Node, express API proxy requests to external API with basic auth header

Question

I have built a API using node.js and express. But i need to be able to proxy some requests on a specific route to a external server and show the response from the external server to the clint doing the request.

But i also need to forward the basic auth that the client is send along with the request.

I have tried using the request module like:

app.get('/c/users/', function(req,res) {
  //modify the url in any way you want
  var newurl = 'https://www.external.com' 
  request(newurl).pipe(res),

})

But it seems to not send the basic auth header because i get "403 Forbidden" back form the external server(www.external.com)

The request im making is looking like:

GET http://example.se:4000/c/users/ HTTP/1.1
Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate
X-version: 1
Authorization: Basic bmR4ZHpzNWZweWFpdjdxfG1vcmV1c2*******=
Accept: application/json
Host: example.se:4000
Connection: Keep-Alive
User-Agent: Apache-HttpClient/4.1.1 (java 1.5)

And it works if i do the exact same request but against www.external.com directly so there is some issue when doing the proxy in node.

fortran · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-14 16:25:19Z

2

The request module is totally unaware of anything that you don't pass explicitly to it. To set the request headers and copy the response headers as well do the following:

// copy headers, except host header
var headers = {}
for (var key in req.headers) {
  if (req.headers.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
    headers[key] = req.get(key)
  }
}
headers['host'] = 'final-host'

var newurl = 'http://final-host/...'
request.get({url:newurl, headers: headers }, function (error, response, body) {
  // debug response headers
  console.log(response.headers)
  // debug response body
  console.log(body)

  // copy response headers
  for (var key in response.headers) {
    if (response.headers.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
      res.setHeader(key, response.headers[key])
    }
  }
  res.send(response.statusCode, body)
})

edited Oct 14, 2015 at 16:25

fortran

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answered Nov 2, 2013 at 17:12

gimenete

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5 Comments

morto Over a year ago

Ok so from my understanding i should replace request(newurl).pipe(res), with: .get({url:newurl, headers{'Authorization': req.get('Authorization') }}).pipe(res); But i than get: request.get({url:newurl, headers{'Authorization': req.get('Authorization') } ^ SyntaxError: Unexpected token {

morto Over a year ago

Aaa should have seen that. hmm still dont get to work as i get 403 Forbidden. Can i get a log of what is sent? When i do return console.log(res); i get a lot of things that i dont really understand.

gimenete Over a year ago

If you want to see the output instead of pipe-ing the result you can put a callback at the end of the first method call: request.get({...}, function (error, response, body) { console.log(body); res.send(response.statusCode, body) }. See the documentation of the request module.

morto Over a year ago

Is it possible to forward all headers without setting them manually like request.get({url:newurl, headers: req.headers}).pipe(res); But than overwrite the host header? Because if i pass the host header from request i get a error.

Shlomi Schwartz Over a year ago

could you please give advice for stackoverflow.com/questions/22684644/… I will appreciate it very much :)

Bulkan · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-02 16:03:16Z

0

Try explicitly passing in the auth details like so

request(newurl).auth(username, password).pipe(res);

https://github.com/mikeal/request#http-authentication

answered Nov 2, 2013 at 16:03

Bulkan

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3 Comments

morto Over a year ago

But i only get the auth code encoded in the header from the client request like: Authorization: Basic bmR4ZHpzNWZweWFpdjdxfG1vcmV1c2*******= So i cant just add username/password. I need to forward this header somehow.

Bulkan Over a year ago

You can set the header like so ` request({ url: newurl, headers: {'Authorization': 'Basic bmR4ZHpzNWZweWFpdjdxfG1vcmV1c2*******='}}).pipe(res);`

morto Over a year ago

Sorry im not following you now im not so experienced witd node and express. I guess i need to than get the header from the request and than pass it to the outgoing request to the external server?

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