MSC3743: Standardized error response for unknown endpoints

proposals/3743-errors-for-unknown-endpoints.md

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+# MSC3743: Standardized error response for unknown endpoints
+
+Matrix does not define how a server should treat unknown endpoints. This makes it
+difficult to determine whether an endpoint is responding with a legitimate error
+(e.g. a `404` for an object not being found) or because it does not support the
+endpoint.
+
+This has impacted clients [wishing to support stable features](https://github.com/vector-im/element-web/issues/19738),
+as well as requiring servers to [implement workarounds](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/blob/a711ae78a8f8ba406ff122035c8bf096fac9a26c/synapse/federation/federation_client.py#L602-L622)
+based on heuristics.
+
+
+## Proposal
+
+The Client-Server API, Server-Server API, Application Service API, Identity Service API,
+and Push Gateway shall respond with a `404` HTTP error response with an error code
+of `M_UNRECOGNIZED`. This is required for all paths under the `/_matrix` prefix.
+
+This applies if a server receives a request to an unknown path or if an invalid method is
+used for a known path, i.e. whenever the request cannot be routed to business logic.
+
+The major homeserver implementations have recently settled on using `M_UNRECOGNIZED`,
+so it seems reasonable to specify this formally.
+
+## Potential issues
+
+Servers and clients may still need to rely on heuristics until this is widely
+available, but this proposal should not cause any additional issues.
+
+A `M_UNRECOGNIZED` error code with a status of `400` has more specific definition
+in the Identity Server API:
+
+> The request contained an unrecognised value, such as an unknown token or medium.
+
+## Alternatives
+
+[MSC3723](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/3723) could be an alternative
+to this, but it has the downside of servers needing to track the version state
+of each other server it is interacting with.
+
+It is seen as being more narrowly applicable (only to the Server-Server API),
+while also being more complicated to implement.
+
+It could be proposed to only handle the known prefixes under `/_matrix`:
+
+* `/_matrix/client/`
+* `/_matrix/federation/`
+* `/_matrix/media/`
+* `/_matrix/keys/`
+* `/_matrix/push/`
+* `/_matrix/identity/`
+* `/_matrix/app/`
+
+But it is more future-proof to include the entire `/_matrix` prefix in case
+additional services are added to the Matrix ecosystem.
+
+## Security considerations
+
+None.
+
+## Unstable prefix
+
+None (as this is about unknown endpoints!)
+
+## Current status
+
+[Issue #1492](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/issues/1492) discusses this
+problem a bit, but does not propose a concrete solution. [^0]
+
+### Homeserver API
+
+Tested by querying for:
+
+* Unprefixed: `GET /_matrix/unknown`
+* Client-Server: `GET /_matrix/client/v4/login`,
+* Server-Server: `GET /_matrix/federation/unknown`.
+* Media: `GET /_matrix/media/unknown`
+* Keys: `GET /_matrix/keys/unknown`
+
+Tested incorrect method via:
+
+* `PUT /_matrix/client/v3/login`
+* `PUT /_matrix/federation/v1/version`
+* `PUT /_matrix/media/v3/upload`
+* `PUT /_matrix/v3/keys/upload`
+
+If the below doesn't include differences for an incorrect method, assume it is
+identical to the behavior of an unknown endpoint.
+
+----
+
+#### Synapse:
+
+* Unprefixed, and Keys: 404 error with an HTML body
+* Client-Server:
+  * < 1.53.0: 404 error with an HTML body
+  * \>= 1.53.0: 400 error with a JSON body [^1]
+    ```json
+    {"errcode": "M_UNRECOGNIZED", "error": "Unrecognized request"}
+    ```
+* Server-Server: 400 error with a JSON body
+  ```json
+  {"errcode": "M_UNRECOGNIZED", "error": "Unrecognized request"}
+  ```
+* Media:
+  * 404 error with an HTML body
+  * Incorrect method: 400 error with a JSON body:
+    ```json
+    {"errcode": "M_UNRECOGNIZED", "error": "Unrecognized request"}
+    ```
+
+#### Dendrite:
+
+* Unprefixed and Server-Server:
+  * 404 error with a text body of `404 page not found`
+  * Incorrect method: 405 error with no body
+* Client-Server:
+  * < 0.10.0: 404 error with a text body of `404 page not found`
+  * \>= 0.10.0: 404 error with a JSON body (but a `text/plain` content type) [^2]
+    ```json
+    {"errcode": "M_UNRECOGNIZED", "error": "Unrecognized request"}
+    ```
+* Media:
+  * 404 error with a text body of `404 page not found`
+  * Incorrect method: 405 error with a text body of `405 PUT not allowed on this endpoint`
+* Keys: 404 error with a text body of `404 page not found`
+
+#### Conduit:
+
+* Unprefied, Client-Server, Server-Server, and Media:
+  * < 0.4.0: 404 error with no body
+  * == 0.4.0: 404 error with a JSON body [^3]
+    ```json
+    {"errcode": "M_NOT_FOUND", "error": "M_NOT_FOUND: Unknown or unimplemented route"}
+    ```
+  * \> 0.4.0: 404 error with a JSON body [^4]
+    ```json
+    {"errcode": "M_UNRECOGNIZED", "error": "M_UNRECOGNIZED: Unrecognized request"}
+    ```
+  * Incorrect method: 405 error with no body
+* Keys: handled as unknown endpoints as above -- unimplemented?
+
+#### matrix-media-repo (Media-only):
+
+* 404 error with a JSON body:
+  ```json
+  {"errcode": "M_NOT_FOUND", "error": "Not found", "mr_errcode": "M_NOT_FOUND"}
+  ```
+* Incorrect method: 405 error with a JSON body:
+  ```json
+  {"errcode": "M_UNKNOWN", "error": "Method Not Allowed", "mr_errcode": "M_METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED"}
+  ```
+
+### Application Service API
+
+Tested by querying for `GET /_matrix/app/unknown`
+
+Untested, but anecdotally been told this is poorly handled.
+
+### Identity Service API,
+
+Tested by querying for `GET /_matrix/identity/unknown`.
+
+* Sydent:
+  * 404 with an HTML body
+  * Incorrect method: 405 with an HTML body
+
+### Push Gateway
+
+Tested by querying for `GET /_matrix/push/unknown`.
+
+* Sygnal:
+  * 404 with an HTML body
+  * Incorrect method: 405 with an HTML body
+
+## Dependencies
+
+None.
+
+[^0]: Tests were run against matrix.org (1.69.0rc3 (b=matrix-org-hotfixes,aca3a117a9));
+dendrite.matrix.org (0.10.2); and conduit.rs (0.4.0-next).
+[^1]: https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/11600
+[^2]: https://github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/issues/2739
+[^3]: https://gitlab.com/famedly/conduit/-/merge_requests/306
+[^4]: https://gitlab.com/famedly/conduit/-/merge_requests/388