OWASP / OWASP/ASVS

v5.0.0-3.4.5 focus to avoid leakage from 'referer' instead of "have a policy"

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V3 (prev V50)
Dominant language
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Description

Current requirement:

# Description Level
3.4.5 Verify that the application sets a referrer policy to prevent leakage of technically sensitive data to third-party services via the 'Referer' HTTP request header field. This can be done using the Referrer-Policy HTTP response header field or via HTML element attributes. Sensitive data could include path and query data in the URL, and for internal non-public applications also the hostname. 2

Previously discussed in:

  • #2789

Problem to solve:

  • The focus point is not fully correct: it requires to have a referrer policy, but it is not required if there are no resources loaded from external addresses and no links provided to external addresses.

Proposal - change to focus to "verify that technically sensitive information is not leaked via the 'Referer' header field"

Verify that the web server configuration or application prevents leakage of technically sensitive data to third-party services via the 'Referer' HTTP request header field. This can be done using the Referrer-Policy HTTP response header field or via HTML element attributes. Sensitive data could include path and query data in the URL, and for internal non-public applications also the hostname.

Proposed changes:

  • "application" > "web server configuration or application"
  • "sets a referrer policy to prevent" > "prevents"

I consider it not to be a breaking change.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating requirement 3.4.5 in the ASVS source and review the earlier discussion in issue #2789. Update the requirement wording from requiring a referrer policy to requiring prevention of sensitive information leakage via the Referer header, then verify that the proposed changes match the issue text.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
html
Domain
documentation, security
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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