Apache HTTP Server Version 2.4

Apache > HTTP Server > Documentation > Version 2.4 > Modules

# Apache Module mod_dav

Description: | Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) functionality
Status: | Extension
Module Identifier: | dav_module
Source File: | mod_dav.c

### Summary

This module provides class 1 and class 2 WebDAV ('Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning') functionality for Apache. This extension to the HTTP protocol allows creating, moving, copying, and deleting resources and collections on a remote web server.

### Topics

- Enabling WebDAV
- Security Issues
- Complex Configurations

### Directives

### Bugfix checklist

- httpd changelog
- Known issues
- Report a bug

### See also

- `DavLockDB`
- `LimitXMLRequestBody`
- WebDAV Resources

## Enabling WebDAV

To enable `mod_dav`, add the following to a container in your `httpd.conf` file:

    Dav On

This enables the DAV file system provider, which is implemented by the `mod_dav_fs` module. Therefore, that module must be compiled into the server or loaded at runtime using the `LoadModule` directive.

In addition, a location for the DAV lock database must be specified in the global section of your `httpd.conf` file using the `DavLockDB` directive:

    DavLockDB /usr/local/apache2/var/DavLock

The directory containing the lock database file must be writable by the `User` and `Group` under which Apache is running.

In the example below, `<RequireAny>` is used to ensure that DAV-specific methods (i.e., methods other than `GET`, `POST` and `OPTIONS`) are limited to the authenticated user.

If you want to set the maximum amount of bytes that a DAV client can send at one request, you have to use the `LimitXMLRequestBody` directive. The "normal" `LimitRequestBody` directive has no effect on DAV requests.

### Full Example

    DavLockDB "/usr/local/apache2/var/DavLock"

    <Directory "/usr/local/apache2/htdocs/foo">
        Dav On

        AuthType Basic
        AuthName DAV
        AuthUserFile "user.passwd"

        <RequireAny>
            Require method GET POST OPTIONS
            Require user admin
        </RequireAny>
    </Directory>

## Security Issues

Since DAV access methods allow remote clients to manipulate files on the server, you must take particular care to assure that your server is secure before enabling `mod_dav`.

Any location on the server where DAV is enabled should be protected by authentication. The use of HTTP Basic Authentication is not recommended. You should use at least HTTP Digest Authentication, which is provided by the `mod_auth_digest` module. Nearly all WebDAV clients support this authentication method. An alternative is Basic Authentication over an SSL enabled connection.

In order for `mod_dav` to manage files, it must be able to write to the directories and files under its control using the `User` and `Group` under which Apache is running. New files created will also be owned by this `User` and `Group`. For this reason, it is important to control access to this account. The DAV repository is considered private to Apache; modifying files outside of Apache (for example using FTP or filesystem-level tools) should not be allowed.

`mod_dav` may be subject to various kinds of denial-of-service attacks. The `LimitXMLRequestBody` directive can be used to limit the amount of memory consumed in parsing large DAV requests. The `DavDepthInfinity` directive can be used to prevent `PROPFIND` requests on a very large repository from consuming large amounts of memory. Another possible denial-of-service attack involves a client simply filling up all available disk space with many large files. There is no direct way to prevent this in Apache, so you should avoid giving DAV access to untrusted users.

## Complex Configurations

One common request is to use `mod_dav` to manipulate dynamic files (PHP scripts, CGI scripts, etc). This is difficult because a `GET` request will always run the script, rather than downloading its contents. One way to avoid this is to map two different URLs to the content, one of which will run the script, and one of which will allow it to be downloaded and manipulated with DAV.

    Alias "/phparea" "/home/gstein/php_files"
    Alias "/php-source" "/home/gstein/php_files"
    <Location "/php-source">
        Dav On
        ForceType text/plain
    </Location>

With this setup, `http://example.com/phparea` can be used to access the output of the PHP scripts, and `http://example.com/php-source` can be used with a DAV client to manipulate them.

## Dav Directive

Description: | Enable WebDAV HTTP methods
Syntax: | `Dav On|Off|provider-name`
Default: | `Dav Off`
Context: | directory
Status: | Extension
Module: | mod_dav

Use the `Dav` directive to enable the WebDAV HTTP methods for the given container:

    <Location "/foo">
        Dav On
    </Location>

The value `On` is actually an alias for the default provider `filesystem` which is served by the `mod_dav_fs` module. Note, that once you have DAV enabled for some location, it cannot be disabled for sublocations. For a complete configuration example have a look at the section above.

Do not enable WebDAV until you have secured your server. Otherwise everyone will be able to distribute files on your system.

## DavBasePath Directive

Description: | Configure repository root path
Syntax: | `DavBasePath root-path`
Default: | `None`
Context: | directory
Status: | Extension
Module: | mod_dav
Compatibility: | Available in version 2.4.58 and later

If a DAV repository is configured using a regular expression match (such as `LocationMatch`) then `mod_dav` will not be able to find the root of the repository from the pathname alone. Third-party providers (for example, Subversion's mod_dav_svn) may fail to handle requests without the correct repository root.

To allow providers to work correctly in such a configuration, `DavBasePath` must be used.

    <LocationMatch "^/repos/">
        Dav svn
        DavBasePath /repos
        SVNParentPath /var/svn
    </LocationMatch>

## DavDepthInfinity Directive

Description: | Allow PROPFIND, Depth: Infinity requests
Syntax: | `DavDepthInfinity on|off`
Default: | `DavDepthInfinity off`
Context: | server config, virtual host, directory
Status: | Extension
Module: | mod_dav

Use the `DavDepthInfinity` directive to allow the processing of `PROPFIND` requests containing the header 'Depth: Infinity'. Because this type of request could constitute a denial-of-service attack, by default it is not allowed.

## DavMinTimeout Directive

Description: | Minimum amount of time the server holds a lock on a DAV resource
Syntax: | `DavMinTimeout seconds`
Default: | `DavMinTimeout 0`
Context: | server config, virtual host, directory
Status: | Extension
Module: | mod_dav

When a client requests a DAV resource lock, it can also specify a time when the lock will be automatically removed by the server. This value is only a request, and the server can ignore it or inform the client of an arbitrary value.

Use the `DavMinTimeout` directive to specify, in seconds, the minimum lock timeout to return to a client. Microsoft Web Folders defaults to a timeout of 120 seconds; the `DavMinTimeout` can override this to a higher value (like 600 seconds) to reduce the chance of the client losing the lock due to network latency.

### Example

    <Location "/MSWord">
        DavMinTimeout 600
    </Location>