Semicolon URL delimiter

Oliver Bock <[email protected]> Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:23:17 +1100
Newsgroups gmane.comp.python.webware
Message-ID <[email protected]>
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--===============7055954816161179447==
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
	boundary="------------000705020106070205010804"

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------000705020106070205010804
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

My URLs normally look like this:

http://www.mysite.com/v003/?_s=xx0045&_id=BK807317371

but occasionally one arrives like this:

http://www.mysite.com/v003/?_s=xx0045&_id=BK807317371*;bcsi-ac-3CA58FAD43257DE1=1E08471000000005HI6/ziFwyMTzliaD2x6OYpIvEvYyAAAABQAAAK5uLgCAcAAAAQAAAPOKAAA=*

Some googling revealed that the*;bcsi-ac*... stuff is probably some 
basic authentication information added by a not-too-clever proxy.  It 
surprised me to also learn that the semicolon is a valid query item 
separator 
(http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3481664/semicolon-as-url-query-separator).  
If WebUtils.FieldStorage had known this then my code would have happily 
ignored this junk and my user would have been OK.

In my view nobody should go around adding parameters to other programs' 
URLs, so I consider this problem the fault of whatever added that junk.  
I thought I'd mention it for interest, and in case it affects anybody else.


   Oliver

--------------000705020106070205010804
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

<html>
  <head>

    <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
  </head>
  <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
    My URLs normally look like this:<br>
    <br>
    <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.mysite.com/v003/?_s=xx0045&amp;_id=BK807317371">http://www.mysite.com/v003/?_s=xx0045&amp;_id=BK807317371</a><br>
    <br>
    but occasionally one arrives like this:<br>
    <br>
    <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.mysite.com/v003/?_s=xx0045&amp;_id=BK807317371">http://www.mysite.com/v003/?_s=xx0045&amp;_id=BK807317371</a><b>;bcsi-ac-3CA58FAD43257DE1=1E08471000000005HI6/ziFwyMTzliaD2x6OYpIvEvYyAAAABQAAAK5uLgCAcAAAAQAAAPOKAAA=</b><br>
    <br>
    Some googling revealed that the<b> ;bcsi-ac</b>... stuff is probably
    some basic authentication information added by a not-too-clever
    proxy.&nbsp; It surprised me to also learn that the semicolon is a valid
    query item separator
    (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3481664/semicolon-as-url-query-separator">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3481664/semicolon-as-url-query-separator</a>).&nbsp;
    If WebUtils.FieldStorage had known this then my code would have
    happily ignored this junk and my user would have been OK.<br>
    <br>
    In my view nobody should go around adding parameters to other
    programs' URLs, so I consider this problem the fault of whatever
    added that junk.&nbsp; I thought I'd mention it for interest, and in case
    it affects anybody else.<br>
    <br>
    <br>
    &nbsp; Oliver<br>
  </body>
</html>

--------------000705020106070205010804--


--===============7055954816161179447==
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow!
The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers
is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3,
Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now!
http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d
--===============7055954816161179447==
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline

_______________________________________________
Webware-discuss mailing list
Webware-discuss-5NWGOfrQmneRv+LV9MX5uipxlwaOVQ5f@public.gmane.org
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/webware-discuss

--===============7055954816161179447==--