From 1238bf0f378340d101c90295990b514131b10fe7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Elias Schneider <login@eliasschneider.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2026 22:57:41 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix: explicitly require JSON for request bodies

---
 backend/internal/httpserver/binding.go      | 38 +++++++++++++++++++++
 backend/internal/httpserver/binding_test.go | 34 ++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 72 insertions(+)

diff --git a/backend/internal/httpserver/binding.go b/backend/internal/httpserver/binding.go
index 08d7040a..177d5d6e 100644
--- a/backend/internal/httpserver/binding.go
+++ b/backend/internal/httpserver/binding.go
@@ -3,8 +3,10 @@ package httpserver
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"io"
+	"mime"
 	"mime/multipart"
 	"net/http"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
 	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin/binding"
@@ -16,6 +18,10 @@ import (
 
 // BindJSON binds and normalizes a JSON request while distinguishing invalid input from internal failures
 func BindJSON(c *gin.Context, value any) error {
+	if err := requireJSONContentType(c); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	err := classifyBindingError(c.ShouldBindJSON(value))
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -27,6 +33,13 @@ func BindJSON(c *gin.Context, value any) error {
 
 // BindOptionalJSON accepts an empty body while normalizing valid input and classifying malformed JSON as invalid input
 func BindOptionalJSON(c *gin.Context, value any) error {
+	if c.Request.ContentLength == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if err := requireJSONContentType(c); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	err := c.ShouldBindJSON(value)
 	if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
 		return nil
@@ -52,6 +65,31 @@ func FormFile(c *gin.Context, field string) (*multipart.FileHeader, error) {
 	return file, nil
 }
 
+func requireJSONContentType(c *gin.Context) error {
+	mediaType, _, err := mime.ParseMediaType(c.GetHeader("Content-Type"))
+	if err != nil {
+		return apperror.InvalidRequestBody(err)
+	}
+	if !isJSONMediaType(mediaType) {
+		return apperror.InvalidRequestBody(errors.New("request Content-Type is not JSON"))
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func isJSONMediaType(mediaType string) bool {
+	topLevelType, subtype, ok := strings.Cut(mediaType, "/")
+	if !ok || topLevelType != "application" {
+		return false
+	}
+	if subtype == "json" {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	baseSubtype, ok := strings.CutSuffix(subtype, "+json")
+	return ok && baseSubtype != ""
+}
+
 func classifyBindingError(err error) error {
 	if err == nil {
 		return nil
diff --git a/backend/internal/httpserver/binding_test.go b/backend/internal/httpserver/binding_test.go
index 784cc38d..b5ceed24 100644
--- a/backend/internal/httpserver/binding_test.go
+++ b/backend/internal/httpserver/binding_test.go
@@ -63,6 +63,40 @@ func TestBindJSONNormalizesTaggedFieldsRecursively(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, norm.NFC.String("Résumé"), input.Items[0].Label)
 }
 
+func TestBindJSONRejectsFormCompatibleContentTypes(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, contentType := range []string{"text/plain", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded", "multipart/form-data; boundary=test"} {
+		t.Run(contentType, func(t *testing.T) {
+			gin.SetMode(gin.TestMode)
+			c, _ := gin.CreateTestContext(httptest.NewRecorder())
+			c.Request = httptest.NewRequestWithContext(t.Context(), http.MethodPost, "/", strings.NewReader(`{"name":"admin"}`))
+			c.Request.Header.Set("Content-Type", contentType)
+
+			var input struct {
+				Name string `json:"name"`
+			}
+			err := BindJSON(c, &input)
+
+			require.True(t, apperror.IsCode(err, apperror.CodeInvalidRequestBody))
+			require.Empty(t, input.Name)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestBindJSONAcceptsStructuredJSONContentType(t *testing.T) {
+	gin.SetMode(gin.TestMode)
+	c, _ := gin.CreateTestContext(httptest.NewRecorder())
+	c.Request = httptest.NewRequestWithContext(t.Context(), http.MethodPost, "/", strings.NewReader(`{"name":"admin"}`))
+	c.Request.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/scim+json")
+
+	var input struct {
+		Name string `json:"name"`
+	}
+	err := BindJSON(c, &input)
+
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, "admin", input.Name)
+}
+
 func TestFormFileClassifiesMissingField(t *testing.T) {
 	gin.SetMode(gin.TestMode)
 	c, _ := gin.CreateTestContext(httptest.NewRecorder())