Exploring HTTP Header Manipulation In-The-Wild

Gareth Tyson, Shan Huang, Félix Cuadrado, Ignacio Castro, Vasile Claudiu Perta, Arjuna Sathiaseelan, Steve Uhlig

Abstract: Headers are a critical part of HTTP, and it has been shown that they are increasingly subject to middlebox manipulation. Although this is well known, little is understood about the general regional and network trends that underpin these manipulations. In this paper, we collect data on thousands of networks to understand how they intercept HTTP headers in-the-wild. Our analysis reveals that 25% of measured ASes modify HTTP headers. Beyond this, we witness distinct trends among different regions and AS types; e.g., we observe high numbers of cache headers in poorly connected regions. Finally, we perform an in-depth analysis of the types of manipulations and how they differ across regions.