Something is wrong with domains in NodeJS - node.js

I have this simple code. This must show me my error object ({error:'error'}) upon each request. But it shows only "[Object object]".
And moreover - debugger never stops in the error handler function.
What is going on?
var domain = require('domain');
var express = require('express');
var server = express();
server.get('/', function(req, res)
{
var d = domain.create();
d.on('error', function(e)
{
debugger;
console.log(JSON.stringify(e));
});
d.run(function()
{
throw {error:'error'};
res.send('ok');
});
});
server.listen(8080);

The problem is that domains catch the error all the way at the bottom of the call stack, and since express has its own error handling code, the error gets caught by express before reaching the domain. Similar issue here: Node.js - Domain per Express request, inside another domain
I don't see any particularly good reason it should be this way, but that's how the code seems to work [1] (source here: https://github.com/joyent/node/blob/master/lib/domain.js). Possible workarounds are to surround the d.run() call with your own try/catch, or to do something like
d.run(process.nextTick(function() {
// do stuff
}));
[1] The way domains work is that they basically hook into all of the "asynchronous" callbacks and add some information that records who initiated the asynchronous operation. I don't know why they don't also try/catch on the initial synchronous block.

Related

Is it okay to not send a response to urls that people are pentesting my node/express site?

I log all 404s on my website. I keep getting them for pages I haven't linked to, and it's clearly someone (a bot) trying to find admin pages / secure files on my site such as /wp-admin.php;
router.get('/wp-admin.php', function(req, res, next) {});
I tried this and it doesn't seem to hold up the server, it just outputs something like this a minute later:
GET /wp-admin.php - - ms - -
Is there any detriment to adding routes such as that, where no response is sent, possibly wasting their time?
router.get('/wp-admin.php', function(req, res, next) {});
This will cause express to time out and close the connection. This will make Denial of Service attack easier for hackers and jam up your node server.
You can always use some kind of rate limiters to prevent continuous request from a certain IP.
express-rate-limit
is a can be used for this. It is simple express middleware
As noted in the already accepted answer, an Express route like that will leave you vulnerable.
I recommend going one step further and tearing down those requests using req.destroy.
I'm not sure of the implications of Express being included, here, though. For example, is the request body being read automatically by a middleware upstream of this request handler you've shown? If so, that would be an attack vector that makes the mitigation I'm suggesting useless.
Regardless, to demonstrate what I am suggesting with a vanilla HTTP server:
var h = require('http')
h.createServer(function(req, res) {
// tear down the socket as soon as the request event is emitted
req.destroy()
}).listen(8888, function() {
// send a request to the server we just created
var r = h.request({port: 8888})
r.on('response', console.log.bind(console, 'on_response'))
r.on('error', console.log.bind(console, 'on_error'))
r.on('timeout', console.log.bind(console, 'on_timeout'))
// abort will be emitted to the caller, but nothing else
r.on('abort', console.log.bind(console, 'on_abort'))
r.end()
})
You could also call socket.destroy in the connection event of the HTTP server if you're able to identify the calling agent as a bot (or whatever) somehow.
var h = require('http')
h.createServer(function(req, res) {
res.send('foo')
}).on('connection', function(socket) {
// pretend this ip address is the remote address of an attacker, for example
if (socket.remoteAddress === '10.0.0.0') {
socket.destroy()
}
}).listen(8888, function() {
// send a request to the server we just created
var r = h.request({port: 8888})
r.on('response', console.log.bind(console, 'on_response'))
r.on('error', console.log.bind(console, 'on_error'))
r.on('timeout', console.log.bind(console, 'on_timeout'))
// abort will be emitted to the caller, but nothing else
r.on('abort', console.log.bind(console, 'on_abort'))
r.end()
})

Node.js REST API - URI Sanitizing?

I would like to require pages in my Node.js server based on the requested URI.
However I concern that this could be a severe security issue since user can inject some malicous chars into the url, something like ../../ and reach to my root server point and reveal all of the code.
So just like throwing a bottle of water to a big fire, I have eliminated the option to send . to the request.
This is not a silverbullet, probably :)
Maybe is there some standard/best practice/guide or keypoints about URI sanitizing in REST API based on Node.js?
Edit - here the code uses the require
// app.js
app.use(require('./services/router')(app));
// router.js middleware
function router(app) {
return function(req, res, next) {
try {
// checking for . in the url
if (req.url.indexOf(".")!=-1) cast.badRequest();
// req.url.split('/')[2] should be customers, users or anything else
require('../../resources/' + req.url.split('/')[2] + '/' + req.url.split('/')[2] + '-router')(app);
next();
} catch(err) { cast.notFound(); }
}
}
module.exports = router;
// rides-router.js (this could be users-router.js or customers-router.js)
module.exports = function(app) {
// GET ride - select a ride
app.get("/v1/rides/:id", dep.verifyToken(), require('./api/v1-get-ride'));
// POST ride - insert a new ride
app.post("/v1/rides", dep.verifyToken(), require('./api/v1-set-ride'));
app.use((req, res, next) => {
cast.notFound();
});
}
You asked how to do it safer. My recommendation is that you put all the resources in an array and run all the app.use() statements with one loop that pulls the resource names from the array at server startup.
I don't like running synchronous require() during a request and I don't like loading code based on user specified characters. Both are avoided with my recommendation.
// add routes for all resources
const resourceList = ['rides', 'products', ...];
for (let r of resourceList) {
app.use(`/${r}`, require(`./resources/${r}/${r}-router`));
}
This seems like less code and 100% safe and no running of synchronous require() during a request.
Advantages:
Fully whitelisted.
No user input involved in selecting code to run.
No synchronous require() during request processing.
All routes installed at server initialization time.
Any errors in route loading (like a missing route file) occur at server startup, not during a user request.

node express - does middle way order matter? Getting error

My code below gives me an error: Error: Can't set headers after they are sent.
If I put app.use('/special/... before app.use('/' ... it doesn't give me an error-
1. As I understand when using app.use the order does matter because the program doesn't look like when I use app.get for example, for anything after '/ or '/special/ so why am I getting an error?
Also when I put app.use('/special/' first I am still not seeing "first" and second" but only the first one - even though I use next..
Can someone explain?
Thanks!!
What does it mean?
var express=require ('express');
var app=express();
app.use('/',function(req,res,next){
res.send('first');
next();
});
app.use('/special/',function(req,res,next){
res.send('second');
next();
});
app.listen(3000, function(){
console.log('Server listening');
});
In your case it's nothing about order, but you can't invoke res.send('some_result') twice when one resource required,you can check this in detail Stackoverflow.
also, when you use app.use() to add middleware to your system,Express use regex to match your request url,so when you have the code below:
app.use('/',function(req,res,next){
res.send('first');
next();
});
all the request(regardless of HTTP verb) start with '/' will meet the requirement.
finally when request below:
POST /special
both of the middlewares will be invoked.
Problem
The two routes
app.use('/',function(req,res,next){
res.send('first');
next();
});
app.use('/special/',function(req,res,next){
res.send('second');
next();
});
both match the url /special. That's why both of them are executed by node. Since res.send() in the first route closes the http response from the server, the res.send() in the second router throws an error since it tries to set a header (e. g. Content-length) while output from the first route has already been sent.
Solution
Always put the more specific route first so that it is reached at all. If the first route you define matches /, no other route would ever be called.
Also, do not call next() if you want to call res.send() in routes. Best practice: next() should only be invoked in middlewares which do not send a response.
A possible solution looks like this:
var express=require ('express');
var app=express();
app.use('/special/',function(req,res){
res.send('second');
});
app.use('/',function(req,res){
res.send('first');
});
app.listen(3000, function(){
console.log('Server listening');
});

How Express recorgonizes middlewares?

I'm novice in Express and a little bit confused about how it handles middlewares? So basically I have two middlewares which looks like:
app.use(require('_/app/middlewares/errors/404'))
app.use(require('_/app/middlewares/errors/500'))
404
var log = require('_/log')
module.exports = function (req, res, next) {
log.warn('page not found', req.url)
res.status(404).render('errors/404')
}
500
var log = require('_/log')
module.exports = function (er, req, res, next) {
log.error(er.message)
res.locals.error = er
res.status(500).render('errors/500')
}
So now I want to add my custom middleware app.use(require('_/app/middleware/shareLocals')) which looks like:
module.exports = function (req, res, next) {
res.locals.base_url = req.protocol + '://' + req.get('host');
next();
}
The main problem is that now when I try to use base_url I get 404 error...
So how Express understands what middleware do? That is between my middleware and 404 are no visual differences:
it receives same params
it doesn’t have any if's in it, just throws 404 error
Appears the feeling the middlewares in Express are made for errors (when excepts err as first param) and for 404 (when there is no first err)...
P.S.
Is there any difference defining middlewares before or after routes?
P.S. Is there any difference defining middlewares before or after routes?
Yes.
The order in which you register your middlewares (and routes) have a lot to say.
Image express as a giant list. Starting at the first element in the list, you have the first middleware OR route you have defined, next is the second, etc.
When express gets a request, it appears to be matching your route/name of route/middleware, and if it's a hit, it executes the middleware/route and potentially waits for a "next()" call.
So if you have a route "/test" it will only be executed if you have a request matching "/test". routes with different names obviously wont get triggered. middlewares can also have names: app.use("/test", middlewareA). This will also only trigger if "/test" is requested. The way you do it, all requests (within the routes namespace) will be triggered app.use(middlewareA). It's like a wildcard.
Now, to the implications of things being ordered:
Your 404 middleware should only be used AFTER all routes have been defined. that way, when the list reached the 404 middleware, no routes have actually been found.
returning/sending result/not calling next() at the end of a middleware will all potentially create problems in your flow. I wont go into details about this, but be aware of it.
I am guessing your own middleware is added after the 404 middleware. That is probably the problem. If not, you should surrender more of your code so we can take a better look. But remember, order is everything :)

Object oriented style app with express.js and socket.io

I'm building an application in node, using express for simplify things and socket.io for sockets manipulation.
So, while I'm writing my code I realize that it works, but is not the best and elegant solution.
The only thing I want to do is to wrap all the code of the sockets events, and then reuse in more than one page request, so:
app.js
var express = require('express')
, io;
var app = express()
, PORT = 7777;
io = require('socket.io').listen(app.listen(PORT));
app.get("/", function ( req, res ) {
io.socket.on('connection', function ( socket ) {
socket.on('user', function () {
});
socket.on('message', function () {
});
socket.on('getConversation', function ( socket ) {
});
});
res.render('index');
});
But what happens if I want to assign to the /foo and /bar files the same approach?
i.e. I need to get it in a modular or object oriented way, as can be possible.
There is a pattern to do it?
All you're doing here is attaching event listeners to socket.io after someone makes a page request. Then every single request after that would be attaching new event listeners and your server slowly begins to run out of memory as you clog it with new event listeners every time someone makes a page request. It makes no sense to put socket.io code in your route handlers. Take a look at this:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/express.io

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