Rejecting a handshake raises a silenced AssertionError in the threading server

[scttbnsn]

In the threading implementation, when process_request or process_response rejects the handshake by returning an HTTP response, handshake() returns normally; handshake_exc is only set for failures, not for deliberate rejections:

websockets/src/websockets/sync/server.py

Lines 180 to 189 in ff4869b

	# self.protocol.handshake_exc is set when the connection is lost before
	# receiving a request, when the request cannot be parsed, or when the
	# handshake fails, including when process_request or process_response
	# raises an exception.
	# It isn't set when process_request or process_response sends an HTTP
	# response that rejects the handshake.
	if self.protocol.handshake_exc is not None:
	raise self.protocol.handshake_exc

conn_handler then hits this assertion, since the state is CONNECTING or CLOSED after a rejection, never OPEN:

websockets/src/websockets/sync/server.py

Line 608 in ff4869b

assert connection.protocol.state is OPEN

The AssertionError is swallowed by the except Exception below, so nothing is logged and the socket is closed without going through close_socket() and joining recv_events_thread. The # pragma: no cover there isn't accurate either; this branch runs on every rejection:

websockets/src/websockets/sync/server.py

Lines 618 to 620 in ff4869b

	except Exception: # pragma: no cover
	# Don't leak sockets on unexpected errors.
	sock.close()

With python -O, the assertion is stripped instead and the handler runs on the rejected connection: start_keepalive() and handler(connection) execute with the connection already CLOSED, and every rejection logs "connection handler failed".

Repro:

import http
import threading

from websockets.sync.client import connect
from websockets.sync.server import serve


def reject(connection, request):
 return connection.respond(http.HTTPStatus.FORBIDDEN, "Forbidden")


def handler(connection):
 raise AssertionError("handler ran on a rejected connection")


with serve(handler, "localhost", 0, process_request=reject) as server:
 threading.Thread(target=server.serve_forever, daemon=True).start()
 host, port = server.socket.getsockname()
 try:
 connect(f"ws://{host}:{port}/")
 except Exception as exc:
 print(f"client: {exc!r}")
 server.shutdown()

Under python, the client gets the 403 and the server logs nothing; a trace hook shows the AssertionError firing at line 608 on every rejection. Under python -O, the server additionally logs "connection handler failed" with the handler's traceback.

Verified on main (ff4869b) with Python 3.13 on macOS.

[aaugustin]

This was actually a duplicated of #1513 which was fixed in 7f71b99.

[scttbnsn]

Ah, you're right. I was on an older checkout and didn't realize 7f71b99 had already landed on main. Thanks for the pointer.

[aaugustin]

The bug existed two weeks ago when you filed the issue; I pushed the fix last week :-) All good.