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multipart C-T header validation - false positive (rule id 200002, Multiple boundary parameters) #3610

Description

@zyro23

Describe the bug

given a multipart/form-data request with a Content-Type header like this:

multipart/form-data;boundary=----geckoformboundary4a7acee3709293e183ef2932a147a331;charset=UTF-8

modsecurity rejects a false positive violation of rule 200002 (Multipart parsing error: Multipart: Multiple boundary parameters in C-T.)

some context:

Logs and dumps

2026/08/13 12:28:02 [error] 593#593: *35 [client 172.20.0.3] ModSecurity: Access denied with code 400 (phase 2). Matched "Operator `Eq' with parameter `0' against variable `REQBODY_ERROR' (Value: `1' ) [file "/etc/modsecurity.d/modsecurity.conf"] [line "48"] [id "200002"] [rev ""] [msg "Failed to parse request body."] [data "Multipart parsing error: Multipart: Multiple boundary parameters in C-T."] [severity "2"] [ver ""] [maturity "0"] [accuracy "0"] [tag "modsecurity"] [hostname "upstream-crs"] [uri "/api"] [unique_id "178661688211.798485"] [ref "v741,1"], client: 172.20.0.3, server: localhost, request: "POST /api HTTP/1.1", host: "upstream-crs", referrer: "http://localhost:5173"
2026-08-13T10:28:02.762916940Z 172.20.0.3 - api [13/Aug/2026:12:28:02 +0200] "POST /api HTTP/1.1" 400 150 "http://localhost:5173" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:153.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/153.0" "172.20.0.1"
{
  "transaction": {
    "client_ip": "172.20.0.3",
    "time_stamp": "Thu Aug 13 12:28:02 2026",
    "server_id": "690747073f28ae5f84cfa8357f016284f53e90a0",
    "client_port": 40504,
    "host_ip": "172.20.0.5",
    "host_port": 8080,
    "unique_id": "178661688211.798485",
    "is_interrupted": true,
    "request": {
      "method": "POST",
      "http_version": "1.1",
      "hostname": "upstream-crs",
      "uri": "/api",
      "headers": {
        "accept-encoding": "gzip, deflate, br, zstd",
        "accept-language": "de-DE",
        "Content-Length": "480",
        "Host": "upstream-crs",
        "Accept": "application/json",
        "X-Forwarded-Host": "localhost:8080",
        "origin": "http://localhost:5173",
        "X-Forwarded-For": "172.20.0.1",
        "X-Forwarded-Proto": "http",
        "sec-fetch-site": "same-origin",
        "user-agent": "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:153.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/153.0",
        "Connection": "upgrade",
        "sec-fetch-mode": "cors",
        "Content-Type": "multipart/form-data;boundary=----geckoformboundary4a7acee3709293e183ef2932a147a331;charset=UTF-8",
        "referer": "http://localhost:5173",
        "sec-fetch-dest": "empty"
      }
    },
    "response": {
      "body": "<html>\r\n<head><title>400 Bad Request</title></head>\r\n<body>\r\n<center><h1>400 Bad Request</h1></center>\r\n<hr><center>nginx</center>\r\n</body>\r\n</html>\r\n",
      "http_code": 400,
      "headers": {
        "Server": "nginx\u0000",
        "Date": "Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:28:02 GMT",
        "Content-Length": "150",
        "Content-Type": "text/html",
        "Connection": "close",
        "Access-Control-Allow-Headers": "*"
      }
    },
    "producer": {
      "modsecurity": "ModSecurity v3.0.16 (Linux)",
      "connector": "ModSecurity-nginx v1.0.4",
      "secrules_engine": "Enabled",
      "components": [
        "OWASP_CRS/4.25.1\""
      ]
    },
    "messages": [
      {
        "message": "Failed to parse request body.",
        "details": {
          "match": "Matched \"Operator `Eq' with parameter `0' against variable `REQBODY_ERROR' (Value: `1' )",
          "reference": "v741,1",
          "ruleId": "200002",
          "file": "/etc/modsecurity.d/modsecurity.conf",
          "lineNumber": "48",
          "data": "Multipart parsing error: Multipart: Multiple boundary parameters in C-T.",
          "severity": "2",
          "ver": "",
          "rev": "",
          "tags": [
            "modsecurity"
          ],
          "maturity": "0",
          "accuracy": "0"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

~ $ curl --verbose --request POST --header "Content-Type: multipart/form-data;boundary=----geckoformboundary123;charset=UTF-8" http://localhost:8080
* Host localhost:8080 was resolved.
* IPv4: 127.0.0.1
*   Trying 127.0.0.1:8080...
* Established connection to localhost (127.0.0.1 port 8080) from 127.0.0.1 port 58468 
* using HTTP/1.x
> POST / HTTP/1.1
> Host: localhost:8080
> User-Agent: curl/8.21.0
> Accept: */*
> Content-Type: multipart/form-data;boundary=----geckoformboundary123;charset=UTF-8
> 
* Request completely sent off
< HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
< Server: nginx
< Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:46:01 GMT
< Content-Type: text/html
< Content-Length: 150
< Connection: close
< Access-Control-Allow-Headers: *
< 
<html>
<head><title>400 Bad Request</title></head>
<body>
<center><h1>400 Bad Request</h1></center>
<hr><center>nginx</center>
</body>
</html>
logs of the curl command
2026/08/13 12:46:01 [error] 595#595: *73 [client 127.0.0.1] ModSecurity: Access denied with code 400 (phase 2). Matched "Operator `Eq' with parameter `0' against variable `REQBODY_ERROR' (Value: `1' ) [file "/etc/modsecurity.d/modsecurity.conf"] [line "48"] [id "200002"] [rev ""] [msg "Failed to parse request body."] [data "Multipart parsing error: Multipart: Multiple boundary parameters in C-T."] [severity "2"] [ver ""] [maturity "0"] [accuracy "0"] [tag "modsecurity"] [hostname "localhost"] [uri "/"] [unique_id "178661796193.205050"] [ref "v155,1"], client: 127.0.0.1, server: localhost, request: "POST / HTTP/1.1", host: "localhost:8080"
2026-08-13T10:46:01.019135989Z 127.0.0.1 - - [13/Aug/2026:12:46:01 +0200] "POST / HTTP/1.1" 400 150 "-" "curl/8.21.0" "-"
{
  "transaction": {
    "client_ip": "127.0.0.1",
    "time_stamp": "Thu Aug 13 12:46:01 2026",
    "server_id": "690747073f28ae5f84cfa8357f016284f53e90a0",
    "client_port": 58468,
    "host_ip": "127.0.0.1",
    "host_port": 8080,
    "unique_id": "178661796193.205050",
    "is_interrupted": true,
    "request": {
      "method": "POST",
      "http_version": "1.1",
      "hostname": "localhost",
      "uri": "/",
      "headers": {
        "Host": "localhost:8080",
        "User-Agent": "curl/8.21.0",
        "Accept": "*/*",
        "Content-Type": "multipart/form-data;boundary=----geckoformboundary123;charset=UTF-8"
      }
    },
    "response": {
      "body": "<html>\r\n<head><title>400 Bad Request</title></head>\r\n<body>\r\n<center><h1>400 Bad Request</h1></center>\r\n<hr><center>nginx</center>\r\n</body>\r\n</html>\r\n",
      "http_code": 400,
      "headers": {
        "Server": "nginx\u0000",
        "Date": "Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:46:01 GMT",
        "Content-Length": "150",
        "Content-Type": "text/html",
        "Connection": "close",
        "Access-Control-Allow-Headers": "*"
      }
    },
    "producer": {
      "modsecurity": "ModSecurity v3.0.16 (Linux)",
      "connector": "ModSecurity-nginx v1.0.4",
      "secrules_engine": "Enabled",
      "components": [
        "OWASP_CRS/4.25.1\""
      ]
    },
    "messages": [
      {
        "message": "POST without Content-Length and Transfer-Encoding headers",
        "details": {
          "match": "Matched \"Operator `Eq' with parameter `0' against variable `REQUEST_HEADERS:Transfer-Encoding' (Value: `0' )",
          "reference": "v7,8v0,4",
          "ruleId": "920180",
          "file": "/etc/modsecurity.d/owasp-crs/rules/REQUEST-920-PROTOCOL-ENFORCEMENT.conf",
          "lineNumber": "240",
          "data": "0",
          "severity": "4",
          "ver": "OWASP_CRS/4.25.1",
          "rev": "",
          "tags": [
            "modsecurity",
            "modsecurity",
            "modsecurity",
            "modsecurity",
            "application-multi",
            "language-multi",
            "platform-multi",
            "attack-protocol",
            "paranoia-level/1",
            "OWASP_CRS",
            "OWASP_CRS/PROTOCOL-ENFORCEMENT",
            "capec/1000/210/272"
          ],
          "maturity": "0",
          "accuracy": "0"
        }
      },
      {
        "message": "Failed to parse request body.",
        "details": {
          "match": "Matched \"Operator `Eq' with parameter `0' against variable `REQBODY_ERROR' (Value: `1' )",
          "reference": "v155,1",
          "ruleId": "200002",
          "file": "/etc/modsecurity.d/modsecurity.conf",
          "lineNumber": "48",
          "data": "Multipart parsing error: Multipart: Multiple boundary parameters in C-T.",
          "severity": "2",
          "ver": "",
          "rev": "",
          "tags": [
            "modsecurity"
          ],
          "maturity": "0",
          "accuracy": "0"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Expected behavior

the Content-Type header should pass validation.

Server (please complete the following information):

  • ModSecurity version (and connector): ModSecurity v3.0.16 with nginx-connector v1.0.4]
  • WebServer: nginx/1.30.4
  • OS (and distro):
    • docker image: owasp/modsecurity-crs:4.25.1-nginx-alpine-lts@sha256:36c570845f8207aec472db2aa1bc2707bfd3376dfac00f4e5f8575eeafa35d24
    • host: Docker version 29.7.2, build a7dcaa6 on Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS

Rule Set (please complete the following information):

  • coreruleset/modsecurity-crs-docker default rules

Additional context
n/a

thanks & regards.

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