Best nginx configuration for improved security(and performance). Complete blog post here http://tautt.com/best-nginx-configuration-for-security/

gistfile1.sh

# to generate your dhparam.pem file, run in the terminal
openssl dhparam -out /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem 2048

nginx.conf

# read more here http://tautt.com/best-nginx-configuration-for-security/

# don't send the nginx version number in error pages and Server header
server_tokens off;

# config to don't allow the browser to render the page inside an frame or iframe
# and avoid clickjacking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickjacking
# if you need to allow [i]frames, you can use SAMEORIGIN or even set an uri with ALLOW-FROM uri
# https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/HTTP/X-Frame-Options
add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;

# when serving user-supplied content, include a X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff header along with the Content-Type: header,
# to disable content-type sniffing on some browsers.
# https://www.owasp.org/index.php/List_of_useful_HTTP_headers
# currently suppoorted in IE > 8 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2008/09/02/ie8-security-part-vi-beta-2-update.aspx
# http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/gg622941(v=vs.85).aspx
# 'soon' on Firefox https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=471020
add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;

# This header enables the Cross-site scripting (XSS) filter built into most recent web browsers.
# It's usually enabled by default anyway, so the role of this header is to re-enable the filter for 
# this particular website if it was disabled by the user.
# https://www.owasp.org/index.php/List_of_useful_HTTP_headers
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";

# with Content Security Policy (CSP) enabled(and a browser that supports it(http://caniuse.com/#feat=contentsecuritypolicy),
# you can tell the browser that it can only download content from the domains you explicitly allow
# http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/security/content-security-policy/
# https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Content_Security_Policy
# I need to change our application code so we can increase security by disabling 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval'
# directives for css and js(if you have inline css or js, you will need to keep it too).
# more: http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/security/content-security-policy/#inline-code-considered-harmful
add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval' https://ssl.google-analytics.com https://assets.zendesk.com https://connect.facebook.net; img-src 'self' https://ssl.google-analytics.com https://s-static.ak.facebook.com https://assets.zendesk.com; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://fonts.googleapis.com https://assets.zendesk.com; font-src 'self' https://themes.googleusercontent.com; frame-src https://assets.zendesk.com https://www.facebook.com https://s-static.ak.facebook.com https://tautt.zendesk.com; object-src 'none'";

# redirect all http traffic to https
server {
  listen 80 default_server;
  listen [::]:80 default_server;
  server_name .forgott.com;
  return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
  listen 443 ssl http2;
  listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
  server_name .forgott.com;

  ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/star_forgott_com.crt;
  ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/star_forgott_com.key;

  # enable session resumption to improve https performance
  # http://vincent.bernat.im/en/blog/2011-ssl-session-reuse-rfc5077.html
  ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:50m;
  ssl_session_timeout 1d;
  ssl_session_tickets off;

  # Diffie-Hellman parameter for DHE ciphersuites, recommended 2048 bits
  ssl_dhparam /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem;

  # enables server-side protection from BEAST attacks
  # http://blog.ivanristic.com/2013/09/is-beast-still-a-threat.html
  ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
  # disable SSLv3(enabled by default since nginx 0.8.19) since it's less secure then TLS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Sockets_Layer#SSL_3.0
  ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
  # ciphers chosen for forward secrecy and compatibility
  # http://blog.ivanristic.com/2013/08/configuring-apache-nginx-and-openssl-for-forward-secrecy.html
  ssl_ciphers 'ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES256-GCM-SHA384:AES128-SHA256:AES256-SHA256:AES128-SHA:AES256-SHA:DES-CBC3-SHA:!DSS';

  # enable ocsp stapling (mechanism by which a site can convey certificate revocation information to visitors in a privacy-preserving, scalable manner)
  # http://blog.mozilla.org/security/2013/07/29/ocsp-stapling-in-firefox/
  resolver 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4;
  ssl_stapling on;
  ssl_stapling_verify on;
  ssl_trusted_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/star_forgott_com.crt;

  # config to enable HSTS(HTTP Strict Transport Security) https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Security/HTTP_Strict_Transport_Security
  # to avoid ssl stripping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSL_stripping#SSL_stripping
  # also https://hstspreload.org/
  add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubdomains; preload";

  # ... the rest of your configuration
}

The Strict-Transport-Security header needs to be moved inside the http block with the ssl listen statement or you risk sending Strict-Transport-Security headers over HTTP sites you may also have configured on the server.

Additionally, the rewrite for the http server block should be a return 301 instead. See this Nginx documentation for more details: http://wiki.nginx.org/Pitfalls#Taxing_Rewrites

@ryankearney updated, thanks :)

ssl_session_timeout 5m; <- Should this appear twice in the config?

@barrybingo that is probably a typo. once is just enough.

As you're already redirecting all HTTP traffic to HTTPS, have you looked into using SPDY to increase performance?

nginx 1.5.10 (mainline) has SPDY 3.1 support.

Also if you're running nginx as a proxy have you considered turning off the X-Powered-By header by adding the following line to the server config section.

proxy_hide_header X-Powered-By;

How to force redirect all request to www. version?
Here's my current config:

server {
server_name domain.com www.domain.com;
return 301 https://www.domain.com$request_uri;
}

server {
listen 443 ssl spdy;
server_name www.domain.com;

domain.com to https://www.domain.com = Works
www.domain.com to https://www.domain.com = Works
https://domain.com to https://www.domain.com = Not working

@barrybingo not really, thanks!

https://www.mare-system.de/guide-to-nginx-ssl-spdy-hsts/

nice work

RoldanLT

ssltunnel.net to https://www.ssltunnel.net = Works
www.ssltunnel.net to https://www.ssltunnel.net = Works
https://ssltunnel.net to https://www.ssltunnel.net = Works

#ssltunnel.net
server {
        listen 80;
        server_name ssltunnel.net www.ssltunnel.net;
        rewrite ^ https://www.ssltunnel.net$request_uri? permanent;
}
server {
        listen 443 ssl spdy;
        server_name ssltunnel.net;
        rewrite ^ https://www.ssltunnel.net$request_uri? permanent;

        ssl on;
        ssl_certificate ssltunnel.net.crt;
        ssl_certificate_key ssltunnel.net.key;
}
server {
        listen 443 ssl spdy;
        server_name www.ssltunnel.net
...

Thanks vincentclee!
I'm using this now and it works :)

server {
listen 80;
server_name phcorner.net www.phcorner.net;
return 301 https://www.phcorner.net$request_uri;
}

server {
listen 443 ssl spdy;
server_name phcorner.net;
return 301 https://www.phcorner.net$request_uri;

    ssl on;
ssl_certificate /ssl-unified.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /net.key;

}

server {
listen 443 ssl spdy;
server_name www.phcorner.net;
...

@vincentclee @RoldanLT Beware of www redirect :
http://coderrr.wordpress.com/2010/12/27/canonical-redirect-pitfalls-with-http-strict-transport-security-and-some-solutions/

The browser will only listen to the Strict-Transport-Security header if the connection was established via HTTPS. The first time the visitor connects to the website using HTTP, the visitor needs to be redirected using a 301 redirect. On subsequent requests, even it the connection uses HTTP, HSTS forces the browser to use HTTPS for connecting to a particular website instead of HTTP. Even if a user types in a http:// URL, the browser will automatically correct the URL and will connect to https://.

It appears the more correct way to implement HSTS in Nginx is as so:

map $scheme $hsts_header {
    https   max-age=31536000;
}

server {
    listen  80;
    listen  443 ssl;

    add_header Strict-Transport-Security $hsts_header;
}

http://trac.nginx.org/nginx/ticket/289

Most examples use the following to implement HSTS, which does not follow the RFC.

add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubdomains;";

@toddlahman : Shouldn't we avoid to set the header for http (port 80) ?

An HSTS Host MUST NOT include the STS header field in HTTP responses conveyed over non-secure transport.

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6797

In nginx >= 1.7.5 you should have (note the added "always"):

add_header Strict-Transport-Security max-age=31536000 always;

This forces the header to always be added regardless of the http code which is what is wanted for this type of header.

I'm a bit curious, you seem to use ssl_trusted_certificate with the same wildcard-certificate that you use with ssl_certificate but Nginx documentation[1] specifies that ssl_trusted_certificate

Specifies a file with trusted CA certificates in the PEM format used to verify client certificates and OCSP responses if ssl_stapling is enabled.

The file should be a certificate bundle containing root and intermediate CAs.

[1] http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_ssl_module.html#ssl_trusted_certificate

Use following ciphers to exclude RC4.

ssl_ciphers "EECDH+ECDSA+AESGCM:EECDH+aRSA+AESGCM:EECDH+ECDSA+SHA256:EECDH+aRSA+SHA256:EECDH+ECDSA+SHA384:EECDH+ECDSA+SHA256:EECDH+aRSA+SHA384:EDH+aRSA+AESGCM:EDH+aRSA+SHA256:EDH+aRSA:EECDH:!aNULL:!eNULL:!MEDIUM:!LOW:!3DES:!MD5:!EXP:!PSK:!SRP:!DSS:!RC4:!SEED";

i am getting access denied error

@chrisnew thanks for the RC4-less ciphers.

hello!

more one question about this

when try access https://myip not redirect to my https://mysite.com

how to redirect my ip to domian name?

works http my ip to dimain but https not

thanks

If you add a single 'add_header' inside the server directive (in your case, for HSTS), it will override all the 'add_header's that you've defined outside.

EDH+aRSA is now considered weak http://imgur.com/C5fKr38

I updated my ciphers string to:

EECDH+ECDSA+AESGCM EECDH+aRSA+AESGCM EECDH+ECDSA+SHA384 EECDH+ECDSA+SHA256 EECDH+aRSA+SHA384 EECDH+aRSA+SHA256 EECDH+aRSA+RC4 EECDH RSA+AESGCM RSA+AES !RC4 !aNULL !eNULL !LOW !3DES !MD5 !EXP !PSK !SRP !DSS

maybe you could add keepalive_timeout 70;
(http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/configuring_https_servers.html)

@bryfry - They're considered weak in your case because you're still using a common Diffie-Hellman group with your ciphers, not because the cipher itself is weak. You don't need to disable EDH+aRSA ciphers, you just need to generate a new unique DH group, and configure it with your web server:
https://weakdh.org/sysadmin.html

Why are the unsafe- variants allowed in the CSP? Also, the URL for Google Analytics content is https://www.google-analytics.com now.

@oliversalzburg: +1 for google analytic url.

server_tokens off; should probably also go in the host on port 80, although I haven't checked if it actually responds with server tokens on the redirect.

More HSTS updates:
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31622400; includeSubDomains; preload";

new requirements from Chromium team on getting in the preload list of browsers (and a core point of HSTS)
https://hstspreload.appspot.com/

Having TLSv1 enabled fails the latest trustwave.com PCI scan btw.

Hi,

you should not use '$host' variable in redirect, because it will redirect you to anything that user/attacker will ask for 'someevilhost.com' in this case. Instead make sure you set your server_name correctly (i.e. myhost.com) and then use '$server_name' instead. Alternatively you can use FQDN in redirect and append $request_uri ('return 301 https://myhost.com$request_uri;').

Below is example of what happens when $host is used.

Request

Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
GET /login HTTP/1.0
Host: someevilhost.com

Response:

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Server: nginx/1.4.6 (Ubuntu)
Date: Tue, 02 Feb 2016 12:19:59 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 193
Connection: close
Location: http://someevilhost.com/login

This param

Diffie-Hellman parameter for DHE ciphersuites, recommended 2048 bits

ssl_dhparam /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem;
Set to 2048 is very cpu consumer.
On an octo-core Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X3450 @ 2.67GHz, 4 nginx workers all at 100% cpu.
When removing the ssl_dhparam, the cpu is used normally.
I think it could simply be lower than 2048.

It will only consume 100% cpu while generating 'dhparam.pem'.

Also "All versions of nginx as of 1.4.4 rely on OpenSSL for input parameters to Diffie-Hellman (DH). Unfortunately, this means that Ephemeral Diffie-Hellman (DHE) will use OpenSSL's defaults, which include a 1024-bit key for the key-exchange. Since we're using a 2048-bit certificate, DHE clients will use a weaker key-exchange than non-ephemeral DH clients. We need to generate a stronger DHE parameter."

There is a great post explaining various settings indepth https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Strong_SSL_Security_On_nginx.html

As indicated by @mhcerri, the add_header directives in the parent scope are not effective for HTTPS requests.

Please see my blog post for a further explanation: Nginx add_header configuration pitfall.

This configuration uses very weak protocols and cipher suites. I recommend using this generator to get the latest recommended NGINX configs:
https://mozilla.github.io/server-side-tls/ssl-config-generator/

Thanks in a lot!

@ryankearney Should all these header statements be added to the sever block because it seems that they are causing issues for other server specific files?

@conradwt I'm experiencing the same issues. When either doing a test either with nginx -t -c /my/nginx.conf/ or by restarting nginx, the latter complains with error message like:

"server_tokens" directive is not allowed here in /my/nginx.conf
"add_header" directive is not allowed here in /my/nginx.conf

http://tautt.com/best-nginx-configuration-for-security/ does no longer exist :<

You should also listen on IPv6...

listen [::]:443 ssl;

How should this config change to protect against https://blog.cloudflare.com/yet-another-padding-oracle-in-openssl-cbc-ciphersuites/ ?

@fotonobile actually you need to update your OpenSSL to fix that (I had to restart my server as well)

Just included those values inside my nginx 1.11 config.
add_header doesn't works when inside http section (but docs says it should, and nginx doesn't tell me bad things about this, so strange). Moved into server section caused to serve those headers correctly.

Strange.

@morsik did you have additional add_headers in server?

There could be several add_header directives. These directives are inherited from the previous level if and only if there are no add_header directives defined on the current level.
http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_headers_module.html#add_header

Upvoting an answer above. Use https://mozilla.github.io/server-side-tls/ssl-config-generator/.

Internet Archive for http://tautt.com/best-nginx-configuration-for-security
here: http://web.archive.org/web/20151011140918/http://tautt.com/best-nginx-configuration-for-security

ECDHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA, EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA and DES-CBC3-SHA are weak ciphers.

why no HPKP? why no dual SSL boot? why no ECDSA certificate with ssl_ecdsa_curve? the set of suites are quite weak, I'm concerned about bulk block mod CBC here: ECDHE-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:AES256-GCM-SHA384:AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES256-SHA256:AES128-SHA256:AES256-SHA:AES128-SHA:DES-CBC3-SHA

here's what I have:

`# HTTPS server
server {
listen 443 ssl;

    server_name fortestingpurposesonly.xyz;
    ssl on;

    ssl_certificate      nginx_rsa.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key  server.key;

    ssl_certificate blablabla.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key ec.key;

    add_header Strict-Transport-Security max-age=63072000;
    add_header Public-Key-Pins 'pin-sha256=\"RyVHLvC/L9OizFGYr+ujdCAdQL2vpmbquWSVwagQOzE=\"; pin-sha256=\"EohwrK1N7rr3bRQphPj4j2cel+B2d0NNbM9PWHNDXpM=\"; max-age=25920; includeSubDomains';
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";

    ssl_session_cache    shared:SSL:1m;
    ssl_session_timeout  5m;
    ssl_ecdh_curve secp384r1:secp256k1;

    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
    ssl_ciphers ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:!aNULL:!eNULL:!LOW:!3DES:!MD5:!CBC; `

And here's OCSP stapling, you know that im sure:
`
#OCSP Stapling

ssl_stapling on;
ssl_stapling_verify on;
ssl_trusted_certificate /root/ssltest/ec.ca-bundle;
resolver 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4; `

this is more like it, imo.
sorry my formatting

dhparam.pem file generation may take a decent amount of time, especially on RPis.

One solution is to use DSA rather than DH parameters, converted to DH format.

openssl dhparam -dsaparam -out /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem 2048

Regarding automatic redirect and IPv6:
Someone might want to add listen [::]:80 ipv6only=on; so Nginx correctly forwards its IPv6 visitors.

So, the complete redirect block would look like this:

# redirect all http traffic to https
server {
  listen 80;
  listen [::]:80 ipv6only=on;
  server_name .forgott.com;
  return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

Same applies to the other server block handling the real requests:

server {
  listen 443 ssl default deferred;
  listen [::]:443 ssl ipv6only=on;
  server_name .forgott.com;
  # ...
}

Why do you not enable http2

listen 443 ssl http2 default deferred; #IPv4
listen [::]:443 ssl http2 default deferred; #IPv6

+1 for users @mhcerri @gertvdijk @sander who already highlighted above an issue with overriding add_headers directive

Has anyone built a new version of this with the recommendations above?

OWASP recommendations are more up to date.

https://www.owasp.org/index.php/SCG_WS_nginx#SSL_Module

Also your resolver should be more like this.

resolver 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 valid=300s; #Cache resolver

@jeremysears thanks, I will update the protocols and cipher suites. It's been a while since the last time I've updated this gist

I believe https://cipherli.st/ is also quite an up to date resource on Nginx configuration.

Mozilla also provide an SSL config generator: https://mozilla.github.io/server-side-tls/ssl-config-generator/

I have paid 99 dollars for this year on some expensive ssl from godaddy. I wish I knew this one earlier. Your tutorial along with let's crypt ssl will help me a lot now
https://infoginx.com/ig-securing-nginx-server-lets-encrypt-ubuntu/

This is great!

Thanks 👍

Your blogpost link is broken! :( I've added this GIST to https://github.com/wallarm/awesome-nginx-security

@MichaeMimouni try adding the -dsaparam option.

openssl dhparam -dsaparam -out /etc/ssl/private/dhparam.pem 4096

as answered here https://security.stackexchange.com/a/95184

Hi there. Thanks you for sharing this. I wish I found this before. I was able to get this by using a configuration like this one.
img

FYI, here's my include for TLS/SSL and nginx: https://gist.github.com/jult/395ad9fd3e9773a54a67aaf689beab27

There is a mistake: includeSubdomains should be includeSubDomains
The header should not be processed case sensitive but to match the RFC https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6797 it would be good to use that form.

Look at this: https://scotthelme.co.uk/a-new-security-header-referrer-policy/

add this your nginx.conf file ...

Referrer Policy

add_header Referrer-Policy "no-referrer";

Update nginx configuration: nginx -s reload

Then test here: https://securityheaders.io/

How does the CSP for Google Analytics work on a separate file, how should be look like?
I'm having a hard time trying to figure this out, since a lot of sources say just to add 'unsafe-inline' on the script-src just to support Google Analytics, but it seems to be very unsafe.

Should I just create an analytics.conf and add the following:

script-src 'self' https://www.google-analytics.com;
img-src https://www.google-analytics.com www.google-analytics.com https://stats.g.doubleclick.net;
connect-src https://www.google-analytics.com www.google-analytics.com https://stats.g.doubleclick.net

and then, on the nginx.conf:
default-src 'none';script-src 'self' www.google-analytics.com;img-src www.google-analytics.com;

Also, I'm very confused about how the config file for nginx should look like, I have the present reference and this one:

<FilesMatch "\.(html|php)$">
Header set Content-Security-Policy "policy-definition"
</FilesMatch>

I'm not a back-end developer, and this is the first time that I create a CSP, so I'll be very grateful for any help!

An nginx block only inherits add_header directives from the upper level if there are no add_header directives set in that block.

Once you add the add_header directive for the HSTS in the server block, it will ignore the four add_header directives you set in the http block above.

The ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305 cipher is non-compliant with NIST and therefore HIPAA.

A referrer policy should be added in to here too. Without this header, you will still get flagged up on securityheaders.com

https://scotthelme.co.uk/a-new-security-header-referrer-policy/

Thanks for making this available. Very useful resource 👍

This is an absolutely amazing resource. Thank you for creating and sharing it 👍

I second what @mhcerri said. It's a gotcha.

Should add prime256v1 to ssl_ecdh_curve too, if you want to connect to app in Android <= 7

Ref: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47232191/letsencrypt-does-not-work-on-android

Should use a privacy respecting and worlds fastest DNS resolver instead of Google's 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 IPv4 resolver what is slow and Does not respect privacy or security. Cloudflares resolver also includes both IPv4 IPv6 resolver and alternative fallback DNS resolver alternative resolver for is for IPV4 is 1.0.0.1 and IPv6 2606:4700:4700::1001 as can be found on their website privacy security and speed comes first.

Here is my code for their resolver to support both IPv4 and IPv6 (Can disable IPv6 and will still work universal setup)

#Cloudflare resolver 1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com
resolver 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1 [2606:4700:4700::1111] [2606:4700:4700::1001];

https://1.1.1.1/#explanation
https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/dns/what-is-1.1.1.1/
https://blog.cloudflare.com/announcing-1111/

Fastest DNS resolvers in the world (1.1.1.1 is the fastest most secured and private unlike google)
https://www.dnsperf.com/#!dns-resolvers

I like this portion better for 301 redirect from http to https, rather than a hardcoded URL value:

return 301 https://$host$request_uri;

@C0nw0nk, Here is a list of Open DNS servers that can prove that my highly hardened personal website is a secured and “un-hackable”. Basically this test was done using the “dig” tool with ad notation of whether DNSSEC is supported (and a small notation if ca is supported too)
The command used is:

dig +dnssec mywebsiteredacted.net. @# and 'ad' flag appears as authenticated,# and note any absense of 'ca' flag

DNSSEC? IP Provider Name
YES 185.228.168.9 CleanBrowsing DNS
YES 185.228.169.9 CleanBrowsing DNS
YES 156.154.70.1 DNS Advantage
YES 156.154.71.1 DNS Advantage
YES 84.200.69.80 DNS Watch
YES 84.200.70.40 DNS Watch
YES 216.146.35.35 Dyn
YES 216.146.36.36 Dyn
YES 81.218.119.11 GreenTeamDNS
YES 74.82.42.42 HurricaneElectric
YES 156.154.70.1 NeuStar
YES 156.154.71.1 NeuStar
YES 9.9.9.9 Quad9
YES 149.112.112.112 Quad9
If you are using any of the DNS servers below this line, then when you visit your banking website, your transaction will not be safe:
YES 199.85.126.10 Norton ConnectSafe (discontinued)
YES 199.85.126.20 Norton ConnectSafe (discontinued)
YES 199.85.127.10 Norton ConnectSafe (discontinued)
no 1.0.0.1 Cloudflare
no 109.69.8.51 puntCAT
no 1.1.1.1 Cloudflare
no 176.103.130.130 AdGuard
no 176.103.130.131 AdGuard
no 176.103.130.132 AdGuard Family
no 176.103.130.134 AdGuard Family
no 195.46.39.39 SafeDNS
no 195.46.39.40 SafeDNS
no 198.101.242.72 AlternateDNS
no 209.244.0.3 Level 3
no 209.244.0.4 Level 3
no 23.253.163.53 AlternateDNS
no 37.235.1.174 FreeDNS
no 37.235.1.177 FreeDNS
no 77.88.8.1 YandexDNS
no 77.88.8.8 YandexDNS
no 8.8.4.4 Google DNS
no 8.8.8.8 Google DNS
no 89.233.43.71 UncensoredDNS
no 91.239.100.100 UncensoredDNS
no bind.odvr.dns-oarc.net DNS OARC
no NOcd 208.67.220.123 OPENDNS FamilyShield
no NOcd 208.67.220.220 OPENDNS
no NOcd 208.67.222.123 OPENDNS FamilyShield
no NOcd 208.67.222.222 OPENDNS
no NOcd 8.20.247.20 Comodo
no NOcd 8.26.56.26 Comodo

For letsencrypt:

ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem;
(...)
ssl_stapling on;
ssl_stapling_verify on;
#ssl_trusted_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/chain.pem;

Edit: changed ssl_certificate from cert.pem into fullchain.pem. This solves "B rating" on https://www.ssllabs.com. Also, according to https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/incomplete-chain-when-using-nginx-1-8-0-and-1-9-9/8500 ssl_trusted_certificate is not needed after we use fullchain.pem in ssl_certificate field. That's why I'm commenting out ssl_trusted_certificate field.

Thanks for the config. I try to implement using nginx 1.16.0 stable.
My redirect point to proxy_pass. if user types " https://my.domain.com" or " https://my.domain.com/anything" I need to redirect.
Rest of it must show a error page. I reconfigure to point all the error page must shows the index.html.

What is wrong with my config (etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf) file? I am keep getting nginx default 404. I can not override error 400 and 500 to points the my index.html file.

Any idea how to correct the issue.

server_tokens off;
add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";


# redirect all http traffic to https
server {
  charset UTF-8;
  listen 80 default_server;
  listen [::]:80 ipv6only=on default_server;
  server_name my.domain.com;

  # define error pages
  error_page 401 403 404  /index.html;
  location = /index.html {
      root /usr/share/nginx/html;
      internal;
  }

  # redirect server error pages
  error_page   500 502 503 504  /index.html;
  location = / {
      root   /usr/share/nginx/html;
      internal;
  }

  # deny access to .htaccess files
  location ~ /\.ht {
      deny  all;
  }

  # Deny access to hidden files (beginning with a period)
  location ~ /\. {
       deny all;
  }

  if ($host = my.domain.com) {
      return 301 https://my.domain.com$request_uri;
  }
  return 404;

}

server {
    charset UTF-8;
    listen 443;
    listen [::]:443 ipv6only=on; 
    server_name my.domain.com;

    error_log  /var/log/nginx/host.error.log;
    access_log  /var/log/nginx/host.access.log  main;

    # define error pages
    error_page 401 403 404  /index.html;
    location = /index.html {
        root /usr/share/nginx/html;
        internal;
    }

    # redirect server error pages
    error_page   500 502 503 504  /index.html;
    location = / {
        root   /usr/share/nginx/html;
        internal;
    }   
    location / {
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
        proxy_pass "http://127.0.0.1:8888/";
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;        
    }

    # Only allow these request methods, Do not accept DELETE, SEARCH and other methods
     if ($request_method !~ ^(GET|HEAD|POST)$ ) {
         return 404;
     }
   
}

The X-Content-Type-Options nosniff should only be applied for Javascript and CSS files.
For anything else, it's just an extraneous useless HTTP header transferred with every request.

To avoid such pitfalls, use ngx_security_headers module which knows when to set respective header and also accounts for things like not sending headers during conditional GET requests.

security_headers on;

Hi @plentz,
When use add_header on multiple blocks, nginx only get the last one and ignore all parents blocks. Let check again plz

I compiled few optimization hacks to increase requests/second.
Optimizations: Tuning Nginx for better RPS of an HTTP API
☮️ 🍰 ✨

The X-Content-Type-Options nosniff should only be applied for Javascript and CSS files.
For anything else, it's just an extraneous useless HTTP header transferred with every request.

To avoid such pitfalls, use ngx_security_headers module which knows when to set respective header and also accounts for things like not sending headers during conditional GET requests.

security_headers on;

I see you currently have X-Content-Type-Options nosniff applied to your own website's HTML (index page) and all other assets.

TLSv1.3 should be added: ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;

TLSv1 & TLSv1.1 should be removed. Otherwise the HTTPS rating is capped at B. ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;

https://blog.qualys.com/ssllabs/2018/11/19/grade-change-for-tls-1-0-and-tls-1-1-protocols

@rooch84 thanks, I've updated it.

These are my settings for nginx with LetsEncrypt SSL for an A+ score on Qualys:

ssl_session_cache shared:le_nginx_SSL:1m;
ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:50m;
ssl_session_timeout 5m;
ssl_buffer_size 1400;
ssl_ecdh_curve secp521r1:secp384r1:prime256v1;
ssl_session_tickets off;

ssl_dhparam /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem;

ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;

ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
ssl_ciphers AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH:!aNULL;

resolver 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1 [2606:4700:4700::1111] [2606:4700:4700::1001];
resolver_timeout 5s;
ssl_stapling on;
ssl_stapling_verify on;

add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload";
add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
add_header X-Robots-Tag none;

For dhparam.pem I've used this:
openssl dhparam -out /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem 4096

I would suggest installing haveged and have it running prior of dhparam.pem generation (otherwise it would take quite some long time)

These are my settings for nginx with LetsEncrypt SSL for an A+ score on Qualys:

ssl_session_cache shared:le_nginx_SSL:1m;
ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:50m;
ssl_session_timeout 5m;
ssl_buffer_size 1400;
ssl_ecdh_curve secp521r1:secp384r1:prime256v1;
ssl_session_tickets off;

ssl_dhparam /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem;

ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;

ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
ssl_ciphers AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH:!aNULL;

resolver 1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1 [2606:4700:4700::1111] [2606:4700:4700::1001];
resolver_timeout 5s;
ssl_stapling on;
ssl_stapling_verify on;

add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload";
add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
add_header X-Robots-Tag none;

For dhparam.pem I've used this:
openssl dhparam -out /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem 4096

I would suggest installing haveged and have it running prior of dhparam.pem generation (otherwise it would take quite some long time)

Thanks for this! Very useful indeed!

Here is HTTP/3 support
https://www.nginx.com/blog/introducing-technology-preview-nginx-support-for-quic-http-3/

server {
    listen 443 ssl;              # TCP listener for HTTP/1.1
    listen 443 http3 reuseport;  # UDP listener for QUIC+HTTP/3

    ssl_protocols       TLSv1.3; # QUIC requires TLS 1.3
    ssl_certificate     ssl/www.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key ssl/www.example.com.key;

    add_header Alt-Svc 'quic=":443"'; # Advertise that QUIC is available
    add_header QUIC-Status $quic;     # Sent when QUIC was used
}