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Rewrite section on scheme confusion
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for #167
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mnot committed May 10, 2016
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20 changes: 13 additions & 7 deletions draft-ietf-httpbis-http2-encryption.md
Expand Up @@ -332,15 +332,21 @@ cookies).

## Confusion Regarding Request Scheme

Some HTTP/1.1 implementations use ambient signals to determine if a request is for an `https`
resource. For example, implementations might look for TLS on the stack or a port number of 443. This
is necessary in many cases because the most common form of an HTTP/1.1 request does not carry an
explicit indication of the URI scheme. An implementation that is serving an opportunistically
secured request SHOULD suppress these signals for `http` resources.
HTTP implementations and applications sometimes use ambient signals to determine if a request is
for an `https` resource; for example, they might look for TLS on the stack, or a server port number
of 443.

HTTP/1.1 MUST NOT be used to serve opportunistically secured requests. HTTP/1.1 can be used to
discover an opportunistically secured alternative service.
This might be due to limitations in the protocol (the most common HTTP/1.1 request form does
not carry an explicit indication of the URI scheme), or it may be because how the server and
application are implemented (often, they are two separate entities, with a variety of possible
interfaces between them).

Any security decisions based upon this information could be misled by the deployment of this
specification, because it violates the assumption that the use of TLS (or port 443) means that the
client is accessing a HTTPS URI, and operating in the security context implied by HTTPS.

Therefore, servers need to carefully examine the use of such signals before deploying this
specification.


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@icing
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@icing icing commented on cb8a0af Jun 1, 2016

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Sounds good and clear to me.

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