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feat(http): add SizeLimitHandler to enforce request body size limit#6658

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bladehan1 wants to merge 17 commits intotronprotocol:developfrom
bladehan1:feat/request_size
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feat(http): add SizeLimitHandler to enforce request body size limit#6658
bladehan1 wants to merge 17 commits intotronprotocol:developfrom
bladehan1:feat/request_size

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@bladehan1
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@bladehan1 bladehan1 commented Apr 8, 2026

What does this PR do?

Add Jetty SizeLimitHandler at the server handler level to enforce request body size limits for all HTTP and JSON-RPC endpoints, preventing OOM denial-of-service from oversized payloads.

Changes

  • Introduce node.http.maxMessageSize and node.jsonrpc.maxMessageSize as independent, configurable size limits
  • Default: 4 MB, consistent with gRPC defaults
  • Support human-readable size values (e.g. 4m, 128MB) via HOCON getMemorySize() for all three size configs
  • Wire SizeLimitHandler into HttpService.initContextHandler() as the outermost handler
  • Each HttpService subclass (4 HTTP + 3 JSON-RPC) sets maxRequestSize from the corresponding config getter
  • Initialize maxRequestSize with a safe 4MB default to prevent silent reject-all if a future subclass omits the assignment
  • Deprecate Util.checkBodySize() — updated to use httpMaxMessageSize, retained as fallback for backward compatibility
  • Existing node.rpc.maxMessageSize now also supports human-readable sizes (backward compatible — bare integers still treated as bytes)

Why are these changes required?

Previously, HTTP request body size was only validated at the application layer (Util.checkBodySize()), which reads the entire body into memory before checking. The JSON-RPC interface had no size validation at all. This allows an attacker to send arbitrarily large payloads, causing OOM and denial of service.

Moving the limit to the Jetty handler chain provides:

  1. OOM protection — oversized payloads are never fully buffered into memory
  2. Streaming enforcement — limits are enforced during read, not after full buffering
  3. Unified coverage — all HTTP and JSON-RPC endpoints are protected by a single mechanism
  4. Independent tuning — operators can configure HTTP and JSON-RPC limits separately

Scope and known limitations

This PR's primary goal is OOM protection, not uniform HTTP 413 responses.

Chunked transfer behavior differs by servlet type due to a pre-existing exception handling design in the servlet chain:

Request type HTTP Servlets (132) JSON-RPC Servlet
Content-Length exceeds limit 413 (Jetty rejects before dispatch) 413 (same)
Chunked / no Content-Length, exceeds limit 200 + error JSON {"Error":"BadMessageException"} 200 + empty body

Root cause: SizeLimitHandler truncates body read at the limit and throws BadMessageException (RuntimeException) during streaming.

  • HTTP servlets have their own catch(Exception)Util.processError() writes error JSON to the response body, so the client sees 200 + {"Error":"..."}.
  • JsonRpcServlet delegates to jsonrpc4j, which internally catches exceptions during request parsing and returns an empty response → client sees 200 + empty body.

This is a pre-existing behavior of the jsonrpc4j library, not introduced by this PR. Any exception during request body parsing produces the same 200 empty body result, with or without SizeLimitHandler. OOM protection is effective in all cases — the body read is truncated regardless of the response status code. Returning 200 + empty body for malformed/oversized chunked requests is acceptable: it does not affect normal requests, increases attacker difficulty, and the alternative — pre-reading the request body to trigger the size limit (catch the exception to report the error), then wrapping the already-read body into an HttpServletRequestWrapper to continue the normal request flow — adds significant complexity for marginal benefit.

Closes #6604

This PR has been tested by

  • SizeLimitHandlerTest (10 tests): boundary, independent limits, UTF-8 byte counting, chunked transfer, zero-limit, checkBodySize consistency
  • JsonrpcServiceTest.testJsonRpcSizeLimitIntegration: real JSON-RPC integration test covering normal passthrough, Content-Length oversized (413), and chunked oversized (200 empty body)
  • ArgsTest (5 new tests): human-readable sizes (KB/MB/GB × binary/SI), raw integer backward compatibility, zero-value, error paths (exceeds int max, negative, invalid unit, non-numeric)
  • UtilTest: checkBodySize uses httpMaxMessageSize

Follow-up

  • Fix chunked oversized JSON-RPC to return proper error — Won't fix: exception is swallowed inside jsonrpc4j, not in our servlet code. Fixing requires pre-reading the request body to trigger the size limit (catch the exception to report the error), then wrapping the already-read body into an HttpServletRequestWrapper to continue the normal request flow — significant test complexity for marginal benefit. Current behavior (200 + empty body) is acceptable.
  • Remove Util.checkBodySize() callers once SizeLimitHandler is stable

Changed files

16 files changed, +617 / -8

Component Changes
HttpService Add maxRequestSize field (default 4MB), wire SizeLimitHandler in initContextHandler()
Args / ConfigKey / CommonParameter Parse node.http.maxMessageSize and node.jsonrpc.maxMessageSize; refactor all three to use getMemorySize()
7 service subclasses Set maxRequestSize from protocol-specific config getter
Util.checkBodySize() Mark @Deprecated, switch to httpMaxMessageSize
config.conf Add documented config examples for HTTP, RPC, JSON-RPC size limits with zero-value behavior
SizeLimitHandlerTest New: 10 tests covering HTTP limits, boundary, UTF-8, chunked, independence, zero-limit, checkBodySize consistency
JsonrpcServiceTest New: testJsonRpcSizeLimitIntegration — real JSON-RPC integration test
ArgsTest New: 5 tests for human-readable parsing (KB/MB/GB), error paths
UtilTest New: checkBodySize consistency test

…imit

Add SizeLimitHandler at the Jetty server level to reject oversized
request bodies before they are fully buffered into memory. This prevents
OOM attacks via arbitrarily large HTTP payloads that bypass the existing
application-level Util.checkBodySize() check (which reads the entire
body first) and the JSON-RPC interface (which had no size validation).
Introduce node.http.maxMessageSize and node.jsonrpc.maxMessageSize to
allow HTTP and JSON-RPC services to enforce separate request body size
limits via Jetty SizeLimitHandler, decoupled from gRPC config.

- Default: 4 * GrpcUtil.DEFAULT_MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE (16 MB)
- Validation: reject <= 0 with TronError(PARAMETER_INIT) at startup
- Each HttpService subclass sets its own maxRequestSize in constructor
- SizeLimitHandlerTest covers independent limits, boundary, UTF-8 bytes
@xxo1shine
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@bladehan1 One observation on the config validation in Args.java: the guard currently rejects <= 0 values with TronError, but there is no upper-bound check. An operator who accidentally sets node.http.maxMessageSize = 2147483647 would silently run with a 2 GB limit. Adding a reasonable maximum (e.g. 128 MB) with an explicit warn-or-throw would make misconfiguration more visible.

@bladehan1
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@xxo1shine
Thanks for the review. I think that when users manually configure values, it's unnecessary to set all boundaries except for error-prone values. Especially for values ​​that are obviously likely to have problems, setting boundaries is unnecessary.

Comment thread framework/src/main/java/org/tron/core/services/http/Util.java
@halibobo1205 halibobo1205 added this to the GreatVoyage-v4.8.2 milestone Apr 9, 2026
@halibobo1205 halibobo1205 added topic:api rpc/http related issue Improvement labels Apr 9, 2026
checkBodySize() was enforcing maxMessageSize (gRPC limit) instead of
httpMaxMessageSize, causing the independent HTTP size setting to be
ineffective at the servlet layer.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@bladehan1 bladehan1 force-pushed the feat/request_size branch from 24abc3a to 3048750 Compare April 9, 2026 10:43
Comment thread framework/src/main/java/org/tron/core/config/args/Args.java Outdated
Comment thread framework/src/main/java/org/tron/core/config/args/Args.java Outdated
bladehan1 and others added 5 commits April 10, 2026 17:22
…ndler

Add tests to cover scenarios raised in PR review:
- Chunked (no Content-Length) requests within/exceeding the limit
- Servlet broad catch(Exception) absorbing streaming BadMessageException
- SizeLimitHandler behavior when limit is 0 (rejects all non-empty bodies)
Replace EchoServlet with BroadCatchServlet to mirror real servlet chain.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Replace getInt() with getMemorySize().toBytes() for maxMessageSize,
httpMaxMessageSize and jsonRpcMaxMessageSize config parsing. This
enables human-readable size values (e.g. 4m, 128MB) while maintaining
backward compatibility with raw byte values.

- maxMessageSize (gRPC): keep int field, validate <= Integer.MAX_VALUE
  for gRPC API compatibility, add positive value validation
- httpMaxMessageSize / jsonRpcMaxMessageSize: widen to long, matching
  Jetty SizeLimitHandler's long parameter type
- Add config.conf documentation for all three size parameters

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Change validation from <= 0 to < 0 for all three size limit configs.
Zero is a valid value meaning "reject all non-empty request bodies",
with consistent semantics in both gRPC (maxInboundMessageSize >= 0)
and Jetty SizeLimitHandler (limit >= 0 && size > limit).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Add tests proving the two enforcement layers measure identical byte
counts for normal JSON payloads (ASCII and UTF-8). For bodies with
\r\n line endings, checkBodySize measures fewer bytes than wire —
a safe direction that never causes false rejections.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Zero is a valid value for all three maxMessageSize parameters,
so the config documentation should say "non-negative" not "positive".

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Comment thread framework/src/main/java/org/tron/core/config/args/Args.java
Comment thread framework/src/main/resources/config.conf
bladehan1 and others added 2 commits April 14, 2026 17:55
…iable name

Initialize HttpService.maxRequestSize to 4MB so future subclasses that
omit the assignment get a safe limit instead of 0 (reject all requests).
Rename defaultHttpMaxMessageSize to defaultMaxMessageSize since it serves
as the fallback for both HTTP and JSON-RPC limits.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Add comprehensive ArgsTest coverage for getMemorySize() parsing:
- Human-readable sizes across KB/MB/GB tiers (binary and SI units)
- Raw integer backward compatibility
- Zero-value acceptance
- Error paths: exceeds int max, negative value, invalid unit, non-numeric

Document zero-value behavior in config.conf for all three maxMessageSize
entries: "Setting to 0 rejects all non-empty request bodies".

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@waynercheung
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[SHOULD] With the updated PR scope, I no longer see the chunked 413 gap itself as a contract mismatch, since the description now explicitly scopes this PR to OOM protection rather than uniform HTTP status behavior. The remaining gap is test realism: SizeLimitHandlerTest still does not exercise the production JSON-RPC stack, because the /jsonrpc path is backed by a synthetic BroadCatchServlet, not the real JsonRpcServlet -> jsonrpc4j chain. Since the PR still claims protection for JSON-RPC endpoints, I strongly recommend either adding one real JSON-RPC integration case or making the test naming/comments explicit that this is validating generic HttpInput interception rather than end-to-end JSON-RPC behavior.

Comment thread framework/src/main/java/org/tron/core/services/http/Util.java
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waynercheung commented Apr 14, 2026

[NIT] SizeLimitHandlerTest relies heavily on banner-style ruler comments such as // -- ... -------- throughout the file. This style adds visual noise without structural value, and is harder to maintain - new tests may not fit neatly into an existing section, and the dashes need manual alignment. The usual best practice here is to rely on descriptive test names, minimal section comments, and helper methods / smaller test classes for grouping, rather than heavy visual separators.

Note also that one comment has already drifted from the implementation: the Javadoc on testChunkedBodyWithinLimit still reads "succeed (EchoServlet)", but the servlet under test is now BroadCatchServlet. Please update that reference while cleaning up the comments.

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banner-style ruler comments / stale EchoServlet Javadoc

Done. Removed all banner-style ruler comments and fixed the stale EchoServlet reference in testChunkedBodyWithinLimit Javadoc. See latest push.

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JSON-RPC test realism / BroadCatchServlet does not exercise the real jsonrpc4j chain

Agreed — the PR inserts SizeLimitHandler on the JSON-RPC path, so we should verify no regression on the real stack.

Added testJsonRpcSizeLimitIntegration() in JsonrpcServiceTest, using the Spring-injected FullNodeJsonRpcHttpService (real JsonRpcServlet + jsonrpc4j). Covers three scenarios with explicit expected results:

  1. Normal JSON-RPC request through SizeLimitHandler → 200 with valid "result" (no regression)
  2. Content-Length oversized413 before servlet dispatch
  3. Chunked oversized200 with empty body

Scenario 3 deserves explanation: BadMessageException (RuntimeException) thrown during body read propagates through jsonrpc4j → out of JsonRpcServlet.doPost() (no try/catch) → caught by RateLimiterServlet.catch(Exception unexpected) which logs but does not write a response. Jetty defaults to 200 empty body. OOM protection is still effective — the body read is truncated at the limit.

The silent swallowing in RateLimiterServlet is a pre-existing design issue (affects all RuntimeExceptions from any servlet, not just BadMessageException). Fixing it impacts 100+ servlets and belongs in a dedicated PR.

Also cleaned up SizeLimitHandlerTest: removed the 3 redundant testJsonRpcBody* tests (BroadCatchServlet cannot represent the real jsonrpc4j chain), renamed TestJsonRpcServiceSecondHttpService, kept only testTwoServicesHaveIndependentLimits for validating per-service limit isolation.

See latest push.

…Handler tests

Add testJsonRpcSizeLimitIntegration() in JsonrpcServiceTest using the
Spring-injected FullNodeJsonRpcHttpService (real JsonRpcServlet + jsonrpc4j)
to verify SizeLimitHandler does not introduce regressions. Covers: normal
request passthrough, Content-Length oversized 413, and chunked oversized
behavior (200 empty body due to RateLimiterServlet absorbing BadMessageException).

Clean up SizeLimitHandlerTest: remove 3 redundant testJsonRpcBody* tests
that used BroadCatchServlet (cannot represent real jsonrpc4j chain), rename
TestJsonRpcService to SecondHttpService, remove banner-style ruler comments,
fix stale EchoServlet Javadoc reference, and remove HTML tags from Javadoc.
@waynercheung
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Re-checking the current PR head (6f0a0f0), I still do not see the changes described in the reply on this branch yet.

Specifically:

  • SizeLimitHandlerTest still contains the banner-style section comments, and the stale EchoServlet reference is still present.
  • I do not see the new testJsonRpcSizeLimitIntegration() in JsonrpcServiceTest.
  • The synthetic /jsonrpc tests in SizeLimitHandlerTest are still present.
  • Util.checkBodySize() is still using body.getBytes() with the platform default charset.

If there is a newer push on another branch or commit, please point me to it. Otherwise I think these threads should stay open until the code is actually updated in this PR.

@bladehan1
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@waynercheung

The push was a little late, but you can view it now.
As mentioned above, Util.checkBodySize() no longer adds body.getBytes.
Another issue has been updated.

…nd fix comment attribution

Add getMaxRequestSize()/setMaxRequestSize() to HttpService so tests
use compile-safe accessors instead of Field.setAccessible(true).
Correct comments attributing exception swallowing to RateLimiterServlet
when it is actually jsonrpc4j that silently absorbs the BadMessageException.
if (rpcMaxMessageSize < 0 || rpcMaxMessageSize > Integer.MAX_VALUE) {
throw new TronError("node.rpc.maxMessageSize must be non-negative and <= "
+ Integer.MAX_VALUE + ", got: " + rpcMaxMessageSize, PARAMETER_INIT);
}
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 if (PARAMETER.httpMaxMessageSize <= 0) {                                 
       throw new TronError("node.http.maxMessageSize must be > 0, got: "
           + PARAMETER.httpMaxMessageSize, PARAMETER_INIT);                   
}   

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I don’t think we should change this to <= 0 in this PR. The current implementation, config docs, and tests all explicitly treat 0 as a valid value meaning “reject all non-empty request bodies”, not as an invalid configuration.
Changing that now would be a behavior change rather than a local validation cleanup, and would require updating the documented semantics and the related tests as well.

Util.checkBodySize(exceedsHttpLimit);
Assert.fail("expected exception for body exceeding httpMaxMessageSize");
} catch (Exception e) {
Assert.assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("200"));
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Suggest use

Assert.assertThrows(Exception.class,
        () -> Util.checkBodySize(exceedsHttpLimit));
Assert.assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("200"));

to remove the try/catch block

public void testJsonRpcSizeLimitIntegration() {
long testLimit = 1024;
try {
long originalLimit = fullNodeJsonRpcHttpService.getMaxRequestSize();
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[NIT] originalLimit is restored only in the inner finally, which is reached only after fullNodeJsonRpcHttpService.start() succeeds. If start() throws, this shared bean keeps the overridden limit for the rest of the class. Please move the setMaxRequestSize(originalLimit) restore into the outer finally so the test always leaves the service in its original state.

@waynercheung
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[NIT] A few of the newly added test comments use decorative non-ASCII punctuation such as and . This is not a correctness issue, and Google Java Style does allow Unicode where it improves readability, but these particular symbols are decorative rather than semantic. For consistency with the rest of the Java codebase, I’d prefer plain ASCII punctuation (->, -) in comments. The UTF-8 test literals themselves (for example / 测试地址) are of course justified and should stay.

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[DISCUSS] node.rpc.maxMessageSize already has a stronger fail-fast guard because the gRPC API ultimately requires an int (<= Integer.MAX_VALUE). By contrast, node.http.maxMessageSize and node.jsonrpc.maxMessageSize are currently accepted as any non-negative long. I’m not convinced they should be forced to the same Integer.MAX_VALUE cap, but do we want some operator guardrail here as well (for example a startup warning or a documented recommended upper bound for suspiciously large values)? Very large HTTP / JSON-RPC limits materially weaken the intended OOM protection, and values above Integer.MAX_VALUE also exceed the effective range of the deprecated checkBodySize() fallback.

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[Feature] Unified HTTP Request Body Size Limit

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