HTTP R. Roda, Ed.
Internet-Draft 10 December 2023
Intended status: Informational
Expires: 12 June 2024
An HTTP Status Code to Report Requester Impairment
draft-richardroda-420requesterimpaired-02
Abstract
This document specifies a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) status
code for use when an operation or resource is denied due to requester
impairment.
Status of This Memo
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. 420 Requester Impaired . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1. Introduction
This document specifies a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) status
code for use when a request is denied because the requester is
impaired.
This request code may be used to provide visibility in cases where
one or more valid requests create a dangerous situation, there is a
pattern of erratic requests with the potential for danger, or the
requester is otherwise detected as impaired.
Network-controlled devices are being used for beneficial but
potentially dangerous activities such as construction and remote
surgery. Identifying requester impairment is important for both
accurately assessing the risk a given requester presents and
preventing damage caused by a high-risk requester.
1.1. Requirements Language
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
2. 420 Requester Impaired
The status code 420 indicates that the server is denying the request
as a consequence of evidence of requester impairment.
The server in question might not be an origin server. An
intermediate proxy closer to the requester may be in a better
position to assess potential requester impairment. Such a proxy may
refuse to forward the request and respond with this error code.
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There is no requirement that the requester be human. Certain AI
systems can exhibit behaviors such as giving hallucinated, incorrect,
and differing answers for a given input. Given the speed at which
such AI operates, it is no less important to detect the impairment of
AI requesters as human requesters.
This response code provides greater visibility for requester
impairment than the 403 Forbidden code. Such visibility will aid
network monitoring for impaired requesters. This will improve
remediation and risk assessment of possibly impaired requesters.
Such responses MAY include the inputs or evidence used to determine
impairment, but SHOULD NOT reveal information that a requester can
use to evade impairment detection.
A 420 response is non-cacheable by default, i.e., unless otherwise
indicated by the method definition or explicit cache controls; see
[RFC9111].
AI
An artificial intelligence system that is capable of making
independent decisions without direct human control.
proxy
A server with a primary purpose of forwarding requests to other
servers to process.
HTTP/1.1 420 Requester Impaired
Content-Type: application/problem+json
Content-Language: en
{
"type": "https://example.com/erratic-requests",
"title": "Requester Impaired: Erratic Behavior Detected.",
"detail": "Potentially dangerous and erratic requests detected."
}
Figure 1: Example Response in [RFC9457] Problem Details Format
3. IANA Considerations
IANA is asked to update the HTTP Status Codes Registry with the
following entry:
* Code: 420
* Description: Requester Impaired
* Specification: This RFC
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4. Security Considerations
If the impaired requesters are identifiable because they have been
authenticated, their requests SHOULD be denied until they have been
determined not to be impaired. If the impaired requesters are
unauthenticated, all requests SHOULD be denied until it can be
determined that no impaired requesters are using the system.
5. References
5.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
[RFC9111] Fielding, R., Ed., Nottingham, M., Ed., and J. Reschke,
Ed., "HTTP Caching", STD 98, RFC 9111,
DOI 10.17487/RFC9111, June 2022,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9111>.
[RFC9457] Nottingham, M., Wilde, E., and S. Dalal, "Problem Details
for HTTP APIs", RFC 9457, DOI 10.17487/RFC9457, July 2023,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9457>.
Author's Address
Richard Roda (editor)
Email: richard_roda@hotmail.com
URI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardroda/
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