http-security-headers

name	http-security-headers
description	Verify and configure HTTP response security headers. Use when reviewing web server configuration, reverse proxy setup, or application middleware that sets response headers.
category	secure_development
subcategory	web-security

HTTP Security Headers

Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS)

Forces HTTPS connections for a specified period, preventing protocol downgrade and MITM attacks.

Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload

• Set max-age to at least one year (31536000 seconds)
• Include includeSubDomains to protect all subdomains
• Add preload only after verifying all subdomains support HTTPS, then submit to the HSTS preload list

X-Frame-Options

Controls whether a page can be rendered in a frame or iframe, mitigating clickjacking.

X-Frame-Options: DENY

• Use DENY to prevent framing entirely
• Use SAMEORIGIN only when the application legitimately embeds its own pages
• Prefer the frame-ancestors CSP directive for more granular control

X-Content-Type-Options

Prevents MIME sniffing, forcing the browser to use the declared Content-Type.

X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff

• Always include this header; there is no reason to omit it

X-XSS-Protection

Instructs older browsers to activate built-in XSS filtering.

X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block

• Use mode=block to block the entire page rather than attempting to sanitize
• Test thoroughly; the filter can cause false positives on some pages
• Modern browsers rely on CSP instead; this header is defense-in-depth for legacy clients

Content-Security-Policy (CSP)

Defines trusted sources for scripts, styles, images, and other resources. The most powerful header for preventing XSS and code injection.

Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; style-src 'self'; img-src 'self' data:; object-src 'none'; frame-ancestors 'none'

• Start with a restrictive policy and relax only when a specific resource or functionality fails due to a blocked source
• Use Content-Security-Policy-Report-Only first to monitor violations without breaking functionality
• Avoid unsafe-inline and unsafe-eval for script-src; use nonces or hashes instead
• Set object-src 'none' to block plugins (Flash, Java)
• Set frame-ancestors 'none' to replace X-Frame-Options

Referrer-Policy

Controls how much referrer information is sent with requests, protecting user privacy.

Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin

• Use no-referrer when maximum privacy is required
• Use same-origin to send referrer only on same-origin requests
• Use strict-origin-when-cross-origin as a balanced default

Cache-Control

Controls caching behavior for responses. Misconfigured caching of sensitive data is a common vulnerability.

Sensitive responses (authentication, personal data, tokens):

Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, max-age=0

Static assets (images, fonts, versioned bundles):

Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, immutable

• Use no-store for any response containing user-specific or sensitive data
• Never cache authentication responses or pages containing tokens
• Use private when content is user-specific but cacheable by the browser

Implementation Checklist

• HSTS is set with max-age >= 31536000 and includeSubDomains
• X-Frame-Options: DENY or CSP frame-ancestors 'none' is set
• X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff is present on all responses
• CSP is configured and does not use unsafe-inline or unsafe-eval for scripts
• Referrer-Policy is set to strict-origin-when-cross-origin or stricter
• Sensitive responses set Cache-Control: no-store
• Static assets use long-lived Cache-Control with versioned filenames
• Headers are verified with a scanner (e.g., securityheaders.com)