Proxy improvements: better handling of non-CONNECT requests and observability

@johntmyers

The sandbox HTTP proxy (crates/navigator-sandbox/src/proxy.rs) is a CONNECT-only proxy. Several improvements have been identified:

1. Return 403 instead of 405 for plain HTTP proxy requests

Currently, when a client sends a forward-proxy style plain HTTP request (e.g. GET http://example.com/ HTTP/1.1), the proxy returns 405 Method Not Allowed. This is technically correct (we don't support that method) but semantically misleading — from the sandboxed process's perspective, the request was denied, not unsupported.

We should return 403 Forbidden instead to align with how HTTPS CONNECT denials are surfaced.

2. Add deny logging for non-CONNECT requests

Plain HTTP proxy requests are currently rejected silently (no structured log). HTTPS CONNECT requests that are denied by policy produce structured deny logs. We should emit a similar log line for rejected non-CONNECT requests so operators have full visibility into all proxy traffic attempts.

The hostname can be extracted from the absolute-form URI in the request line (e.g. http://badstuff.com/path → badstuff.com).

3. Create cleaner user facing error messages

See first comment.

More items may be added to this issue as additional proxy improvements are identified.

Originally by @johntmyers on 2026-02-25T17:20:13.123-08:00

@johntmyers

Revised messaging strategy:

The principle: if the request IS a recognized inference endpoint, we can acknowledge that in the message since inference is a first-class concept. If it is NOT inference, treat it as a generic policy deny with no mention of inference internals.

#	File:Line	Current text	Trigger (user-facing behavior)	Revised message	Rationale
1	`proxy.rs:872`	`"only inference API calls are allowed on this connection"`	Connection falls through to inference inspection, TLS terminated, but HTTP request inside isn't a known inference API endpoint	`"connection not allowed by policy"`	Not inference → generic policy deny
2	`proxy.rs:821`	`"no inference routes configured"`	Same as #1, but request does match an inference API pattern — however the inference route table is empty (no backends configured via gRPC)	`"inference endpoint detected without matching inference route"`	Is inference → explain actual failure
3	`proxy.rs:708`	`"missing inference context"`	Connection has no matching network policy, OPA returns `inspect_for_inference`, but `InferenceContext` was never initialized (e.g. inference config missing at sandbox startup)	`"connection not allowed by policy"`	Not inference (couldn't even check) → generic policy deny
4	`proxy.rs:765`	`"non-inference request"`	Same trigger as #1 — first HTTP request inside TLS-terminated tunnel doesn't match any known inference API pattern (log perspective)	`"connection not allowed by policy"`	Not inference → generic policy deny
5	`proxy.rs:869`	`"Non-inference request denied (inference-only mode)"`	Same trigger as #1/#4 — second `info\!` log emitted right before the 403 response	`"connection not allowed by policy"`	Not inference → generic policy deny
6	`proxy.rs:851`	`"Local inference routing failed"`	Request matches an inference API pattern and route table has a backend, but the backend request fails (server down, timeout, connection refused)	`"inference endpoint detected but upstream service failed"`	Is inference → explain actual failure
7	`dev-sandbox-policy.rego:54`	`"no matching policy and no inference routing configured"`	Sandboxed process connects to any host when policy has zero network policies AND zero inference allowed_routes — OPA denies at evaluation time	`"network connections not allowed by policy"`	OPA-level deny → generic policy deny

Originally by @johntmyers on 2026-02-25T17:40:11.414-08:00

🏗️ build-plan

Implementation Plan

Issue type: fix
Complexity: Low
Confidence: High — all changes are string/status-code replacements at known locations with clear before/after values

Summary

This issue covers three related proxy improvements: (1) returning 403 instead of 405 for plain HTTP proxy requests, (2) adding structured deny logging for non-CONNECT requests, and (3) revising 7 user-facing error messages across proxy.rs and dev-sandbox-policy.rego to follow a consistent principle — inference-aware messages for recognized inference endpoints, generic policy-deny messages for everything else.

Scope

crates/navigator-sandbox/src/proxy.rs: Change non-CONNECT response from 405→403, add structured deny log for non-CONNECT requests, and revise 5 error messages at known locations
dev-sandbox-policy.rego: Revise 1 deny_reason message (line 54)

Implementation Steps

Step 1: Change non-CONNECT response from 405 to 403 and add deny logging (`proxy.rs:228-231`)

Current code:

if method != "CONNECT" {
    respond(&mut client, b"HTTP/1.1 405 Method Not Allowed\r\n\r\n").await?;
    return Ok(());
}

Change to:

Replace 405 Method Not Allowed with 403 Forbidden
Before the response, extract the hostname from the absolute-form URI target (e.g. http://badstuff.com/path → badstuff.com) using url::Url::parse or simple string parsing
Emit a structured info! log with fields: method, target_host (extracted hostname), and message "Non-CONNECT proxy request denied"

Step 2: Revise error message #1 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` non-inference denial (line ~912)

Current	Revised
`"only inference API calls are allowed on this connection"`	`"connection not allowed by policy"`

This is the JSON body returned as a 403 when a request inside a TLS-terminated tunnel doesn't match any inference API pattern.

Step 3: Revise error message #2 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` empty routes (line ~861)

Current	Revised
`"no inference routes configured"`	`"inference endpoint detected without matching inference route"`

This is the JSON body returned as a 503 when the request IS recognized as inference but the route table is empty.

Step 4: Revise error message #3 — `proxy.rs` `handle_inference_interception()` missing context (line ~748)

Current	Revised
`"missing inference context"`	`"connection not allowed by policy"`

This is the InferenceOutcome::Denied reason when InferenceContext is None. Not inference → generic policy deny.

Step 5: Revise error message #4 — `proxy.rs` `handle_inference_interception()` non-inference request (line ~805)

Current	Revised
`"non-inference request"`	`"connection not allowed by policy"`

This is the InferenceOutcome::Denied reason when the first HTTP request in a TLS-terminated tunnel doesn't match any inference pattern. Not inference → generic policy deny.

Step 6: Revise error message #5 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` info log (line ~909)

Current	Revised
`"Non-inference request denied (inference-only mode)"`	`"connection not allowed by policy"`

This is the info! log message for the same trigger as #1/#4. Aligning the log message with the user-facing error.

Step 7: Revise error message #6 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` routing failure (line ~891)

Current	Revised
`"Local inference routing failed"`	`"inference endpoint detected but upstream service failed"`

This is the warn! log when the router's proxy_with_candidates call fails. IS inference → explain actual failure.

Step 8: Revise error message #7 — `dev-sandbox-policy.rego` deny_reason (line 54)

Current	Revised
`"no matching policy and no inference routing configured"`	`"network connections not allowed by policy"`

OPA-level deny when there are zero network policies AND zero inference routes → generic policy deny.

Step 9: Add/update unit tests

Add a test for hostname extraction from absolute-form URIs (the new helper for Step 1)
Update any existing tests that assert on the old error message strings (review the 33 existing tests in mod tests — none currently test these messages, so this is likely just new tests)
Add a test verifying the parse_target-style extraction for non-CONNECT request URIs

Test Plan

Unit tests: Add tests for the new hostname-extraction logic used in non-CONNECT deny logging. Existing tests don't assert on any of the changed message strings, so no breakage expected. Tests live in proxy.rs inline mod tests.
Integration tests: N/A — these are string and status-code changes with no new integration points.
E2E tests: N/A — no changes under e2e/. The E2E sandbox tests exercise CONNECT flows which are not affected by the non-CONNECT status code change. The error message changes are internal to denied paths that E2E tests don't assert on.

Risks & Open Questions

The hostname extraction for non-CONNECT deny logging should handle malformed URIs gracefully (log "unknown" if parsing fails rather than panicking).
The rego message change at dev-sandbox-policy.rego:54 may appear in OPA evaluation results surfaced to users — confirm this is the desired user-facing text.

Documentation Impact

None expected — these are error message and status code corrections, not architectural changes.

Revision 1 — initial plan

fix(proxy): return 403 for non-CONNECT requests, add deny logging, an…

🏗️ build-from-issue-agent

Implementation Complete

PR: #79

What was built

Improved the sandbox HTTP proxy to return 403 (instead of 405) for non-CONNECT requests with structured deny logging, and revised 7 user-facing error messages across proxy.rs and dev-sandbox-policy.rego to follow a consistent messaging principle.

Tests

Unit: 7 tests added (extract_host_from_uri covering HTTP, HTTPS, port, IPv6, no-path, empty, malformed)
Integration: N/A
E2E: Existing assertion updated (no new E2E tests)

Docs updated

architecture/sandbox.md
architecture/inference-routing.md

The issue will auto-close when the PR is merged.

fix(proxy): return 403 for non-CONNECT requests, add deny logging, an…

sandbox: add ollama sandbox with openclaw support (NVIDIA#42)

Merge pull request NVIDIA#42 from Ygnas/test/rhaieng-6877-selinux-qua…

Navigation Menu

Proxy improvements: better handling of non-CONNECT requests and observability #42

1. Return 403 instead of 405 for plain HTTP proxy requests

2. Add deny logging for non-CONNECT requests

3. Create cleaner user facing error messages

Implementation Plan

Summary

Scope

Implementation Steps

Step 1: Change non-CONNECT response from 405 to 403 and add deny logging (`proxy.rs:228-231`)

Step 2: Revise error message #1 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` non-inference denial (line ~912)

Step 3: Revise error message #2 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` empty routes (line ~861)

Step 4: Revise error message #3 — `proxy.rs` `handle_inference_interception()` missing context (line ~748)

Step 5: Revise error message #4 — `proxy.rs` `handle_inference_interception()` non-inference request (line ~805)

Step 6: Revise error message #5 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` info log (line ~909)

Step 7: Revise error message #6 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` routing failure (line ~891)

Step 8: Revise error message #7 — `dev-sandbox-policy.rego` deny_reason (line 54)

Step 9: Add/update unit tests

Test Plan

Risks & Open Questions

Documentation Impact

Implementation Complete

What was built

Tests

Docs updated

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Proxy improvements: better handling of non-CONNECT requests and observability #42

Description

1. Return 403 instead of 405 for plain HTTP proxy requests

2. Add deny logging for non-CONNECT requests

3. Create cleaner user facing error messages

Activity

pimlock commented on Feb 27, 2026

johntmyers commented on Mar 3, 2026

Implementation Plan

Summary

Scope

Implementation Steps

Step 1: Change non-CONNECT response from 405 to 403 and add deny logging (proxy.rs:228-231)

Step 2: Revise error message #1 — proxy.rs route_inference_request() non-inference denial (line ~912)

Step 3: Revise error message #2 — proxy.rs route_inference_request() empty routes (line ~861)

Step 4: Revise error message #3 — proxy.rs handle_inference_interception() missing context (line ~748)

Step 5: Revise error message #4 — proxy.rs handle_inference_interception() non-inference request (line ~805)

Step 6: Revise error message #5 — proxy.rs route_inference_request() info log (line ~909)

Step 7: Revise error message #6 — proxy.rs route_inference_request() routing failure (line ~891)

Step 8: Revise error message #7 — dev-sandbox-policy.rego deny_reason (line 54)

Step 9: Add/update unit tests

Test Plan

Risks & Open Questions

Documentation Impact

johntmyers commented on Mar 3, 2026

Implementation Complete

What was built

Tests

Docs updated

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

Type

Projects

Milestone

Relationships

Development

Issue actions

Step 1: Change non-CONNECT response from 405 to 403 and add deny logging (`proxy.rs:228-231`)

Step 2: Revise error message #1 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` non-inference denial (line ~912)

Step 3: Revise error message #2 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` empty routes (line ~861)

Step 4: Revise error message #3 — `proxy.rs` `handle_inference_interception()` missing context (line ~748)

Step 5: Revise error message #4 — `proxy.rs` `handle_inference_interception()` non-inference request (line ~805)

Step 6: Revise error message #5 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` info log (line ~909)

Step 7: Revise error message #6 — `proxy.rs` `route_inference_request()` routing failure (line ~891)

Step 8: Revise error message #7 — `dev-sandbox-policy.rego` deny_reason (line 54)