crowdsecurity/crowdsec · error

chunk_size must be positive

Error message

chunk_size must be positive

What it means

The HTTP acquisition source validates that body/size configuration values are sane. A chunk_size (or max_body_size) of zero or negative is meaningless for reading a stream, so validation rejects it before the source is started. Note in the current source the chunk_size check itself is commented out in pkg/acquisition/modules/http/config.go:145, so this message is only thrown by builds/revisions where that validation is active; max_body_size is still checked.

Source

Thrown at pkg/acquisition/modules/http/config.go:145

	}

	if c.TLS != nil {
		if c.TLS.ServerCert == "" {
			return errors.New("server_cert is required")
		}

		if c.TLS.ServerKey == "" {
			return errors.New("server_key is required")
		}
	}

	if c.MaxBodySize != nil && *c.MaxBodySize <= 0 {
		return errors.New("max_body_size must be positive")
	}

	/*
		if hc.ChunkSize != nil && *hc.ChunkSize <= 0 {
			return errors.New("chunk_size must be positive")
		}
	*/

	if c.CustomStatusCode != nil {
		statusText := http.StatusText(*c.CustomStatusCode)
		if statusText == "" {
			return errors.New("invalid HTTP status code")
		}
	}

	return nil
}

func (s *Source) Configure(_ context.Context, yamlConfig []byte, logger *log.Entry, metricsLevel metrics.AcquisitionMetricsLevel) error {
	s.logger = logger
	s.metricsLevel = metricsLevel

	err := s.UnmarshalConfig(yamlConfig)

View on GitHub (pinned to 909b515798)

Solutions

1. Set chunk_size/max_body_size to a positive integer (e.g. max_body_size: 10M equivalent in bytes) in the http source YAML config.
2. Remove the key entirely if you want the default — an unset (nil) value passes validation.
3. If 0/-1 came from a template variable, check the variable resolution; quote and validate values before rendering the config.

Example fix

// before (acquis.yaml)
source: http
max_body_size: 0

// after
source: http
max_body_size: 10485760 # 10MB, must be > 0

if cfg.MaxBodySize != nil && *cfg.MaxBodySize <= 0 {
    return fmt.Errorf("max_body_size must be positive, got %d", *cfg.MaxBodySize)
}

func positiveSize(p *int) bool { return p == nil || *p > 0 }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Validate() on an http source Configuration whose ChunkSize or MaxBodySize pointer is non-nil and points to a value <= 0, e.g. YAML `chunk_size: -1` or `max_body_size: 0`.

Common situations: Typo or misunderstanding in the acquisition YAML (thinking 0 means 'unlimited'); templated configs where a variable expands to empty/0; copying a sample config with a placeholder value.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid value" and "allowed values are" config errors: what your library rejected and how to fix it — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

• path must start with /
• invalid HTTP status code
• basic_auth is selected, but basic_auth is not provided
• basic_auth is selected, but username is not provided
• basic_auth is selected, but password is not provided

AI-assisted analysis of crowdsecurity/crowdsec@909b515798 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7303b037536b1af2. Report an issue: GitHub.