performing-security-headers-audit

# Performing Security Headers Audit ## When to Use - During authorized web application security assessments as a standard configuration review - When evaluating browser-level protections against XSS, clickjacking, and data leakage - For compliance assessments requiring security header implementation (PCI DSS, SOC 2) - When performing initial reconnaissance to identify easy-win security improvements - During CI/CD pipeline security gate checks for new deployments ## Prerequisites - **Authorization**: Written scope for the target application (header review is low-risk) - **curl**: For fetching response headers from target endpoints - **SecurityHeaders.com**: Online scanner for quick header assessment - **Mozilla Observatory**: Mozilla's web security testing tool - **Burp Suite**: For comprehensive header analysis across multiple pages - **Browser DevTools**: For examining headers and CSP violations in real-time ## Workflow ### Step 1: Collect Security Headers from Target Retrieve and catalog all security-related response headers. ```bash # Fetch all response headers curl -s -I "https://target.example.com/" | grep -iE \ "(strict-transport|content-security|x-frame|x-content-type|x-xss|referrer-policy|permissions-policy|feature-policy|x-permitted|cross-origin|set-cookie|server|x-powered-by|cache-control)" # Check headers across multiple pages PAGES=("/" "/login" "/api/health" "/admin" "/account/settings" "/static/app.js") for page in "${PAGES[@]}"; do echo "=== $page...