I need to modify the path of a long URL which includes % characters in it, for example:
https://www.my-geoserver.co.uk/geoserver/HNT_Demo/wms?SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.3.0&REQUEST=GetMap&FORMAT=image%2Fpng&TRANSPARENT=true&LAYERS=HNT_Demo%3ANO2_Wed_h18_WGS&TILED=true&login=admin&WIDTH=256&HEIGHT=256&CRS=EPSG%3A3857&STYLES=&BBOX=-132083.18487678468%2C6780270.1570082735%2C-127191.2150665334%2C6785162.126818525
When i attempt to use Apache rewrite module, I notice that the % characters are causing problems, so for example the section here:
image%2Fpng
Upon rewrite becomes (notice 52 has appeared):
image%252Fpng
%2F is the URL Encoded value of a forward slash, so I can't believe this is an uncommon problem.
The code I'm using (for experimental purposes) is:
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^(.*)login=[^&]*(?:&(.*)|)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}?%1%2 [R=301,L]
Which should simply remove the login variable which it does. But I also get a modification of the % values throughout the URL, where in all cases 52 is appearing which I don't think is related to the RewriteRule per say.
Is there a way to allow RewriteRule to work with % values in the URL? I have tried the following flags (somewhat desperately):
But with no luck.
Additional:
I've just found this very old bug report which shows the same behavior of % being 'escaped' to %25. Is this possibly a bug?
https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=39746
This bug is referring to using a reverse proxy and the error being in mod_proxy, well I'm using a reverse proxy to host Tomcat, could this be related?
Additional 2:
The answer to a question here:
the auto urldecode in apache mod_rewrite
Suggests using server variables to get around the % issue, unfortunately, I already am using them. I tried replacing QUERY_STRING with REQUEST_URI and THE_REQUEST, both of which result in the same behaviour:
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^(.*)login=[^&]*(?:&(.*)|)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}?%1%2 [R=301,L]