Links Top Level Elements Executors Connectors Containers Nested Components Cluster Elements Global Settings | Container Provided Filters| Introduction |
Tomcat provides a number of Filters which may be
configured for use with all web applications using
$CATALINA_BASE/conf/web.xml or may be configured for individual
web applications by configuring them in the application's
WEB-INF/web.xml. Each filter is described below.
This description uses the variable name $CATALINA_BASE to refer the
base directory against which most relative paths are resolved. If you have
not configured Tomcat for multiple instances by setting a CATALINA_BASE
directory, then $CATALINA_BASE will be set to the value of $CATALINA_HOME,
the directory into which you have installed Tomcat.
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| Add Default Character Set Filter |
| Introduction |
The HTTP specification is clear that if no character set is specified for
media sub-types of the "text" media type, the ISO-8859-1 character set must
be used. However, browsers may attempt to auto-detect the character set.
This may be exploited by an attacker to perform an XSS attack. Internet
Explorer has this behaviour by default. Other browsers have an option to
enable it.
This filter prevents the attack by explicitly setting a character set.
Unless the provided character set is explicitly overridden by the user the
browser will adhere to the explicitly set character set, thus preventing the
XSS attack.
|
| Filter Class Name |
The filter class name for the Add Default Character Set Filter is
org.apache.catalina.filters.AddDefaultCharsetFilter
.
|
| Initialisation parameters |
The Add Default Character Set Filter supports the following initialization
parameters:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|
encoding |
Name of the character set which should be set, if no other character set
was set explicitly by a Servlet. This parameter has two special values
default and system. A value of system
uses the JVM wide default character set, which is usually set by locale.
A value of default will use ISO-8859-1.
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|
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| CSRF Prevention Filter |
| Introduction |
This filter provides basic CSRF protection for a web application. The
filter assumes that it is mapped to /* and that all URLs
returned to the client are encoded via a call to
HttpServletResponse#encodeRedirectURL(String) or
HttpServletResponse#encodeURL(String).
This filter prevents CSRF by generating a nonce and storing it in the
session. URLs are also encoded with the same nonce. When the next request is
received the nonce in the request is compared to the nonce in the session
and only if they are the same is the request allowed to continue.
|
| Filter Class Name |
The filter class name for the CSRF Prevention Filter is
org.apache.catalina.filters.CsrfPreventionFilter
.
|
| Initialisation parameters |
The CSRF Prevention Filter supports the following initialisation
parameters:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|
entryPoints |
A comma separated list of URLs that will not be tested for the
presence of a valid nonce. They are used to provide a way to navigate
back to a protected application after having navigated away from it.
Entry points will be limited to HTTP GET requests and should not trigger
any security sensitive actions.
| nonceCacheSize |
The number of previously issued nonces that will be cached on a LRU
basis to support parallel requests, limited use of the refresh and back
in the browser and similar behaviors that may result in the submission
of a previous nonce rather than the current one. If not set, the default
value of 5 will be used.
| randomClass |
The name of the class to use to generate nonces. The class must be an
instance of java.util.Random. If not set, the default value
of java.security.SecureRandom will be used.
|
|
|
| Expires Filter |
| Introduction |
ExpiresFilter is a Java Servlet API port of Apache
mod_expires.
This filter controls the setting of the Expires HTTP header and the
max-age directive of the Cache-Control HTTP header in
server responses. The expiration date can set to be relative to either the
time the source file was last modified, or to the time of the client access.
These HTTP headers are an instruction to the client about the document's
validity and persistence. If cached, the document may be fetched from the
cache rather than from the source until this time has passed. After that, the
cache copy is considered "expired" and invalid, and a new copy must
be obtained from the source.
To modify Cache-Control directives other than max-age (see
RFC
2616 section 14.9), you can use other servlet filters or Apache Httpd
mod_headers module.
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| Expiration headers generation eligibility |
A response is eligible to be enriched by ExpiresFilter if :
- no expiration header is defined (Expires header or the
max-age directive of the Cache-Control header),
- the response status code is not excluded by the directive
ExpiresExcludedResponseStatusCodes,
- the Content-Type of the response matches one of the types
defined the in ExpiresByType directives or the
ExpiresDefault directive is defined.
Note : If Cache-Control header contains other directives than
max-age, they are concatenated with the max-age directive
that is added by the ExpiresFilter.
|
| Expiration configuration selection |
The expiration configuration if elected according to the following algorithm:
- ExpiresByType matching the exact content-type returned by
HttpServletResponse.getContentType() possibly including the charset
(e.g. 'text/xml;charset=UTF-8'),
- ExpiresByType matching the content-type without the charset if
HttpServletResponse.getContentType() contains a charset (e.g. '
text/xml;charset=UTF-8' -> 'text/xml'),
- ExpiresByType matching the major type (e.g. substring before
'/') of HttpServletResponse.getContentType()
(e.g. 'text/xml;charset=UTF-8' -> 'text
'),
- ExpiresDefault
|
| Filter Class Name |
The filter class name for the Expires Filter is
org.apache.catalina.filters.ExpiresFilter
.
|
| Initialisation parameters |
The Expires Filter supports the following
initialisation parameters:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|
ExpiresExcludedResponseStatusCodes |
This directive defines the http response status codes for which the
ExpiresFilter will not generate expiration headers. By default, the
304 status code ("Not modified") is skipped. The
value is a comma separated list of http status codes.
This directive is useful to ease usage of ExpiresDefault directive.
Indeed, the behavior of 304 Not modified (which does specify a
Content-Type header) combined with Expires and
Cache-Control:max-age= headers can be unnecessarily tricky to
understand.
Sample : exclude response status codes 302, 500 and 503
 | | | |
<init-param>
<param-name>ExpiresExcludedResponseStatusCodes</param-name>
<param-value>302, 500, 503</param-value>
</init-param>
| | | | |
| ExpiresByType <content-type> |
This directive defines the value of the Expires header and the
max-age directive of the Cache-Control header generated for
documents of the specified type (e.g., text/html). The second
argument sets the number of seconds that will be added to a base time to
construct the expiration date. The Cache-Control: max-age is
calculated by subtracting the request time from the expiration date and
expressing the result in seconds.
The base time is either the last modification time of the file, or the time
of the client's access to the document. Which should be used is
specified by the <code> field; M means that the
file's last modification time should be used as the base time, and
A means the client's access time should be used. The duration
is expressed in seconds. A2592000 stands for
access plus 30 days in alternate syntax.
The difference in effect is subtle. If M (modification in
alternate syntax) is used, all current copies of the document in all caches
will expire at the same time, which can be good for something like a weekly
notice that's always found at the same URL. If A (
access or now in alternate syntax) is used, the date of
expiration is different for each client; this can be good for image files
that don't change very often, particularly for a set of related
documents that all refer to the same images (i.e., the images will be
accessed repeatedly within a relatively short timespan).
Note: When the content type includes a charset (e.g.
'ExpiresByType text/xml;charset=utf-8'), Tomcat removes blank chars
between the ';' and the 'charset' keyword. Due to this,
configuration of an expiration with a charset must not include
such a space character.
Sample:
| | | |
<init-param>
<param-name>ExpiresByType text/html</param-name>
<param-value>access plus 1 month 15 days 2 hours</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<!-- 2592000 seconds = 30 days -->
<param-name>ExpiresByType image/gif</param-name>
<param-value>A2592000</param-value>
</init-param>
| | | | |
It overrides, for the specified MIME type only, any
expiration date set by the ExpiresDefault directive.
You can also specify the expiration time calculation using an alternate
syntax, described earlier in this document.
| ExpiresDefault |
This directive sets the default algorithm for calculating the
expiration time for all documents in the affected realm. It can be
overridden on a type-by-type basis by the ExpiresByType directive. See the
description of that directive for details about the syntax of the
argument, and the "alternate syntax"
description as well.
|
|
| Troubleshooting |
To troubleshoot, enable logging on the
org.apache.catalina.filters.ExpiresFilter.
Extract of logging.properties
| | | |
org.apache.catalina.filters.ExpiresFilter.level = FINE
| | | | |
Sample of initialization log message:
| | | |
Mar 26, 2010 2:01:41 PM org.apache.catalina.filters.ExpiresFilter init
FINE: Filter initialized with configuration ExpiresFilter[
excludedResponseStatusCode=[304],
default=null,
byType={
image=ExpiresConfiguration[startingPoint=ACCESS_TIME, duration=[10 MINUTE]],
text/css=ExpiresConfiguration[startingPoint=ACCESS_TIME, duration=[10 MINUTE]],
text/javascript=ExpiresConfiguration[startingPoint=ACCESS_TIME, duration=[10 MINUTE]]}]
| | | | |
Sample of per-request log message where ExpiresFilter adds an
expiration date:
| | | |
Mar 26, 2010 2:09:47 PM org.apache.catalina.filters.ExpiresFilter onBeforeWriteResponseBody
FINE: Request "/tomcat.gif" with response status "200" content-type "image/gif", set expiration date 3/26/10 2:19 PM
| | | | |
Sample of per-request log message where ExpiresFilter does not add
an expiration date:
| | | |
Mar 26, 2010 2:10:27 PM org.apache.catalina.filters.ExpiresFilter onBeforeWriteResponseBody
FINE: Request "/docs/config/manager.html" with response status "200" content-type "text/html", no expiration configured
| | | | |
|
|
| Remote Address Filter |
| Introduction |
The Remote Address Filter allows you to compare the
IP address of the client that submitted this request against one or more
regular expressions, and either allow the request to continue
or refuse to process the request from this client.
The syntax for regular expressions is different than that for
'standard' wildcard matching. Tomcat uses the java.util.regex
package. Please consult the Java documentation for details of the
expressions supported.
|
| Filter Class Name |
The filter class name for the Remote Address Filter is
org.apache.catalina.filters.RemoteAddrFilter
.
|
| Initialisation parameters |
The Remote Address Filter supports the following
initialisation parameters:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|
allow |
A comma-separated list of regular expression patterns
that the remote client's IP address is compared to. If this attribute
is specified, the remote address MUST match for this request to be
accepted. If this attribute is not specified, all requests will be
accepted UNLESS the remote address matches a deny
pattern.
| deny |
A comma-separated list of regular expression patterns
that the remote client's IP address is compared to. If this attribute
is specified, the remote address MUST NOT match for this request to be
accepted. If this attribute is not specified, request acceptance is
governed solely by the accept attribute.
|
|
|
| Remote Host Filter |
| Introduction |
The Remote Host Filter allows you to compare the
hostname of the client that submitted this request against one or more
regular expressions, and either allow the request to continue
or refuse to process the request from this client.
The syntax for regular expressions is different than that for
'standard' wildcard matching. Tomcat uses the java.util.regex
package. Please consult the Java documentation for details of the
expressions supported.
|
| Filter Class Name |
The filter class name for the Remote Address Filter is
org.apache.catalina.filters.RemoteHostFilter
.
|
| Initialisation parameters |
The Remote Host Filter supports the following
initialisation parameters:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|
allow |
A comma-separated list of regular expression patterns
that the remote client's hostname is compared to. If this attribute
is specified, the remote hostname MUST match for this request to be
accepted. If this attribute is not specified, all requests will be
accepted UNLESS the remote hostname matches a deny
pattern.
| deny |
A comma-separated list of regular expression patterns
that the remote client's hostname is compared to. If this attribute
is specified, the remote hostname MUST NOT match for this request to be
accepted. If this attribute is not specified, request acceptance is
governed solely by the accept attribute.
|
|
|
| Remote IP Filter |
| Introduction |
Tomcat port of
mod_remoteip,
this filter replaces the apparent client remote IP address and hostname for
the request with the IP address list presented by a proxy or a load balancer
via a request headers (e.g. "X-Forwarded-For").
Another feature of this filter is to replace the apparent scheme
(http/https), server port and request.secure with the scheme presented
by a proxy or a load balancer via a request header
(e.g. "X-Forwarded-Proto").
If used in conjunction with Remote Address/Host filters then this filter
should be defined first to ensure that the correct client IP address is
presented to the Remote Address/Host filters.
|
| Filter Class Name |
The filter class name for the Remote IP Filter is
org.apache.catalina.filters.RemoteIpFilter
.
|
| Initialisation parameters |
The Remote IP Filter supports the
following initialisation parameters:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|
remoteIpHeader |
Name of the HTTP Header read by this valve that holds the list of
traversed IP addresses starting from the requesting client. If not
specified, the default of x-forwarded-for is used.
| internalProxies |
List of internal proxies' IP addresses as comma separated regular
expressions. If they appear in the remoteIpHeader
value, they will be trusted and will not appear in the
proxiesHeader value. If not specified the default value
of 10\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}, 192\.168\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3},
169\.254\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}, 127\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3} will
be used.
| proxiesHeader |
Name of the HTTP header created by this valve to hold the list of
proxies that have been processed in the incoming
remoteIpHeader. If not specified, the default of
x-forwarded-by is used.
| trustedProxies |
List of trusted proxies' IP addresses as comma separated regular
expressions. If they appear in the remoteIpHeader
value, they will be trusted and will appear in the
proxiesHeader value. If not specified, no proxies will
be trusted.
| protocolHeader |
Name of the HTTP Header read by this valve that holds the protocol
used by the client to connect to the proxy. If not specified, the
default of null is used.
| protocolHeaderHttpsValue |
Value of the protocolHeader to indicate that it is
an HTTPS request. If not specified, the default of https is
used.
| httpServerPort |
Value returned by ServletRequest.getServerPort()
when the protocolHeader indicates http
protocol. If not specified, the default of 80 is
used.
| httpsServerPort |
Value returned by ServletRequest.getServerPort()
when the protocolHeader indicates https
protocol. If not specified, the default of 443 is
used.
|
|
|
| Request Dumper Filter |
| Introduction |
The Request Dumper Filter logs information from the request and response
objects and is intended to be used for debugging purposes. When using this
Filter, it is recommended that the
org.apache.catalina.filter.RequestDumperFilter logger is
directed to a dedicated file and that the
org.apache.juli.VerbatimFormmater is used.
WARNING: Using this filter has side-effects. The
output from this filter includes any parameters included with the request.
The parameters will be decoded using the default platform encoding. Any
subsequent calls to request.setCharacterEncoding() within
the web application will have no effect.
|
| Filter Class Name |
The filter class name for the Request Dumper Filter is
org.apache.catalina.filters.RequestDumperFilter
.
|
|
| WebDAV Fix Filter |
| Introduction |
Microsoft operating systems have two WebDAV clients. One is used with
port 80, the other is used for all other ports. The implementation used with
port 80 does not adhere to the WebDAV specification and fails when trying to
communicate with the Tomcat WebDAV Servlet. This Filter provides a fix for
this by forcing the use of the WebDAV implementation that works, even when
connecting via port 80.
|
| Filter Class Name |
The filter class name for the WebDAV Fix Filter is
org.apache.catalina.filters.WebdavFixFilter
.
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