Security Headers

Part of the Auth and Security section of Coddy's Node.js journey. Lesson 20 of 24.

Browsers guess and share by default: they may treat a text response as a script, run scripts from anywhere, and, in older browsers, send your full page address to other sites. A few response headers turn that off:

X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff: trust the Content-Type, never guess.
Referrer-Policy: no-referrer: do not tell other sites which page linked them.
Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self': load scripts, styles and images only from this site.

Express also adds X-Powered-By: Express, which tells attackers what to try. app.disable('x-powered-by') removes it. One middleware sets headers for every response. This one sets two other headers: Strict-Transport-Security tells the browser to use only HTTPS for a year, and Permissions-Policy turns off the camera and microphone.

app.use((req, res, next) => {
    res.set('Strict-Transport-Security', 'max-age=31536000');
    res.set('Permissions-Policy', 'camera=(), microphone=()');
    next();
});

Challenge

Easy

Browsers make guesses that attackers can use. Send three headers with every response to turn those guesses off, and stop telling everyone which framework runs your server.

In server.js, add a middleware before all the routes. It sets these three headers on every response, error responses like a 401 included:
- X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
- Referrer-Policy: no-referrer
- Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'. Only the page at GET / needs this one, but setting it on every response is fine.
Express adds X-Powered-By: Express to every response. Turn that off right after you create the app.

Try it: Press Run. Send GET /notes without logging in: status 401. Its Headers tab shows X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff and Referrer-Policy: no-referrer, and no X-Powered-By. Send POST /signup, then POST /login, both with {"username": "ada", "password": "correct horse"}. Then send GET /: you get the page, with the same headers plus Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'.

Try it yourself

import express from 'express';
import { ObjectId } from 'mongodb';
import { randomBytes } from 'node:crypto';
import { parseCookies } from './cookies.js';
import { notes, sessions, users } from './db.js';
import { hashPassword, verifyPassword } from './passwords.js';

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

// The one admin account. Its password comes from the environment.
await users.insertOne({ username: 'admin', role: 'admin', passwordHash: await hashPassword(process.env.ADMIN_PASSWORD) });

app.post('/signup', async (req, res) => {
    const username = String(req.body.username ?? '').trim().toLowerCase();
    const password = String(req.body.password ?? '');
    if (!username || password.length < 8) {
        return res.status(400).json({ error: 'Pick a username and a password of at least 8 characters' });
    }
    if (await users.findOne({ username })) {
        return res.status(409).json({ error: 'That username is taken' });
    }
    await users.insertOne({ username, role: 'member', passwordHash: await hashPassword(password) });
    res.status(201).json({ username });
});

app.post('/login', async (req, res) => {
    const username = String(req.body.username ?? '').trim().toLowerCase();
    const user = await users.findOne({ username });
    if (!user || !(await verifyPassword(String(req.body.password ?? ''), user.passwordHash))) {
        return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Wrong username or password' });
    }
    const sid = randomBytes(24).toString('base64url');
    await sessions.insertOne({ _id: sid, userId: user._id, createdAt: new Date() });
    res.cookie('sid', sid, {
        httpOnly: true,
        sameSite: 'lax',
        secure: true,
        maxAge: 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000,
    });
    res.json({ username: user.username });
});

// Finds the user of the session cookie, or answers 401.
async function requireUser(req, res, next) {
    const { sid } = parseCookies(req.get('cookie'));
    const session = sid && (await sessions.findOne({ _id: sid }));
    const user = session && (await users.findOne({ _id: session.userId }));
    if (!user) {
        return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Log in first' });
    }
    req.user = { id: user._id.toHexString(), username: user.username, role: user.role };
    next();
}

// Answers 403 unless the logged in user has this role.
function requireRole(role) {
    return (req, res, next) => {
        if (req.user.role !== role) {
            return res.status(403).json({ error: 'Not allowed' });
        }
        next();
    };
}

app.get('/me', requireUser, (req, res) => {
    res.json({ username: req.user.username });
});

app.post('/logout', async (req, res) => {
    const { sid } = parseCookies(req.get('cookie'));
    if (sid) {
        await sessions.deleteOne({ _id: sid });
    }
    res.clearCookie('sid');
    res.status(204).end();
});

// Your notes as a page.
app.get('/', requireUser, async (req, res) => {
    const list = await notes.find({ owner: req.user.id }).toArray();
    const items = list.map((note) => `<li>${note.text}</li>`).join('');
    res.send(`<!doctype html><title>Vault</title><h1>${req.user.username}'s notes</h1><ul>${items}</ul>`);
});

// Notes: each user reads and writes only their own.
app.get('/notes', requireUser, async (req, res) => {
    res.json(await notes.find({ owner: req.user.id }).toArray());
});

app.post('/notes', requireUser, async (req, res) => {
    const note = { owner: req.user.id, text: String(req.body.text ?? '') };
    await notes.insertOne(note);
    res.status(201).json(note);
});

app.get('/notes/:id', requireUser, async (req, res) => {
    if (!ObjectId.isValid(req.params.id)) {
        return res.status(404).json({ error: 'Note not found' });
    }
    const note = await notes.findOne({ _id: new ObjectId(req.params.id), owner: req.user.id });
    if (!note) {
        return res.status(404).json({ error: 'Note not found' });
    }
    res.json(note);
});

app.delete('/notes/:id', requireUser, async (req, res) => {
    if (!ObjectId.isValid(req.params.id)) {
        return res.status(404).json({ error: 'Note not found' });
    }
    const { deletedCount } = await notes.deleteOne({ _id: new ObjectId(req.params.id), owner: req.user.id });
    if (!deletedCount) {
        return res.status(404).json({ error: 'Note not found' });
    }
    res.status(204).end();
});

// For admins: how many accounts there are.
app.get('/admin', requireUser, requireRole('admin'), async (req, res) => {
    res.json({ users: await users.countDocuments() });
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
    console.log('Vault is running on port 3000');
});