As the motivation for Proxy-Authorization is from HTTP, I think the
statement below is relevant here.

RFC 2616, section 14.34 states:
"Unlike Authorization, the Proxy-Authorization header field **applies
only to the next outbound proxy that demanded authentication using the
Proxy-Authenticate** field. When multiple proxies are used in a chain,
the Proxy-Authorization header field is consumed by the first outbound
proxy that was expecting to receive credentials. A proxy MAY relay the
credentials from the client request to the next proxy if that is the
mechanism by which the proxies cooperatively authenticate a given
request."

> There is also the failure mode where two different proxies in a chain
> authenticate against the same realm.  If the first proxy "consumes"
> all Proxy-Authorization headers for that realm, the second proxy will
> *never* pass the request because the UA can never get a Proxy-
> Authorization for that realm to it.

I don't think a proxy that hasn't demanded authentication using
Proxy-Authenticate can consume Proxy-Authorization even if  it is for
the same realm.

-Ramakrishna

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Vijay K.
Gurbani
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 10:02 PM
To: Dale R. Worley
Cc: Sip-Implementors
Subject: Re: [Sip-implementors] Spiraling request

Dale R. Worley wrote:
> The whole concept of "consuming" authorization headers (or any other
> header) is a Bad Idea and should never be done.

I am curious ... why?  Is it only because as you write:

> There is also the failure mode where two different proxies in a chain
> authenticate against the same realm.  If the first proxy "consumes"
> all Proxy-Authorization headers for that realm, the second proxy will
> *never* pass the request because the UA can never get a Proxy-
> Authorization for that realm to it.

Even if that was the case, the nonce generated at one proxy may not hold
meaning for the next proxy in the same realm.
Is it common for a request to be passed through multiple proxies in the
same realm?

So far, at the bakeoffs and such, I have seen proxies consuming their
authorization headers, and things appear to work as intended.
The SIP Services Call Flow (rfc3665) also shows proxies consuming the
header (I know rfc3665 is not normative...).

Thanks,

- vijay
--
Vijay K. Gurbani  [EMAIL PROTECTED],research.bell-labs.com,acm.org}
Lucent Technologies/Bell Laboratories, 2000 Lucent Lane, Rm 6G-440
Naperville, Illinois 60566     Voice: +1 630 224 0216


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