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.
# Fetch all response headers
curl -s -I "https://target.example.com/" | grep -iE \
"(strict-transport|content-security|x-frame|x-content-t…
