I need to make an HTTP GET request with custom request headers in-browser and process the result as it streams in. The Fetch API is ideal for this:
fetch('https://example.com/resource', {
method: 'GET',
headers: {
'X-Brad-Test': 'true'
},
cache: 'no-store',
mode: 'cors'
}).then((res) => {
const reader = res.body.getReader();
// etc.
});
This works quite well. Since there are custom headers, the browser pre-flights the request with an OPTIONS request to /resource. I have configured my server to respond with a 204 No Content and the following headers:
Access-Control-Allow-Headers: X-Requested-With, Range, If-Range, X-Brad-Test
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
The browser is happy with this, then makes a GET request, the server returns a 200 OK with the data, and the browser allows me to access the response headers and body.
The problem comes in when there is a redirect. The OPTIONS request succeeds with the 204 No Content and the same headers as before. The browser makes the correct GET request, and on the server I send a 302 with a Location: header. Chrome throws the following error:
Fetch API cannot load https://example.com/resource. Redirect from 'https://example.com/resource' to 'http://some-other-origin/resource' has been blocked by CORS policy: Request requires preflight, which is disallowed to follow cross-origin redirect.
This was unexpected, and seems nonsensical to me. I expected the browser to follow the redirect, and do another pre-flight request for this new location, but it didn't do that.
Stranger still is that I can sort of hack around this client-side. I can make an HTTP request without my custom header, figure out where I ended up after redirects by looking at the Response object, then make a second request at the new target with my custom headers. This doesn't work in all cases of course, and I'd rather not rely on this hack. I'd rather find a proper way.
Two Questions:
- What is the proper way to allow the client to follow redirects? Is there some sort of
Access-Control-*header I can use? - Why does this restriction exist? What security issue is prevented by not following and running pre-flight on the followed URL?
