From 9db0d6a82ccb9d521d868560f932661a09565f24 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: bobthecomputer <psch850@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2026 05:14:19 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix: validate configured CORS origins

---
 README.md          |  2 +-
 src/config.test.ts | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/config.ts      | 33 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 3 files changed, 64 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 65c3640..2cc0847 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ operators can pause writes without taking the whole API down.
 | `PORT` | `3001` | HTTP port |
 | `FEE_BPS` | `10` | Protocol fee in basis points; must be `0`-`10000` or the process fails to start |
 | `API_KEY` | – | If set, mutating requests must send `x-api-key` |
-| `CORS_ORIGIN` | – | Comma-separated allowlist of origins; unset allows any origin |
+| `CORS_ORIGIN` | – | Comma-separated allowlist of HTTP(S) origins, including scheme and optional port; invalid entries fail startup, while unset allows any origin |
 | `BODY_LIMIT` | `100kb` | Maximum accepted JSON request body size (`express.json` `limit` syntax) |
 | `MAINTENANCE_MODE` | `false` | When `1`/`true`, mutating requests are rejected with `503` |
 | `NODE_ENV` | `development` | Environment name |
diff --git a/src/config.test.ts b/src/config.test.ts
index 21ba172..f7a66dd 100644
--- a/src/config.test.ts
+++ b/src/config.test.ts
@@ -63,6 +63,37 @@ describe("loadConfig", () => {
     expect(loadConfig({ CORS_ORIGIN: "  ,  " }).corsOrigins).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
+  it.each([
+    "http://localhost:3000",
+    "https://api.example.com",
+    "https://api.example.com:8443",
+    "https://[2001:db8::1]:8443",
+  ])("accepts the valid CORS origin %p", (origin) => {
+    expect(loadConfig({ CORS_ORIGIN: origin }).corsOrigins).toEqual([origin]);
+  });
+
+  it.each([
+    "example.com",
+    "*",
+    "ftp://example.com",
+    "https://user:password@example.com",
+    "https://example.com/path",
+    "https://example.com?query=value",
+    "https://example.com#fragment",
+  ])("rejects the invalid CORS origin %p", (origin) => {
+    expect(() => loadConfig({ CORS_ORIGIN: origin })).toThrow(
+      `CORS_ORIGIN contains an invalid origin: ${JSON.stringify(origin)}`,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("rejects the full allowlist when one CORS origin is malformed", () => {
+    expect(() =>
+      loadConfig({
+        CORS_ORIGIN: "https://valid.example, example.com",
+      }),
+    ).toThrow(/example\.com/);
+  });
+
   it("defaults the JSON body size limit to 100kb", () => {
     expect(loadConfig({}).bodyLimit).toBe("100kb");
   });
diff --git a/src/config.ts b/src/config.ts
index 5f2edd3..2e779dd 100644
--- a/src/config.ts
+++ b/src/config.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
  * Typed application configuration loaded from environment variables.
  */
 
+import { URL } from "node:url";
+
 export interface Config {
   /** Port the HTTP server binds to. */
   port: number;
@@ -40,7 +42,9 @@ function intFromEnv(value: string | undefined, fallback: number): number {
 
 /**
  * Parses a comma-separated `CORS_ORIGIN` value into a list of allowed
- * origins, trimming whitespace and dropping empty entries. Returns
+ * origins, trimming whitespace and dropping empty entries. Only HTTP(S)
+ * origins are accepted; paths, credentials, queries, and fragments are
+ * rejected so configuration mistakes fail visibly at startup. Returns
  * `undefined` when unset or when every entry is blank.
  */
 function parseCorsOrigins(value: string | undefined): string[] | undefined {
@@ -49,6 +53,33 @@ function parseCorsOrigins(value: string | undefined): string[] | undefined {
     .split(",")
     .map((origin) => origin.trim())
     .filter((origin) => origin !== "");
+
+  for (const origin of origins) {
+    let parsed: URL;
+    try {
+      parsed = new URL(origin);
+    } catch {
+      throw new Error(
+        `CORS_ORIGIN contains an invalid origin: ${JSON.stringify(origin)}`,
+      );
+    }
+
+    const isHttpOrigin =
+      parsed.protocol === "http:" || parsed.protocol === "https:";
+    const hasOriginOnly =
+      parsed.username === "" &&
+      parsed.password === "" &&
+      parsed.pathname === "/" &&
+      parsed.search === "" &&
+      parsed.hash === "";
+
+    if (!isHttpOrigin || !hasOriginOnly) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `CORS_ORIGIN contains an invalid origin: ${JSON.stringify(origin)}`,
+      );
+    }
+  }
+
   return origins.length > 0 ? origins : undefined;
 }