Skip to content

Pathing status

Understand pathing

Cloudflare issues the following Edge Pathing Statuses:

  • EdgePathingSrc (pathing source): The stage that made the routing decision.
  • EdgePathingOp (pathing operation): The specific action or operation taken.
  • EdgePathingStatus (pathing status): Additional information complementing the EdgePathingOp.

EdgePathingSrc

EdgePathingSrc refers to the system that last handled the request before an error occurred or the request was passed to the cache server. Typically, this will be the macro/reputation list. Possible pathing sources include:

  • err
  • sslv (SSL verification checker)
  • bic (browser integrity check)
  • hot (hotlink protection)
  • macro (the reputation list)
  • skip (Always Online or cdnjs resources)
  • user (user firewall rule)

For example:

Terminal window
jq -r .EdgePathingSrc logs.json | sort -n | uniq -c | sort -n | tail
1 err
5 user
93 macro

EdgePathingOp

EdgePathingOp indicates how the request was handled. wl is a request that passed all checks and went to your origin server. Other possible values are:

  • errHost (host header mismatch, DNS errors, etc.)
  • ban (blocked by IP address, range, etc.)

For example:

Terminal window
jq -r .EdgePathingOp logs.json | sort -n | uniq -c | sort -n | tail
1 errHost
97 wl

EdgePathingStatus

EdgePathingStatus is the value EdgePathingSrc returns. With a pathing source of macro, user, or err, the pathing status indicates the list where the IP address was found. nr is the most common value and it means that the request was not flagged by a security check. Some values indicate the class of user; for example, se means search engine.

For example:

Terminal window
jq -r .EdgePathingStatus logs.json | sort -n | uniq -c | sort -n | tail
1 dnsErr
5 ip
92 nr

How does pathing map to Threat Analytics?

Certain combinations of pathing have been labeled in the Cloudflare Threat Analytics feature (in the Analytics app in the Cloudflare dashboard). The mapping is as follows:

PathingLabel
bic.ban.unknownBad browser
hot.ban.unknownBlocked hotlink
hot.ban.ip
macro.ban.ipBad IP
user.ban.ctryCountry block
user.ban.ipIP block (user)
user.ban.ipr16IP range block (/16)
user.ban.ipr24IP range block (/24)

Understand response fields

The response status appears in three places in a request:

  • edgeResponse
  • cacheResponse
  • originResponse

In your logs, the edge is what first accepts a visitor’s request. The cache then accepts the request and either forwards it to your origin or responds from the cache. It is possible to have a request that has only an edgeResponse or a request that has an edgeResponse and a cacheResponse, but no originResponse.

This is how you can see where a request terminates. Requests with only an edgeResponse likely hit a security check or processing error. Requests with an edgeResponse and a cacheResponse either were served from the cache or saw an error contacting your origin server. Requests that have an originResponse went all the way to your origin server and errors seen would have been served directly from there.

For example, the following query shows the status code and pathing information for all requests that terminated at the Cloudflare edge:

Terminal window
jq -r 'select(.OriginResponseStatus == null) | select(.CacheResponseStatus == null) |"\(.EdgeResponseStatus) / \(.EdgePathingSrc) / \(.EdgePathingStatus) / \(.EdgePathingOp)"' logs.json | sort -n | uniq -c | sort -n
1 403 / macro / nr / wl
1 409 / err / dnsErr / errHost

The information stored is broken down based on the following categories:

Errors

These occur for requests that did not pass any of the validation performed by the Cloudflare network. Example cases include:

  • Whenever Cloudflare is unable to look up a domain or zone.
  • An attempt to improperly use the IP for an origin server.
  • Domain ownership is unclear (for example, the domain is not in Cloudflare).
EdgePathingStatusDescriptionEdgePathingOpStatus Code
cyclicCloudflare loop.err_host403
dns_errUnable to resolve.err_host409
reserved_ipDNS points to local or disallowed IP.err_host403
reserved_ip6DNS points to local or disallowed IPv6 address.err_host403
bad_hostBad or no Host header.err_host403
no_existing_hostOwnership lookup failed: host possibly not on Cloudflare.err_host409

User-based actions

These occur for actions triggered from users based on the configuration for a specific IP (or IP range).

EdgePathingStatusDescriptionEdgePathingOpEdgePathingSrcStatus Code
Asnum
ip
ipr24
ipr16
ip6
ip6r64
ip6r48
ip6r32
ctry
The request was blocked.banuser403
Asnum
ip
ipr24
ipr16
ip6
ip6r64
ip6r48
ip6r32
ctry
  • The request was allowed.
  • WAF will not execute.
wlusern/a

Firewall Rules

Cloudflare Firewall Rules (deprecated) triggers actions based on matching customer-defined rules.

EdgePathingStatusDescriptionEdgePathingOp
filter_based_firewallThe request was blocked.ban
filter_based_firewallThe request was allowed.wl

Zone Lockdown

Zone Lockdown blocks visitors to particular URIs where the visitor’s IP is not allowlisted.

EdgePathingStatusDescriptionEdgePathingOpEdgePathingSrc
zlLock down applied.banuser

Firewall User-Agent Block

Challenge (Interactive or Non-Interactive) or block visitors who use a browser for which the User-Agent name matches a specific string.

EdgePathingStatusDescriptionEdgePathingOpEdgePathingSrc
uaBlocked User-Agent.banuser

Browser Integrity Check

Assert whether the source of the request is illegitimate or the request itself is malicious.

EdgePathingStatusDescriptionEdgePathingOpEdgePathingSrc
emptyBlocked request.banbic

Hot Linking

Prevent hot linking from other sites.

EdgePathingStatusDescriptionEdgePathingOpEdgePathingSrc
emptyBlocked request.banhot

L7-to-L7 DDoS mitigation

Drop DDoS attacks through L7 mitigation.

EdgePathingStatusDescriptionEdgePathingOpEdgePathingSrc
l7ddosBlocked request.banprotect

IP Reputation (MACRO)

The macro stage is comprised of many different paths. They are categorized by the reputation of the visitor IP.

EdgePathingStatusDescriptionEdgePathingOpEdgePathingSrc
nrThere is no reputation data for the IP and no action is being taken.wlmacro
wlIP is explicitly allowlisted.wlmacro
scanIP is explicitly allowlisted and categorized as a security scanner.wlmacro
monIP is explicitly allowlisted and categorized as a Monitoring Service.wlmacro
bakIP is explicitly allowlisted and categorized as a Backup Service.wlmacro
mobIP is explicitly allowlisted and categorized as Mobile Proxy Service.wlmacro
seIP is explicitly allowlisted as it belongs to a search engine crawler and no action is taken.wlmacro
greyIP is greylisted (suspected to be bad) but the request was either for a favicon or security is turned off and as such, it is allowlisted.wlmacro
bad_okThe reputation score of the IP is bad but the request was either for a favicon or security is turned off and as such, it is allowlisted. Alternatively, the threat score of the IP is in the accepted security level.wlmacro
unknownThe pathing_status is unknown and the request is being processed as normal.wlmacro

Rate Limiting

EdgePathingStatusDescriptionEdgePathingOpEdgePathingSrc
rate_limitDropped request.banuser
rate_limitIP is explicitly allowlisted.simulateuser

Special cases

EdgePathingStatusDescriptionEdgePathingOpEdgePathingSrc
ao_crawlAO (Always Online) crawler request.wlskip
cdnjsRequest to a cdnjs resource.wlskip
Certain challenge forced by Cloudflare’s special headers.forced