HTTP 402: The Attack Surface Nobody Mapped

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Forgotten Status Code

In 1991, HTTP 402 — Payment Required — was reserved for future use. For three decades it sat dormant, a placeholder in the RFC that nobody touched.

That future arrived with autonomous AI agents.

Why Now

Agents need to transact autonomously. They need to pay APIs, purchase compute, settle micro-transactions — without human approval loops. The x402 protocol gives them a standardized way to do that over HTTP.

Attack Surface on x402warden

HTTP 402: The Attack Surface Nobody Mapped

The Forgotten Status Code

Why Now