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@plentz
Last active December 1, 2024 15:39
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Best nginx configuration for improved security(and performance)
# to generate your dhparam.pem file, run in the terminal
openssl dhparam -out /etc/nginx/ssl/dhparam.pem 2048
# 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
}
@bms8197
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bms8197 commented Jun 3, 2024

The config I've provided on the 7th of March 2020 is still working and you're getting an A+ grade on Qualys SSL check.

@jult
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jult commented Jun 3, 2024

The config I've provided on the 7th of March 2020 is still working and you're getting an A+ grade on Qualys SSL check.

That does depend on what version of NGINX you're using it with, and what your target audience is..

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