Re: [hybi] Upgrade Mechanism and HasMat (was Re: Extensibility mechanisms?)

["Roy T. Fielding" <[e-mail]>]

On Jul 22, 2010, at 1:21 AM, Salvatore Loreto wrote:

> I see more value to work on a general solution to secure the HTTP Upgrade mechanism 
> against cross-protocol vulnerability, instead of trying to draft something ad-hoc for WebSocket

The HTTP Upgrade mechanism is not vulnerable to cross-protocol attacks.
Other (non-HTTP) services are vulnerable to browser misdirection if
the browser can be directed to send arbitrary bytes to an arbitrary
TCP port.  That is a problem which HTTP is actually good at avoiding
because the first line is unique to HTTP.

The issues people are raising about Upgrade are in regard to passing
through intermediaries.  Some people believe that intermediaries are
evil and must be tunneled through.  Other people believe that
intermediaries are beneficial and any protocol that deliberately
subverts them will be blocked.

There is no solution that will satisfy both of those beliefs.
Please stop trying to reconcile irreconcilable belief systems.

Implement both.  One will succeed, the other will fail.
Neither choice is mature enough for standardization at the
current time.

....Roy