JSON-RPC Protocol Skill

name: json-rpc-expert
risk_level: MEDIUM
description: Expert in JSON-RPC 2.0 protocol implementation, message dispatching, error handling, batch processing, and secure RPC endpoints
version: 1.0.0
author: JARVIS AI Assistant
tags: [protocol, json-rpc, api, rpc, messaging]

---

1. Overview

Risk Level: MEDIUM-RISK

Justification: JSON-RPC endpoints handle remote procedure calls, can execute server-side code, and are vulnerable to injection attacks, DoS, and improper error handling that leaks information.

You are an expert in JSON-RPC 2.0 protocol implementation. You build secure, standards-compliant RPC servers and clients with proper message dispatching, error handling, and batch processing.

Core Expertise

• JSON-RPC 2.0 specification compliance
• Method dispatching and routing
• Error code standardization
• Batch request processing
• Transport layer integration

Primary Use Cases

• Building JSON-RPC servers for microservices
• Implementing RPC clients
• Batch operation optimization
• Error handling standardization

File Organization: Main concepts here; see references/security-examples.md for CVE mitigations.

---

2. Core Principles

1. TDD First: Write tests before implementation - verify RPC methods, error handling, and batch processing work correctly before deploying
2. Performance Aware: Optimize for throughput with connection pooling, batch requests, and response caching
3. Security by Design: Whitelist methods, validate inputs, sanitize errors
4. Specification Compliance: Follow JSON-RPC 2.0 exactly

---

3. Core Responsibilities

Fundamental Duties

1. Specification Compliance: Implement JSON-RPC 2.0 correctly
2. Secure Method Dispatch: Validate methods before execution
3. Proper Error Handling: Use standard error codes, hide internals
4. Batch Processing: Handle batch requests securely and efficiently

Security Principles

• Method Whitelisting: Only expose registered methods
• Input Validation: Validate all parameters
• Rate Limiting: Prevent abuse
• Error Sanitization: Never expose stack traces

---

4. Technical Foundation

JSON-RPC 2.0 Message Format

// Request
interface JSONRPCRequest {
  jsonrpc: "2.0";
  method: string;
  params?: unknown[] | Record<string, unknown>;
  id?: string | number | null;
}

// Response
interface JSONRPCResponse {
  jsonrpc: "2.0";
  result?: unknown;
  error?: JSONRPCError;
  id: string | number | null;
}

// Error
interface JSONRPCError {
  code: number;
  message: string;
  data?: unknown;
}

Standard Error Codes

Code	Message	Meaning
-32700	Parse error	Invalid JSON
-32600	Invalid Request	Not valid JSON-RPC
-32601	Method not found	Method doesn't exist
-32602	Invalid params	Invalid method parameters
-32603	Internal error	Internal JSON-RPC error
-32000 to -32099	Server error	Implementation-defined

---

5. Implementation Workflow (TDD)

Step 1: Write Failing Test First

# tests/test_rpc_methods.py
import pytest
from jsonrpc_server import JSONRPCServer

class TestRPCMethods:
    @pytest.fixture
    def server(self):
        return JSONRPCServer()

    def test_method_not_found(self, server):
        response = server.handle_request({"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "nonexistent", "id": 1})
        assert response["error"]["code"] == -32601

    def test_invalid_params(self, server):
        server.register_method("transfer", transfer_handler, TransferSchema)
        response = server.handle_request({"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "transfer", "params": {"amount": "bad"}, "id": 1})
        assert response["error"]["code"] == -32602

    def test_batch_request_limit(self, server):
        requests = [{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "ping", "id": i} for i in range(200)]
        response = server.handle_request(requests)
        assert response[0]["error"]["code"] == -32600

    def test_successful_method_call(self, server):
        server.register_method("add", lambda p: p["a"] + p["b"], AddSchema)
        response = server.handle_request({"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "add", "params": {"a": 2, "b": 3}, "id": 1})
        assert response["result"] == 5

Step 2: Implement Minimum to Pass

# jsonrpc_server.py
class JSONRPCServer:
    def __init__(self):
        self.methods = {}
        self.max_batch_size = 100

    def register_method(self, name, handler, schema):
        self.methods[name] = {"handler": handler, "schema": schema}

    def handle_request(self, request):
        if isinstance(request, list):
            return self._handle_batch(request)
        return self._handle_single(request)

    def _handle_single(self, request):
        method = request.get("method")
        if method not in self.methods:
            return self._error(request.get("id"), -32601, "Method not found")
        # ... implement validation and execution

Step 3: Refactor with Full Patterns

Apply security patterns, error handling, and performance optimizations from sections below.

Step 4: Run Full Verification

pytest tests/test_rpc_methods.py -v                    # Run all tests
pytest --cov=jsonrpc_server --cov-report=term-missing  # Coverage
pytest tests/test_rpc_security.py -v                   # Security tests
pytest tests/test_rpc_performance.py --benchmark-only  # Benchmarks

---

6. Implementation Patterns

6.1 Secure JSON-RPC Server

import { z } from "zod";

class JSONRPCServer {
  private methods: Map<string, MethodHandler> = new Map();

  registerMethod<T>(name: string, schema: z.ZodSchema<T>, handler: (params: T) => Promise<unknown>): void {
    if (!/^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_.]*$/.test(name)) throw new Error("Invalid method name");
    this.methods.set(name, { schema, handler });
  }

  async handleRequest(request: unknown): Promise<JSONRPCResponse | JSONRPCResponse[]> {
    let parsed: unknown;
    try {
      parsed = typeof request === "string" ? JSON.parse(request) : request;
    } catch { return this.createError(null, -32700, "Parse error"); }

    if (Array.isArray(parsed)) {
      if (parsed.length === 0) return this.createError(null, -32600, "Invalid Request");
      return Promise.all(parsed.map(req => this.handleSingleRequest(req)));
    }
    return this.handleSingleRequest(parsed);
  }

  private async handleSingleRequest(request: unknown): Promise<JSONRPCResponse> {
    if (!this.validateRequest(request)) return this.createError(null, -32600, "Invalid Request");
    const { method, params, id } = request as JSONRPCRequest;

    const handler = this.methods.get(method);
    if (!handler) return this.createError(id, -32601, "Method not found");

    const paramValidation = handler.schema.safeParse(params);
    if (!paramValidation.success) return this.createError(id, -32602, "Invalid params");

    try {
      const result = await handler.handler(paramValidation.data);
      if (id === undefined) return null as unknown as JSONRPCResponse;
      return { jsonrpc: "2.0", result, id };
    } catch (error) {
      console.error("Method execution error:", error);
      return this.createError(id, -32603, "Internal error");
    }
  }

  private createError(id: string | number | null, code: number, message: string): JSONRPCResponse {
    return { jsonrpc: "2.0", error: { code, message }, id };
  }

  private validateRequest(request: unknown): boolean {
    if (typeof request !== "object" || request === null) return false;
    const req = request as Record<string, unknown>;
    return req.jsonrpc === "2.0" && typeof req.method === "string";
  }
}

6.2 Method Registration with Authorization

const server = new JSONRPCServer();

// Public method
server.registerMethod("getStatus", z.object({}), async () => ({ status: "healthy" }));

// Authenticated method
server.registerMethod("getUserData", z.object({
  userId: z.string().uuid(),
  authToken: z.string().min(1)
}), async (params) => {
  const user = await verifyAuthToken(params.authToken);
  if (!user) throw new Error("Unauthorized");
  if (user.id !== params.userId && !user.isAdmin) throw new Error("Forbidden");
  return await getUserData(params.userId);
});

// Admin-only method
server.registerMethod("admin.deleteUser", z.object({
  userId: z.string().uuid(),
  authToken: z.string().min(1)
}), async (params) => {
  const user = await verifyAuthToken(params.authToken);
  if (!user?.isAdmin) throw new Error("Admin access required");
  return await deleteUser(params.userId);
});

6.3 Batch Processing with Limits

// Secure batch handling
async handleBatchRequest(requests: JSONRPCRequest[]): Promise<JSONRPCResponse[]> {
  // Limit batch size
  const MAX_BATCH_SIZE = 100;
  if (requests.length > MAX_BATCH_SIZE) {
    return [this.createError(null, -32600, `Batch size exceeds limit of ${MAX_BATCH_SIZE}`)];
  }

  // Process with concurrency limit
  const CONCURRENCY_LIMIT = 10;
  const results: JSONRPCResponse[] = [];

  for (let i = 0; i < requests.length; i += CONCURRENCY_LIMIT) {
    const batch = requests.slice(i, i + CONCURRENCY_LIMIT);
    const batchResults = await Promise.all(
      batch.map(req => this.handleSingleRequest(req))
    );
    results.push(...batchResults.filter(r => r !== null));
  }

  return results;
}

6.4 HTTP Transport Integration

import express from "express";
import helmet from "helmet";
import rateLimit from "express-rate-limit";

const app = express();
app.use(helmet());
app.use(express.json({ limit: "1mb" }));
app.use("/rpc", rateLimit({
  windowMs: 60000, max: 100,
  message: { jsonrpc: "2.0", error: { code: -32000, message: "Rate limit exceeded" }, id: null }
}));

app.post("/rpc", async (req, res) => {
  if (req.headers["content-type"] !== "application/json") {
    return res.status(415).json({ jsonrpc: "2.0", error: { code: -32700, message: "Invalid content-type" }, id: null });
  }
  const response = await server.handleRequest(req.body);
  if (!response || (Array.isArray(response) && !response.length)) return res.status(204).end();
  res.json(response);
});

---

7. Performance Patterns

7.1 Batch Requests

// Bad: Multiple individual requests
for (const item of items) { await client.call("process", { item }); }

// Good: Single batch request
const batch = items.map((item, i) => ({ jsonrpc: "2.0", method: "process", params: { item }, id: i }));
const results = await client.batch(batch);

7.2 Connection Pooling

// Bad: New connection per request
const client = new RPCClient(url); // Creates new connection each call

// Good: Reuse connections from pool
const pool = new RPCClientPool(url, { maxConnections: 10 });
const client = await pool.acquire();
try { return await client.call(method, params); } finally { pool.release(client); }

7.3 Response Caching

// Bad: DB hit every time
server.registerMethod("getConfig", schema, async () => await db.query("SELECT * FROM config"));

// Good: LRU cache with TTL
const cache = new LRUCache({ max: 1000, ttl: 60000 });
server.registerMethod("getConfig", schema, async (params) => {
  const key = `config:${params.section}`;
  return cache.get(key) || cache.set(key, await db.query("SELECT * FROM config WHERE section = ?", [params.section]));
});

7.4 Streaming Large Results

// Bad: Load entire dataset (OOM risk)
server.registerMethod("exportData", schema, async () => await db.query("SELECT * FROM huge_table"));

// Good: Paginated results
server.registerMethod("exportData", schema, async ({ cursor = 0, limit = 100 }) => {
  const data = await db.query("SELECT * FROM huge_table WHERE id > ? LIMIT ?", [cursor, limit]);
  return { data, nextCursor: data.length === limit ? data[data.length - 1].id : null };
});

7.5 Payload Optimization

// Bad: Return all fields (50KB)
server.registerMethod("getUser", schema, async ({ id }) => await getUser(id));

// Good: Return only requested fields (500B)
server.registerMethod("getUser", schema, async ({ id, fields }) => {
  const user = await getUser(id);
  return fields ? Object.fromEntries(fields.map(f => [f, user[f]])) : user;
});

---

8. Security Standards

8.1 Domain Vulnerability Landscape

See references/security-examples.md for complete CVE details.

Top Vulnerabilities:

• Method Injection: Accessing unregistered/internal methods
• Parameter Injection: Malicious params causing code execution
• Batch DoS: Large batches consuming resources
• Error Information Disclosure: Stack traces in errors

8.2 Input Validation

// Complete parameter validation with Zod
const TransferSchema = z.object({
  from: z.string().uuid(),
  to: z.string().uuid(),
  amount: z.number().positive().max(1000000),
  currency: z.enum(["USD", "EUR", "GBP"]),
  memo: z.string().max(200).optional()
}).refine(data => data.from !== data.to, "Cannot transfer to same account");

server.registerMethod("transfer", TransferSchema, async (params) => executeTransfer(params));

8.3 Error Handling

// Safe error responses - log details internally, return generic message
class SafeJSONRPCError extends Error {
  constructor(public code: number, message: string, private internal?: string) { super(message); }

  toResponse(id: string | number | null): JSONRPCResponse {
    if (this.internal) console.error(`RPC Error [${this.code}]: ${this.internal}`);
    return { jsonrpc: "2.0", error: { code: this.code, message: this.message }, id };
  }
}

// Usage: internal details logged but not returned to client
throw new SafeJSONRPCError(-32603, "Internal error", `DB failed: ${dbError.message}`);

---

9. Common Mistakes

NEVER: Execute Dynamic Methods

// Bad: Arbitrary method access from user input
const fn = this[request.method]; return fn(request.params);

// Good: Whitelist registered methods only
const handler = this.registeredMethods.get(request.method);
if (!handler) throw new Error("Method not found");
return handler(request.params);

NEVER: Return Internal Errors

// Bad: Exposes stack traces
catch (error) { return { error: { code: -32603, message: error.stack } }; }

// Good: Log internally, return generic message
catch (error) { console.error(error); return { error: { code: -32603, message: "Internal error" } }; }

---

10. Pre-Implementation Checklist

Phase 1: Before Writing Code

• Write failing tests for RPC methods and error handling
• Define parameter schemas for all methods
• Document method whitelist
• Plan authentication strategy for protected methods

Phase 2: During Implementation

• All methods registered with explicit whitelist
• Parameter validation using schemas (Zod/Pydantic)
• Batch size limits enforced (max 100)
• Rate limiting configured per endpoint
• Error messages sanitized (no stack traces)
• Request size limits set (max 1MB)
• Timeout on method execution

Phase 3: Before Committing

• All tests pass: pytest tests/test_rpc_*.py -v
• Security tests pass: pytest tests/test_rpc_security.py -v
• Performance benchmarks acceptable
• Audit logging enabled for all method calls
• Documentation updated for new methods

---

11. Summary

Your goal is to implement JSON-RPC services that are:

• Compliant: Follow JSON-RPC 2.0 specification exactly
• Secure: Validate all inputs, whitelist methods, sanitize errors
• Robust: Handle batches safely, enforce limits, timeout operations

Remember: Every RPC method is a potential attack vector. Validate parameters, authorize access, and never expose internal details in error responses.