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Sabir_Alvi's avatar
Sabir_Alvi
Icon for Altocumulus rankAltocumulus
Apr 27, 2021

iRule to deny not working as expected (http 403 response not working)

So, we have been using iRules for many years to manage whitelisting of application access based on incoming source IP and strings in URL. When the request doesn't match, an HTTP 403 response is sent to the user. However, after we upgrade our BiG IP from v11.2.1 to v15.0.1, the 403 response is not working. The iRule itself works correctly to allow/deny access to the application, but the response when the request doesn't match is no longer 403 in the browser, it says "Can’t reach this page", which doesn't look clean as a user. Any ideas why the behavior change in the new version?

(Please don't suggest using Network policy etc, it is just too much of a workload to move hundreds of clients to a new configuration) Let me know how the iRule can be fixed to display the 403 response.

Here's the syntax I use -

when HTTP_REQUEST {
    if { ([matchclass [string tolower [HTTP::uri]] contains "XYZ_Strings"]) and !([matchclass [IP::remote_addr] equals "ABC_IPs"]) } {
    	         HTTP::respond 403
	}
}
application delivery
BIG-IP
iRules

7 Replies

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  • SanjayP's avatar
    SanjayP
    Icon for Nacreous rankNacreous
    Apr 27, 2021

    This should work and give standard browser error for 403. But if it's not working in your case, you can try sending a content to the client in the iRule. Also, please replace matchclass with class match syntax as matchlass has been deprecated

    when HTTP_REQUEST {
    if { ([class match [string tolower [HTTP::uri]] contains "XYZ_Strings"]) and !([class match [IP::remote_addr] equals "ABC_IPs"]) } {
  HTTP::respond 403 content "You don't have authorization to view this page. Access Denied" noserver Content-Type text/html Connection Close Cache-Control no-cache
	}
}

    You can also send custom html page from ifile stored on BIGIP

    • Sabir_Alvi's avatar
      Sabir_Alvi
      Icon for Altocumulus rankAltocumulus
      Apr 27, 2021

      Hi Sanjay, thanks for the reply. I tried it, did not work, same response as before even with using content in the syntax.

      • SanjayP's avatar
        SanjayP
        Icon for Nacreous rankNacreous
        Apr 27, 2021

        Did you change syntax to class match? Please change it to class match.

        ​Also, would suggest to enable logging in iRule and check for ​the http trace in developer tools in browser or using fiddler/http watch. Which response code and content do you see there?