Q&A: What is CORS? How Can Silverline Setup CORS policy? – F5 Silverline Knowledge Base

Question

What is CORS?

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CORS

TL/DR; HTTP request from origin server sends a request to sub-domain for resources
- HTTP request contains the "Origin" header with the origin server
- HTTP response in return should at the very least send an "Access-Control-Allow-Origin" header with valid domain(s)
- There are other headers that could be used to further strengthen the cross-origin sharing feature, please review the link above for further information

How Can Silverline Setup CORS Policy and add to the security?

Environment

Silverline WAF
WAF policy/WAF policies
iRule

Answer

How Can Silverline Setup CORS Policy and add to the security?

To strengthen the cross-origin sharing feature, Silverline can prevent requests from origin sites that are not allowed/expected from your backend application/server

An iRule could be implemented to either

Build a report on the sites being referenced to generate a list of 'Origins' sites in transparent mode

We recommend setting up Log Export to export iRule logs

How to Configure Log Export

Or if you know the origin already, proceed to block 'Origins' sites that are not allowed

iRule example

when HTTP_REQUEST priority 350 {
    # check if origin header exists
    if { [HTTP::header exists "origin"] } {

        # check if this header value matches
        if { !([class match -- [string tolower [HTTP::header values "origin"]] equals [call ag_info0::datatable_name allow_origin_header]]) } {
            
            # If origin header doesn't match, log and block
            set agl [call ag_log0::open -rulename block_on_origin_header -rulever 1]
            call ag_log0::http_kvp $agl INFO action "Blocking request based on origin header" Origin_header [HTTP::header values "origin"]
            
            # The following lines can either be removed/commented out for Transparent mode
            HTTP::respond 403 content "<html><head><title>Error</title></head><body>The requested service cannot be accessed at this time</body></html>" noserver Connection close
            TCP::close
        }
    }
}

As with all iRules, ensure that there are no other iRules (*enabled on the same proxy) that uses the same priority as this can cause errors or unintended behaviors

In addition, with the cross-origin sharing feature, it is typical for the feature to use the OPTIONS method
1. If a WAF policy is enabled on the proxy, please consider also requesting the SOC to allow the OPTIONS method
2. As the Origin header is required for cross-origin requests, the Silverline WAF policy can set a mandatory requirement to ensure that all HTTP request contains an Origin header
  - Otherwise, a violation under the "Mandatory Header is missing" category would be raise to alert/block the request
    - Other header enforcement can also be configured
    - Configuring HTTP Headers
3. It may also be necessary for the WAF policy blocking response page to return an "Access-Control-Allow-Origin" header with a valid value so that the blocking page could be carried forth
  - Q&A: Can you customize the WAF Violation Block Page, HTTP Response Code, and/or the HTTP Response Headers?

Question

Environment

Answer

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