectors.
364fn percent_decode_bytes(s: &str) -> Vec<u8> {
365 let bytes = s.as_bytes();
366 let mut out = Vec::with_capacity(bytes.len());
367 let mut i = 0;
368 while i < bytes.len() {
369 if bytes[i] == b'%'
370 && i + 2 < bytes.len()
371 && let (Some(h), Some(l)) = (hex_digit(bytes[i + 1]), hex_digit(bytes[i + 2]))
372 {
373 out.push(h * 16 + l);
374 i += 3;
375 continue;
376 }
377 out.push(bytes[i]);
378 i += 1;
379 }
380 out
381}
382
383/// Decode `%xx` escapes lossily, treating invalid sequences as
384/// literal. Returns `Cow::Borrowed` when nothing needed decoding.
385#[allow(dead_code)]
386fn percent_decode_lossy(s: &str) -> Cow<'_, str> {
387 if !s.contains('%') {
388 return Cow::Borrowed(s);
389 }
390 let bytes = s.as_bytes();
391 let mut out = Vec::with_capacity(bytes.len());
392 let mut i = 0;
393 while i < bytes.len() {
394 if bytes[i] == b'%'
395 && i + 2 < bytes.len()
396 && let (Some(h), Some(l)) = (hex_digit(bytes[i + 1]), hex_digit(bytes[i + 2]))
397 {
398 out.push(h * 16 + l);
399 i += 3;
400 continue;
401 }
402 out.push(bytes[i]);
403 i += 1;
404 }
405 Cow::Owned(String::from_utf8_lossy(&out).into_owned())
406}
407
408fn hex_digit(b: u8) -> Option<u8> {
409 match b {
410 b'0'..=b'9' => Some(b - b'0'),
411 b'a'..=b'f' => Some(b - b'a' + 10),
412 b'A'..=b'F' => Some(b - b'A' + 10),
413 _ => None,
414 }
415}
416
417#[cfg(test)]
418mod tests {
419 use super::*;
420
421 fn cfg(strategy: UrlStrategy, mutate_path: bool) -> UrlMutateConfig {
422 UrlMutateConfig {
423 mutate_query_values: true,
424 mutate_last_path_segment: mutate_path,
425 strategy,
426 }
427 }
428
429 // ── default-OFF semantics ──────────────────────────────────
430
431 #[test]
432 fn default_config_does_not_touch_path() {
433 let c = UrlMutateConfig::default();
434 assert!(!c.mutate_last_path_segment);
435 let (out, _) = mutate_url("/admin/login?id=1", &c);
436 assert!(
437 out.starts_with("/admin/login?"),
438 "path must stay verbatim, got {out}"
439 );
440 }
441
442 #[test]
443 fn no_query_no_path_mutation_returns_input_unchanged() {
444 let c = UrlMutateConfig::default();
445 let (out, techniques) = mutate_url("/just/a/path", &c);
446 assert_eq!(out, "/just/a/path");
447 assert!(
448 techniques.is_empty(),
449 "no mutation must report no technique"
450 );
451 }
452
453 #[test]
454 fn empty_value_pair_passes_through_unmutated() {
455 let c = UrlMutateConfig::default();
456 let (out, _) = mutate_url("/p?a=&b=2", &c);
457 assert!(out.contains("a=&"), "empty value must stay empty");
458 }
459
460 #[test]
461 fn bare_flag_param_passes_through() {
462 let c = UrlMutateConfig::default();
463 let (out, _) = mutate_url("/p?flag&other=1", &c);
464 assert!(out.contains("flag&"));
465 }
466
467 // ── per-strategy correctness ───────────────────────────────
468
469 #[test]
470 fn percent_encode_aggressive_encodes_quotes_and_spaces() {
471 let c = cfg(UrlStrategy::PercentEncodeAggressive, false);
472 let (out, t) = mutate_url("/p?id=1' OR '1'='1", &c);
473 // Every non-alphanumeric must be encoded.
474 assert!(out.contains("id=1%27%20OR%20%271%27%3D%271"), "got {out}");
475 assert!(t.contains(&"url:percent_encode"));
476 assert!(t.contains(&"url:query_values"));
477 }
478
479 #[test]
480 fn percent_encode_aggressive_skips_alphanumerics() {
481 let c = cfg(UrlStrategy::PercentEncodeAggressive, false);
482 let (out, _) = mutate_url("/p?q=ABCxyz123", &c);
483 assert!(
484 out.ends_with("q=ABCxyz123"),
485 "alnum must not be encoded; got {out}"
486 );
487 }
488
489 #[test]
490 fn double_percent_encode_doubles_each_byte() {
491 let c = cfg(UrlStrategy::DoublePercentEncode, false);
492 let (out, _) = mutate_url("/p?id='", &c);
493 // "'" → %27 → %2527
494 assert!(out.contains("id=%2527"), "got {out}");
495 }
496
497 #[test]
498 fn non_canonical_spaces_swaps_known_chars() {
499 let c = cfg(UrlStrategy::NonCanonicalSpaces, false);
500 let (out, _) = mutate_url("/p?q=hello world<", &c);
501 assert!(out.contains("q=hello+world%3C"), "got {out}");
502 }
503
504 // ── path-segment mutation ──────────────────────────────────
505
506 #[test]
507 fn path_segment_mutation_changes_last_segment_only_when_enabled() {
508 let c = cfg(UrlStrategy::PercentEncodeAggressive, true);
509 // Tail contains `.` (non-alphanumeric) so the strategy bites.
510 let (out, t) = mutate_url("/api/v1/admin.php", &c);
511 assert!(out.starts_with("/api/v1/"), "head must stay; got {out}");
512 assert_ne!(out, "/api/v1/admin.php", "tail must change; got {out}");
513 assert!(
514 out.contains("admin%2Ephp"),
515 "dot must be percent-encoded; got {out}"
516 );
517 assert!(t.contains(&"url:path_segment"));
518 }
519
520 #[test]
521 fn path_with_trailing_slash_is_not_mutated() {
522 let c = cfg(UrlStrategy::PercentEncodeAggressive, true);
523 let (out, t) = mutate_url("/api/v1/admin/", &c);
524 // Empty tail after the trailing `/` → no mutation
525 assert_eq!(out, "/api/v1/admin/");
526 assert!(t.is_empty());
527 }
528
529 // ── round-tripping pre-encoded input ──────────────────────
530
531 #[test]
532 fn pre_encoded_query_value_is_decoded_then_re_mutated() {
533 // Operator's input is `%27` (encoded `'`); we should decode
534 // first and then apply the strategy so we don't end up
535 // double-encoding accidentally on PercentEncodeAggressive.
536 let c = cfg(UrlStrategy::PercentEncodeAggressive, false);
537 let (out, _) = mutate_url("/p?q=%27OR%27", &c);
538 // Decoded: `'OR'` → re-aggressive-encoded: `%27OR%27`
539 assert!(out.contains("q=%27OR%27"));
540 }
541
542 // ── adversarial / robustness ──────────────────────────────
543
544 #[test]
545 fn does_not_panic_on_invalid_percent_escape() {
546 let c = UrlMutateConfig::default();
547 // %ZZ is invalid — must be treated as literal `%ZZ`
548 let _ = mutate_url("/p?q=%ZZbad", &c);
549 }
550
551 #[test]
552 fn does_not_panic_on_empty_input() {
553 let c = UrlMutateConfig::default();
554 let (out, _) = mutate_url("", &c);
555 assert_eq!(out, "");
556 }
557
558 #[test]
559 fn does_not_panic_on_trailing_question_mark() {
560 let c = UrlMutateConfig::default();
561 let (out, _) = mutate_url("/p?", &c);
562 assert_eq!(out, "/p?");
563 }
564
565 #[test]
566 fn handles_extremely_long_value() {
567 let c = UrlMutateConfig::default();
568 let long = "A".repeat(50_000);
569 let (out, _) = mutate_url(&format!("/p?q={long}"), &c);
570 // Alphanumeric → unchanged (50K A's)
571 assert!(out.ends_with(&long), "alnum long string must pass through");
572 }
573
574 #[test]
575 fn multiple_pairs_each_get_mutated_independently() {
576 let c = cfg(UrlStrategy::PercentEncodeAggressive, false);
577 let (out, _) = mutate_url("/p?a=1'&b=2\"&c=3", &c);
578 assert!(out.contains("a=1%27"));
579 assert!(out.contains("b=2%22"));
580 assert!(out.contains("c=3"));
581 }
582
583 #[test]
584 fn query_value_containing_equals_preserves_extra_equals() {
585 let c = UrlMutateConfig::default();
586 // `?key=base64==` is common (b64 padding)
587 let (out, _) = mutate_url("/p?key=b64==", &c);
588 // First `=` is the separator; "b64==" is the value
589 assert!(out.starts_with("/p?key="));
590 }
591}