handle websocket requests to non-websocket targets

relay response status and body back to requester

Author: minrk

lib/http-proxy/passes/ws-incoming.ts

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ The names of passes are exported as WS_PASSES from this module.
 import * as http from "node:http";
 import * as https from "node:https";
 import * as common from "../common";
-import type { Request } from "./web-incoming";
+import type { Request, ProxyResponse } from "./web-incoming";
 import type { Socket } from "node:net";
 import debug from "debug";
 import type { NormalizedServerOptions, ProxyServer } from "..";
@@ -219,6 +219,28 @@ export function stream(
     // which may be another leak type situation and definitely doesn't work for unit testing.
     socket.destroySoon();
   }
+  
+  // if we get a response, backend is not a websocket endpoint,
+  // relay HTTP response and close the socket
+  proxyReq.on("response", (proxyRes: ProxyResponse) => {
+    log("got non-ws HTTP response",
+        {
+          statusCode: proxyRes.statusCode,
+          statusMessage: proxyRes.statusMessage,
+        }
+    );
+    const proxyHead = createHttpHeader(
+      `HTTP/1.1 ${proxyRes.statusCode} ${proxyRes.statusMessage}`,
+      {"Connection": "close"},
+    );
+    if (!socket.destroyed) {
+      socket.write(proxyHead);
+      proxyRes.pipe(socket);
+    } else {
+      // make sure response is consumed
+      proxyRes.resume();
+    }
+  });
 
   proxyReq.end();
 }

lib/test/websocket/websocket-proxy-http.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+/*
+pnpm test websocket-proxy-http.test.ts
+
+Test clients connecting a websocket to a non-websocket backend.
+The connection should fail promptly and preserve the original error code.
+
+See https://nodejs.org/api/http.html#event-response
+
+DEVELOPMENT:
+
+ pnpm test websocket-proxy-http.test.ts
+*/
+
+import * as http from "node:http";
+import * as httpProxy from "../..";
+import log from "../log";
+import getPort from "../get-port";
+import { once } from "node:events";
+import {describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll} from "vitest";
+
+describe("Example of client requesting websocket when backend is plain http", () => {
+  let ports: Record<'httpOnly' | 'proxy', number>;
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    // assigns ports
+    ports = { httpOnly: await getPort(), proxy: await getPort() };
+  });
+
+  let servers: any = {};
+
+  it("Create an http server that doesn't support websockets", async () => {
+    const server = http.createServer((_req, res) => {
+      res.writeHead(418, { "Content-Type": "text/plain" });
+      res.end("not a websocket!");
+    });
+
+    servers.httpOnly = server;
+    server.listen(ports.httpOnly);
+  });
+
+  it("Try a websocket client connecting to a regular HTTP backend", async () => {
+    const options = {
+      port: ports.httpOnly,
+      host: "localhost",
+      headers: {
+        Connection: "Upgrade",
+        Upgrade: "websocket",
+      },
+    };
+    const req = http.request(options);
+    req.end();
+    const [res] = await once(req, "response");
+    expect(res.statusCode).toEqual(418);
+    const body = await res.read().toString();
+    expect(body.trim()).toEqual("not a websocket!");
+    log("we got an http response.");
+  });
+
+  it("Create a proxy server pointed at the non-websocket server, expecting websockets", async () => {
+    servers.proxy = httpProxy
+      .createServer({ target: `ws://localhost:${ports.httpOnly}`, ws: true })
+      .listen(ports.proxy);
+  });
+
+  it("Create a websocket client and test the proxy server", async () => {
+    const options = {
+      port: ports.proxy,
+      host: "localhost",
+      headers: {
+        Connection: "Upgrade",
+        Upgrade: "websocket",
+      },
+    };
+    const req = http.request(options);
+    req.end();
+    const [res] = await once(req, "response");
+    expect(res.statusCode).toEqual(418);
+    const body = await res.read().toString();
+    expect(body.trim()).toEqual("not a websocket!");
+  });
+
+  afterAll(async () => {
+    // cleans up
+    Object.values(servers).map((x: any) => x?.close());
+  });
+});