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Last active December 19, 2023 19:09
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Setting X-REMOTE_USER in Apache proxied request
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gistfile1.txt
RequestHeader unset X-REMOTE_USER
RequestHeader set X-REMOTE_USER "%{REMOTE_USER}e" env=REMOTE_USER
# see http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_headers.html#header
@maxb
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maxb commented Dec 19, 2023

The example above is incorrect, because it assumes REMOTE_USER is an environment variable. It is not (unless some non-standard additional configuration has additionally defined such a variable).

Instead it is a special property of the request, best accessed via expr= functionality (2.4.10 or later required)

RequestHeader set X-Remote-User "expr=%{REMOTE_USER}" "expr=-n %{REMOTE_USER}"

@ollyg
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ollyg commented Dec 19, 2023

Specifically when Apache is running a reverse proxy together with local authentication within Apache (for example mod_webauth), there is a legitimate use case for the config above to pass the username set by authentication through to the proxied app. I can imagine without this context it would not seem a very useful configuration.

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