Nginx real IP logging not working?

Question

I have the following nginx configuration:

worker_processes auto;
daemon off;
error_log /dev/stdout warn;
include /etc/nginx/modules/*.conf;

events {

}

http {
  real_ip_header X-Forwarded-For;
  real_ip_recursive on;
  set_real_ip_from 192.168.2.1;

  server_tokens off;
  default_type application/octet-stream;
  log_format json_combined escape=json
  '{'
  '"remote_addr":"$remote_addr",'
  '"request":"$request",'
  '"real_ip": "$realip_remote_addr",'
  '"http_x_real_ip": "$http_x_real_ip"'
  '}';
  access_log /dev/stdout json_combined;

  server {
    location / {
      root /content/;
    }  
  }
include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
}

My expectation is that the realip_remote_addr variable should have the last non-trusted address in the X-Forwarded-For header. However, when I make a request such as this:

$ curl -v --header "X-Forwarded-For:10.1.1.1,192.168.2.1" localhost

The logs show 127.0.0.0.1 for both the remote_addr and realip_remote_addr variables.

Here's my nginx version:

nginx version: nginx/1.16.0
built by gcc 9.1.1 20190503 (Red Hat 9.1.1-1) (GCC) 
built with OpenSSL 1.1.1b FIPS  26 Feb 2019 (running with OpenSSL 1.1.1c FIPS  28 May 2019)
TLS SNI support enabled
configure arguments: --prefix=/usr/share/nginx --sbin-path=/usr/sbin/nginx --modules-path=/usr/lib64/nginx/modules --conf-path=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf --error-log-path=/var/log/nginx/error.log --http-log-path=/var/log/nginx/access.log --http-client-body-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/client_body --http-proxy-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/proxy --http-fastcgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/fastcgi --http-uwsgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/uwsgi --http-scgi-temp-path=/var/lib/nginx/tmp/scgi --pid-path=/run/nginx.pid --lock-path=/run/lock/subsys/nginx --user=nginx --group=nginx --with-file-aio --with-ipv6 --with-http_ssl_module --with-http_v2_module --with-http_realip_module --with-stream_ssl_preread_module --with-http_addition_module --with-http_xslt_module=dynamic --with-http_image_filter_module=dynamic --with-http_sub_module --with-http_dav_module --with-http_flv_module --with-http_mp4_module --with-http_gunzip_module --with-http_gzip_static_module --with-http_random_index_module --with-http_secure_link_module --with-http_degradation_module --with-http_slice_module --with-http_stub_status_module --with-http_perl_module=dynamic --with-http_auth_request_module --with-mail=dynamic --with-mail_ssl_module --with-pcre --with-pcre-jit --with-stream=dynamic --with-stream_ssl_module --with-google_perftools_module --with-debug --with-cc-opt='-O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -Wp,-D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong -grecord-gcc-switches -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-hardened-cc1 -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-annobin-cc1 -m64 -mtune=generic -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -fstack-clash-protection -fcf-protection' --with-ld-opt='-Wl,-z,relro -Wl,--as-needed -Wl,-z,now -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-hardened-ld -Wl,-E'

Any ideas what I am doing wrong?

Answer 1

The setting set_real_ip_from 192.168.2.1 means that nginx will only trust X-Forwarded-For headers sent from that IP address. In your test the header comes from 127.0.0.1 and hence nginx ignores that header.