Analyzing Security Headers
Overview
Evaluate HTTP response headers for web applications against OWASP Secure Headers Project recommendations and browser security baselines. Identify missing, misconfigured, or information-leaking headers across both HTTP and HTTPS responses.
Prerequisites
- Target URL or domain name accessible over the network
- Authorization to perform HTTP requests against the target domain
- Network connectivity for both HTTP and HTTPS protocols
- Optional: write access to
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/security-reports/ for persisting results
Instructions
- Accept the target domain. If only a domain name is provided, default to
https://. For batch analysis, accept a newline-separated list.
- Fetch response headers using
WebFetch for both HTTP and HTTPS endpoints. Record the full redirect chain and final destination URL.
- Evaluate critical headers -- flag any that are missing or misconfigured:
Strict-Transport-Security: require max-age>=31536000, includeSubDomains, and preload eligibility
Content-Security-Policy: check for unsafe-inline, unsafe-eval, overly broad default-src, and missing frame-ancestors
X-Frame-Options: require DENY or SAMEORIGIN
X-Content-Type-Options: require nosniff
Permissions-Policy: verify camera, microphone, geolocation restrictions
- Evaluate important headers -- report status and recommendations:
Referrer-Policy: recommend strict-origin-when-cross-origin or no-referrer
Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy (COEP), Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy (COOP), Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy (CORP)
- Check for information disclosure -- flag
Server, X-Powered-By, X-AspNet-Version, and any header revealing technology stack or version numbers.
- Inspect cookie attributes on
Set-Cookie headers: verify Secure, HttpOnly, SameSite=Lax|Strict, and __Host-/__Secure- prefix usage.
- Calculate a security grade: A+ (95-100), A (85-94), B (75-84), C (65-74), D (50-64), F (<50) based on weighted presence and correctness of each header.
- Generate per-header remediation directives with configuration examples for Nginx, Apache, and Cloudflare.
See ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/implementation.md for the five-phase implementation workflow.
Output
- Headers Analysis Report: overall grade, per-header status (present/missing/misconfigured), and risk impact
- Remediation Checklist: prioritized fixes with server configuration snippets
- Cookie Security Assessment: attribute compliance for each
Set-Cookie header
- Comparison Table: side-by-side HTTP vs. HTTPS header differences
Error Handling
| Error |
Cause |
Solution |
| Failed to connect to domain |
DNS resolution failure, firewall block, or domain down |
Verify domain spelling and DNS records; test alternate protocols |
| SSL certificate verification failed |
Expired, self-signed, or mismatched certificate |
Note TLS issue in report; indicates HSTS not properly enforced |
| Too many redirects |
Redirect loop between HTTP and HTTPS |
Report the redirect chain and analyze headers at each hop |
| HTTP 429 Too Many Requests |
Rate limiting by target server |
Implement backoff; queue domain for delayed re-analysis |
| Headers differ between HTTP and HTTPS |
Inconsistent server configuration |
Report both sets; highlight critical differences and flag HSTS gap |
Examples
- "Analyze security headers for
https://claudecodeplugins.io and explain any CSP or HSTS issues."
- "Check headers for
example.com on both HTTP and HTTPS and provide an Nginx remediation config."
- "Batch-analyze headers for five staging domains and rank them by security grade."
Resources
Source: jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills → skills/.curated/analyzing-security-headers/SKILL.md
Also appears in: jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/plugins/security/security-headers-analyzer/skills/analyzing-security-headers/SKILL.md
1---2name: analyzing-security-headers3description: 'Analyze HTTP security headers of web domains to identify vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. Use when you need to audit website security headers, assess header compliance, or get security recommendations for web applications. Trigger with phrases like "analyze security headers", "check HTTP headers", "audit website security headers", or "evaluate CSP and HSTS configuration". '4---5
6# Analyzing Security Headers
7
8## Overview
9
10Evaluate HTTP response headers for web applications against OWASP Secure Headers Project recommendations and browser security baselines. Identify missing, misconfigured, or information-leaking headers across both HTTP and HTTPS responses.
11
12## Prerequisites
13
14- Target URL or domain name accessible over the network
15- Authorization to perform HTTP requests against the target domain
16- Network connectivity for both HTTP and HTTPS protocols
17- Optional: write access to `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/security-reports/` for persisting results
18
19## Instructions
20
211. Accept the target domain. If only a domain name is provided, default to `https://`. For batch analysis, accept a newline-separated list.
222. Fetch response headers using `WebFetch` for both HTTP and HTTPS endpoints. Record the full redirect chain and final destination URL.
233. Evaluate **critical headers** -- flag any that are missing or misconfigured:
24 - `Strict-Transport-Security`: require `max-age>=31536000`, `includeSubDomains`, and preload eligibility
25 - `Content-Security-Policy`: check for `unsafe-inline`, `unsafe-eval`, overly broad `default-src`, and missing `frame-ancestors`
26 - `X-Frame-Options`: require `DENY` or `SAMEORIGIN`
27 - `X-Content-Type-Options`: require `nosniff`
28 - `Permissions-Policy`: verify camera, microphone, geolocation restrictions
294. Evaluate **important headers** -- report status and recommendations:
30 - `Referrer-Policy`: recommend `strict-origin-when-cross-origin` or `no-referrer`
31 - `Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy` (COEP), `Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy` (COOP), `Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy` (CORP)
325. Check for **information disclosure** -- flag `Server`, `X-Powered-By`, `X-AspNet-Version`, and any header revealing technology stack or version numbers.
336. Inspect cookie attributes on `Set-Cookie` headers: verify `Secure`, `HttpOnly`, `SameSite=Lax|Strict`, and `__Host-`/`__Secure-` prefix usage.
347. Calculate a security grade: A+ (95-100), A (85-94), B (75-84), C (65-74), D (50-64), F (<50) based on weighted presence and correctness of each header.
358. Generate per-header remediation directives with configuration examples for Nginx, Apache, and Cloudflare.
36
37See `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/implementation.md` for the five-phase implementation workflow.
38
39## Output
40
41- **Headers Analysis Report**: overall grade, per-header status (present/missing/misconfigured), and risk impact
42- **Remediation Checklist**: prioritized fixes with server configuration snippets
43- **Cookie Security Assessment**: attribute compliance for each `Set-Cookie` header
44- **Comparison Table**: side-by-side HTTP vs. HTTPS header differences
45
46## Error Handling
47
48| Error | Cause | Solution |
49|-------|-------|----------|
50| Failed to connect to domain | DNS resolution failure, firewall block, or domain down | Verify domain spelling and DNS records; test alternate protocols |
51| SSL certificate verification failed | Expired, self-signed, or mismatched certificate | Note TLS issue in report; indicates HSTS not properly enforced |
52| Too many redirects | Redirect loop between HTTP and HTTPS | Report the redirect chain and analyze headers at each hop |
53| HTTP 429 Too Many Requests | Rate limiting by target server | Implement backoff; queue domain for delayed re-analysis |
54| Headers differ between HTTP and HTTPS | Inconsistent server configuration | Report both sets; highlight critical differences and flag HSTS gap |
55
56## Examples
57
58- "Analyze security headers for `https://claudecodeplugins.io` and explain any CSP or HSTS issues."
59- "Check headers for `example.com` on both HTTP and HTTPS and provide an Nginx remediation config."
60- "Batch-analyze headers for five staging domains and rank them by security grade."
61
62## Resources
63
64- OWASP Secure Headers Project: https://owasp.org/www-project-secure-headers/
65- MDN Security Headers Guide: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers#security
66- Security Headers Scanner: https://securityheaders.com/
67- Content Security Policy Reference: https://content-security-policy.com/
68- HSTS Preload Submission: https://hstspreload.org/
69- `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/errors.md` -- full error handling reference
70- `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/examples.md` -- additional usage examples
71- https://intentsolutions.io
72
73---
74
75**Source:** [`jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills`](https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills) → `skills/.curated/analyzing-security-headers/SKILL.md`
76
77**Also appears in:** `jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/plugins/security/security-headers-analyzer/skills/analyzing-security-headers/SKILL.md`