Jupyter Server: Gateway WebSocket handler bypasses kernel execute authorization

Summary

Jupyter Server's gateway WebSocket handler checks that a user is authenticated, but it does not ask the configured Authorizer whether that user may execute kernels.

In Jupyter Server 2.0.0 through 2.5.0, enabling GatewayClient.url automatically replaced the normal kernel channel handler with this gateway-specific handler. An authenticated user who is denied the execute action on the kernels resource can therefore still open a kernel channel and send messages to the upstream kernel.

Details

The normal handler performs the expected authorization check before creating the WebSocket connection:

https://github.com/jupyter-server/jupyter_server/blob/v2.5.0/jupyter_server/services/kernels/websocket.py#L39-L47

The gateway handler only checks current_user and then opens the upstream channel. It never calls authorizer.is_authorized(...):

https://github.com/jupyter-server/jupyter_server/blob/v2.5.0/jupyter_server/gateway/handlers.py#L49-L75 https://github.com/jupyter-server/jupyter_server/blob/v2.5.0/jupyter_server/gateway/handlers.py#L87-L98

Gateway mode selected that handler automatically by replacing handlers with matching routes:

https://github.com/jupyter-server/jupyter_server/blob/v2.5.0/jupyter_server/serverapp.py#L437-L446

PR #1261 stopped replacing the normal handler and routed gateway traffic through instead. This appears to have fixed the default gateway configuration in 2.6.0, although the deprecated handler is still present in current releases and can still be registered directly.