What expression to use to block/permit an entire website?

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What expression to use to block/permit an entire website?

L4 Transporter

I'm having trouble figuring out what expression to use(in a Custom URL Category) to match any variation of HTTP requests for an entire website.  For example, I want a single expression to be able to match/block/permit the following HTTP requests...

  • example.com/
  • example.com/path
  • abc.example.com/
  • abc.example.com/path
  • xyz.abc.example.com/
  • xyc.abc.example.com/path

 

So far I've only been able to match all of the above by using 2 expressions in the Custom URL Category...

  • EXAMPLE.COM/ - This will permit example.com/ and any path after it.  Will not permit any subdomains.
  • *.EXAMPLE.COM/ - Will permit abc.example.com/ and any path after it.

 

Does anyone know of a way to match an entire website using a single expression?

1 REPLY 1

L6 Presenter

The way PA URL pattern matching works (left start string matching up to separator) it requires a minimum of 2 expressions, one for the root domain and one for any subdomain plus root domain, to properly match a website.

example.com/

*.example.com/

 

Theoretically, you can use a non-separator terminated expression, but that will match the website as well many other sites and paths, i.e.:

example.com

Matches:

http ://example.com/

http ://subdomain.example.com/

http ://example.com.evil.com/

http ://evil.com/pages/example.com.php

 

For global blocks this might not be as much of a problem (though you may inadvertently block stuff unintentionally), but it is definitely not a good practice for allowing/categorizing sites.

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