Investigate and Mitigate Excessive Login Redirects

[alexskr]

I’ve noticed an unexpected behavior related to the login page on our website. There appears to be a large volume of traffic being redirected repeatedly to the /login?redirect endpoint. The issue is mostly bot-driven, as we have seen as high as 20% of all site hits going to these redirects some days.

Additionally, we are seeing what appear to a large number of nested redirects in our logs, resulting in URLs that repeatedly append login?redirect parameters. Here are some examples from the logs:

I, [2024-12-18T08:34:27.931075 #4022000]  INFO -- : [9fc3c04e-4172-43b6-a40e-206fe1088734] Started GET "/login?redirect=https://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%3Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/ontologies/BDO?conceptid%252525252525252525252525252525252525253Dhttp://purl.org/obo/owl/HP%252525252525252525252525252525252525252523HP_0000954%2525252525252525252525252525252525252526p%252525252525252525252525252525252525253Dclasses" for 54.147.80.137 at 2024-12-18 08:34:27 -0800
I, [2024-12-18T08:34:27.933470 #4022000]  INFO -- : [9fc3c04e-4172-43b6-a40e-206fe1088734]   Parameters: {"redirect"=>"https://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect=https://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%3Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/ontologies/BDO?conceptid%2525252525252525252525252525252525253Dhttp://purl.org/obo/owl/HP%2525252525252525252525252525252525252523HP_0000954%25252525252525252525252525252525252526p%2525252525252525252525252525252525253Dclasses"}
I, [2024-12-18T08:34:36.205321 #4021132]  INFO -- : [9a68143d-9c30-439f-805d-1e21fb4aa550] Started GET "/login?redirect=https://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%3Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525252525252525252525253D/ontologies/SCTSPA?conceptid%25252525252525252525252525252525253Dhttp%2525252525252525252525252525252525253A%2525252525252525252525252525252525252F%2525252525252525252525252525252525252Fpurl.bioontology.org%2525252525252525252525252525252525252Fontology%2525252525252525252525252525252525252FSCTSPA%2525252525252525252525252525252525252F205634000%252525252525252525252525252525252526p%25252525252525252525252525252525253Dclasses%252525252525252525252525252525252526t%25252525252525252525252525252525253Dmappings" for 98.83.177.42 at 2024-12-18 08:34:36 -0800
I, [2024-12-18T08:34:36.206992 #4021132]  INFO -- : [9a68143d-9c30-439f-805d-1e21fb4aa550]   Parameters: {"redirect"=>"https://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect=https://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%3Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%25252525252525252525252525253Dhttps://bioportal.bioontology.org/login?redirect%2525252525252525252525252525253D/ontologies/SCTSPA?conceptid%252525252525252525252525252525253Dhttp%25252525252525252525252525252525253A%25252525252525252525252525252525252F%25252525252525252525252525252525252Fpurl.bioontology.org%25252525252525252525252525252525252Fontology%25252525252525252525252525252525252FSCTSPA%25252525252525252525252525252525252F205634000%2525252525252525252525252525252526p%252525252525252525252525252525253Dclasses%2525252525252525252525252525252526t%252525252525252525252525252525253Dmappings"}

We need to investigate and mitigate what triggers these login redirect and login redirect loops.