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Interview Question
Clients receive 431 Request Header Fields Too Large errors. Walk me through how you identify and remediate.
Key Points to Cover
- Inspect server logs and request headers
- Identify large cookies, tokens, or headers
- Trim/reduce header size or switch to body payload
- Adjust server/proxy header size limits if needed
- Educate dev teams to avoid oversized headers
Evaluation Rubric
Identifies oversized headers30% weight
Analyzes cookies/tokens contributing30% weight
Suggests practical header fixes20% weight
Mentions dev guidance and limits20% weight
Hints
- 💡JWTs in headers often cause bloat.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- ⚠️Failing to check server logs first, leading to unnecessary client-side debugging.
- ⚠️Assuming the problem is always cookies and not considering other header types like JWTs or custom headers.
- ⚠️Overlooking the possibility of a legitimate but large legitimate data transfer that needs a different approach (e.g., body payload).
- ⚠️Implementing server-side configuration changes without understanding the root cause or potential performance impacts.
- ⚠️Not involving the client-side development team in the remediation process, leading to a one-sided fix.
Potential Follow-up Questions
- ❓When to move data to request body?
- ❓How to enforce max header size globally?
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