getServletPath() output JSP name instead of action name when a request is forwarded inside Servlet application in EAP 7

Solution Unverified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP)
    • 7.x

Issue

We are trying to migrate our application from JBoss EAP 6.x to JBoss EAP 7.x. We found that EAP 6.x and EAP 7.x return different results of Content from docs.oracle.com is not included.HttpServletRequest.getServletPath() (and also Content from docs.oracle.com is not included.getRequestURI() and getRequestURL()](https://docs.oracle.com/javaee/7/api/javax/servlet/http/HttpServletRequest.html#getRequestURL--)) after invoking Content from docs.oracle.com is not included.RequestDispatcher.forward(). This behavior change causes an issue with our application using Struts and Siteminder framework.

  • In JBoss EAP 6.4:

    getServletPath() = /example.action 
getRequestURI() = /myapp/example.action

  • In JBoss EAP 7.x:

    getServletPath() = /jsp/forward/example.jsp 
getRequestURI() = /myapp/jsp/forward/example.jsp

Also, you can observe the different behavior with the following code in the servlet application without using Struts framework:

System.out.println("getServletPath() before forward = " + request.getServletPath());
System.out.println("getRequestURI() before forward = " + request.getRequestURI());
System.out.println("getRequestURL() before forward = " + request.getRequestURL());
request.getRequestDispatcher("/jsp/forward/example.jsp").forward(request, response);
System.out.println("getServletPath() after forward = " + request.getServletPath());
System.out.println("getRequestURI() after forward = " + request.getRequestURI());
System.out.println("getRequestURL() after forward = " + request.getRequestURL());

  • In JBoss EAP 6.4:

    getServletPath() before forward = /example
getRequestURI() before forward = /myapp/example
getRequestURL() before forward = http://<hostname>:<port>/myapp/example
getServletPath() after forward = /example 
getRequestURI() after forward = /myapp/example
getRequestURL() after forward = http://<hostname>:<port>/myapp/example

  • In JBoss EAP 7.x:

    getServletPath() before forward = /example 
getRequestURI() before forward = /myapp/example
getRequestURL() before forward = http://<hostname>:<port>/myapp/example
getServletPath() after forward = /jsp/forward/example.jsp 
getRequestURI() after forward = /myapp/jsp/forward/example.jsp 
getRequestURL() after forward = http://<hostname>:<port>/myapp/jsp/forward/example.jsp

Is it possible to make JBoss EAP 7 behave the same as JBoss EAP 6?

Resolution

The current EAP 7's behavior does not violate Servlet specification. However, we've added a compatible switch to restore the previous EAP 6's behavior since EAP 7.2.1 or later.

Update to JBoss EAP 7.2 CP1 and set the system property io.undertow.servlet.dispatch.preserve_path_of_forward to true in your standalone.conf (or add the system property in your configuration as described in this knowledge article):

JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Dio.undertow.servlet.dispatch.preserve_path_of_forward=true"

In EAP 7.3.0 or later, set preserve-path-on-forward="true" to <servlet-container> in the undertow subsystem instead of the above system property. You can configure this by the following JBoss-CLI command:

/subsystem=undertow/servlet-container=default:write-attribute(name=preserve-path-on-forward,value=true)

then this will configure like the following in the undertow subsystem: 

            <servlet-container name="default" ...(snip)... preserve-path-on-forward="true">
                ...(snip)... 
            </servlet-container>

If you would like to change the behavior for the specific application only, update to EAP 7.2 CP2 or later, then implement and package your own Content from undertow.io is not included.ServletExtension which invokes DeploymentInfo.setPreservePathOnForward(true).

For example: create the following PreservePathOnForwardServletExtension class:

package org.jboss.support.example.

import javax.servlet.ServletContext;
import io.undertow.servlet.api.DeploymentInfo;
import io.undertow.servlet.ServletExtension;

public class PreservePathOnForwardServletExtension implements ServletExtension {
    @Override
    public void handleDeployment(DeploymentInfo deploymentInfo, ServletContext servletContext) {
        deploymentInfo.setPreservePathOnForward(true);
    }
}

and package the above class and META-INF/services/io.undertow.servlet.ServletExtension which contains the following:

org.jboss.support.example.PreservePathOnForwardServletExtension

in your application.

Root Cause

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