3.2. Message Header Size

3.2. Message Header Size

A server in receipt of a larger message header than it is willing to handle can send an HTTP 431 (Request Header Fields Too Large) status code per Section 5 of [RFC6585]. Due to the typical size of the field values containing certificate data, recipients may need to be configured to allow for a larger maximum header size. An intermediary generating client certificate header fields on connections that allow for advertising the maximum acceptable header size (e.g., HTTP/2 [HTTP/2] or HTTP/3 [HTTP/3]) should account for the additional size of the header of the requests it sends, versus the requests it receives, by advertising a value to its clients that is sufficiently smaller so as to allow for the addition of certificate data.