CDNTP... sort of.
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mhttp.md
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# Mobile Hypertext Transfer Protocol, version 1.1
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## Introduction
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Mobile Hypertext Transfer Protocol (MHTTP) is a protocol that helps speed up the web and
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protect it from DDoS attacks, while providing strong security guarantees. It's heavily
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based on HTTPS, and also uses SCTP where available.
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The "Mobile" in the name refers to mobile phones.
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The MHTTP version tracks the corresponding HTTP version it's built on. As such, there's no
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MHTTP/1.0 or MHTTP/0.9 as there are no versions of MHTTP built on those HTTP versions.
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This protocol builds on:
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- SCTP
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- TLS Application-Layer Protocol Negotiation (ALPN)
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- A new type of TLS certificate
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- HTTPS/1.1 (HTTP/1.1 over TLS)
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This protocol shall define the TLS ALPN protocol ID `"mhttp/1.1"`.
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This protocol also makes use of the TLS ALPN protocol ID `"http/1.1"`.
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## New certificate types (and new certificate authority types)
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Two new kinds of certificates shall be created:
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- \[TBD], the public-facing certificate type in mhttp/1.1.
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- \[TBD], used by CAs to sign the above.
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They have to be added so as to prevent Let's Encrypt from being able to issue them at the moment.
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This is a temporary measure and should be revised once certificate providers adjust to this new
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protocol.
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## The Network Model
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This protocol is built upon the following network model:
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client <--------> CDN <--------> server
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Currently, existing protocols are used to provide CDN services like so:
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client <--HTTPS-> CDN <--HTTP--> server
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## Securing communications between client and server
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The MHTTP protocol attempts to secure communication between client and server through the whole
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path. It puts both the client and the server in control, as it should be, where the existing
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options put the CDN in control.
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To be able to do this, it needs to cover a few different scenarios.
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### Backwards compatibility with HTTPS, TCP, client certificates.
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For backwards compatibility with HTTPS, TCP, client certificates, the following section applies,
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but for all HTTP methods.
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### Client-to-server (private) data
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The most basic scenario is when sending "private" data. This is used when modifying server data.
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This includes the following HTTP methods:
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- POST
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- PUT
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- DELETE
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- PATCH
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- \[TBD]
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In this scenario, the client may use a TCP or SCTP connection and must use the `"http/1.1"`
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protocol. The CDN must pass this stream through unchanged, but may choose to restrict the client's
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bandwidth and/or connection limits. The CDN must use SCTP for any connections to the server.
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This scenario should be used whenever the client would make a request using one of the above HTTP
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methods.
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### Client-to-CDN, cached data
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In most cases, the client wants to request data from the \[server/CDN] instead. In MHTTP/1.1, the
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client must use an SCTP connection, and request the `"mhttp/1.1"` and `"http/1.1"` protocols, in
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that order, in descending order of preference.
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If a CDN exists and supports MHTTP/1.1, it must negotiate a TLS stream with the client using the
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CDN certificate mentioned in section 2.
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MHTTP/1.1 requests look just like HTTP/1.1 requests, but with some key differences:
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- POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, \[TBD] are not supported.
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- Cookies are not supported.
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- "MHTTP/1.1" is used instead of "HTTP/1.1".
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- \[TBD]
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The CDN must cache based on at least:
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- Resource Path
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- Accept/Content-Type header
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- Accept-Language header
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If the CDN has the response in its cache, it should just send that response out, without hitting
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the server.
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The CDN should not choose to send the same response for different Accept headers, and should take
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preference into account if doing so. For example, if the first request contains the header:
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Accept: */*
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And the response contains:
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Content-Type: text/html
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But the second request contains:
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Accept: application/xhtml+xml, text/html; q=0.5
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Then the CDN should hit the server for an `application/xhtml+xml`. If one is found, a subsequent
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request with `Accept: */*` may retrieve an `application/xhtml+xml` instead of `text/html`.
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If the CDN does not have the response in its cache, the next scenario applies.
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### Client-to-CDN, uncached data
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If the CDN does not have the response in its cache, it must open a stream to the server, using the
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`"mhttp/1.1"` protocol and the CDN certificate as the TLS client certificate.
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The CDN must then repeat the exact same request it was given, as in plain HTTP/1.1. \[TODO:
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specify how to identify the client to the server] The server may then choose to send the CDN a
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response. However, the response has some key differences from HTTP/1.1.
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First, the response starts with the server's certificate.
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Second, the response must contain the cache control headers:
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- `Expires`
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- \[TBD]
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It should contain additional cache control headers for use by the CDN and client.
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Third, the response (headers and body) must be signed by the provided certificate's key (server's
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private key). The certificate itself is not included in this signature.
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If the CDN provides an expired response to the client, as defined by the `Expires` header, the
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client must warn the user and discard the response. To account for network latency, the CDN may
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choose to expire the response a few seconds or a few minutes before the true expiry date.
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If the server chooses not to send the CDN a response, it can do so in the next scenario.
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### CDN-mediated client-to-server, (true) private data
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If the server doesn't want the CDN to cache a GET/\[TBD] request, it can open a new SCTP stream
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for sending the data directly to the client.
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If the server opens an SCTP stream to the CDN instead of responding to a request, the CDN must
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forward this new stream as a new stream to the client. The client should then start a TLS
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handshake with the server, using the `"http/1.1"` protocol, and run a normal HTTP request with
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all normal HTTP headers, including cookies. See the backwards compatibility section for details.
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(This requires SCTP because TCP-based alternatives would either require the CDN to signal a
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connection closed, which could be caused by another network factor not involving the CDN, and thus
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unnecessarily increase server load as well as reducing the reliability of the backwards
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compatibility mechanisms, or it'd involve a reverse TCP connection and we already know how that
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went for FTP.)
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