http_client

Plugin

ArgDescriptionType
urlThe URL to fetchstring (required)
paramsParameters to encode as POST or GET query stringsordereddict.Dict
headersA dict of headers to send.ordereddict.Dict
methodHTTP method to use (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE)string
dataIf specified we write this raw data into a POST request instead of encoding the params above.string
chunk_sizeRead input with this chunk size and send each chunk as a rowint
disable_ssl_securityDisable ssl certificate verifications (deprecated in favor of SkipVerify).bool
skip_verifyDisable ssl certificate verifications.bool
tempfile_extensionIf specified we write to a tempfile. The content field will contain the full path to the tempfile.string
remove_lastIf set we delay removal as much as possible.bool
root_caAs a better alternative to disable_ssl_security, allows root ca certs to be added here.string
cookie_jarA cookie jar to use if provided. This is a dict of cookie structures.ordereddict.Dict
user_agentIf specified, set a HTTP User-Agent.string
secretIf specified, use this managed secret. The secret should be of type ‘HTTP Secrets’. Alternatively specify the Url as secret://namestring
filesIf specified, upload these files using multipart form upload. For example [dict(file=“My filename.txt”, path=OSPath, accessor=“auto”),]list of ordereddict.Dict

Required Permissions: COLLECT_SERVER

Description

Make a http request.

This plugin makes a HTTP connection using the specified method. The headers and parameters may be specified. The plugin reads the specified number of bytes per returned row.

If disable_ssl_security is specified we do not enforce SSL integrity. This is required to connect to self signed ssl web sites. For example many API handlers are exposed over such connections.

When connecting to the Velociraptor frontend itself, even in self signed mode, we will ensure certs are properly verified. You can therefore safely export files from the Frontend’s public directory over self signed SSL. When connecting to a self signed Velociraptor frontend, we ensure the self signed certificate was issued by the Velociraptor internal CA - i.e. we pin the Frontend’s certificate in the binary.

The http_client() plugin allows use to interact with any web services. If the web service returns a json blob, we can parse it with the parse_json() function (or parse_xml() for SOAP endpoints). Using the parameters with a POST method we may actually invoke actions from within VQL (e.g. send an SMS via an SMS gateway when a VQL event is received). So this is a very powerful plugin - see examples below.

When the tempfile_extension parameter is provided, the HTTP response body will be written to a tempfile with that extension. The name of this tempfile will be emitted as the Content column.

This plugin will emit rows with the following columns:

  • Url string: The url we fetched.
  • Content string: The body content for this chunk
  • Response int: The HTTP response code (200=success)

Example

The following VQL returns the client’s external IP as seen by the externalip service.

SELECT Content as IP from http_client(url='http://www.myexternalip.com/raw')

You can use this plugin to download file contents by passing the tempfile_extension parameter. In this case this plugin will create a new temp file with the specified extension, write the content of the HTTP request into it and then emit a row with Content being the name of the file. The file will be automatically removed when the query ends.

Example - Uploading files

Many API handlers support uploading files via POST messages. This is supported using the files parameter for this plugin. The plugin will automatically switch to multipart/form mode and stream the file content. This allows you to upload very large files with minimal memory impact. Here is an example:

SELECT *
FROM http_client(
    url='http://localhost:8002/test/',
    method='POST',
    files=dict(file='file.txt', key='file', path='/etc/passwd', accessor="file")
)

Here the files can be an array of dicts with the following fields:

  • file: The name of the file that will be stored on the server
  • key: The name of the form element that will receive the file
  • path: This is an OSPath object that we open and stream into the form.
  • accessor: Any accessor required for the path.