# Security Headers Checker — OWASP Audit & Grading (`accurate_pouch/security-headers`) Actor

Audit 12 HTTP security headers (HSTS, CSP, X-Frame-Options, Referrer-Policy, Permissions-Policy, COOP, CORP, COEP). A-F grading, actionable recommendations. 5 URLs free.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/accurate_pouch/security-headers.md
- **Developed by:** [Manchitt Sanan](https://apify.com/accurate_pouch) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, SEO tools
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$4.00 / 1,000 url security checks

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Security Headers Checker — OWASP Audit & Grading

Audit 12 HTTP security headers in bulk. Get an A-F security grade per URL with weighted scoring, actionable recommendations, and webhook alerts for failing sites. 5 URLs.

***

### What it checks

| Header | Weight | What it prevents |
|--------|--------|-----------------|
| Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) | 15% | Downgrade attacks, SSL stripping |
| Content-Security-Policy (CSP) | 15% | XSS, code injection |
| X-Content-Type-Options | 10% | MIME type sniffing |
| X-Frame-Options | 10% | Clickjacking |
| Referrer-Policy | 10% | Information leakage |
| Permissions-Policy | 10% | Unauthorized feature access (camera, mic, location) |
| X-XSS-Protection | 5% | Legacy XSS filter (deprecated, CSP preferred) |
| Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy | 5% | Cross-origin window attacks |
| Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy | 5% | Unauthorized resource embedding |
| Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy | 5% | Spectre-class side-channel attacks |
| Cache-Control | 5% | Sensitive data caching |
| X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies | 5% | Flash/PDF cross-domain access |

***

### Grading

| Grade | Score | Meaning |
|-------|-------|---------|
| A+ | 95-100 | Excellent — all critical headers present and configured |
| A | 85-94 | Good — minor improvements possible |
| B | 70-84 | Acceptable — some headers missing |
| C | 50-69 | Needs work — several security gaps |
| D | 30-49 | Poor — significant exposure |
| F | 0-29 | Failing — critical headers missing |

***

### Quick start

```json
{
    "urls": ["https://google.com", "https://github.com"]
}
```

***

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `urls` | array | *(required)* | URLs to audit |
| `timeout` | integer | `10000` | Request timeout in ms |
| `webhookUrl` | string | *(optional)* | POST alert when any site gets D or F grade |
| `dryRun` | boolean | `false` | Audit without charges |

***

### Output

```json
{
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "grade": "C",
    "score": 55,
    "headers": [
        {
            "header": "strict-transport-security",
            "present": true,
            "value": "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains",
            "status": "pass",
            "recommendation": "Present and correctly configured",
            "weight": 15
        },
        {
            "header": "content-security-policy",
            "present": false,
            "value": null,
            "status": "fail",
            "recommendation": "Add Content-Security-Policy header. Start with: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'",
            "weight": 15
        }
    ],
    "summary": { "passed": 5, "warnings": 3, "failed": 4, "total": 12 },
    "status": "success"
}
```

***

### Pricing

**$0.003 per URL checked** (pay-per-event pricing).

- Errors and dry runs are never charged.
- 100 URLs = $0.30

***

### Related actors in this suite

Other tools by [accurate_pouch](https://apify.com/accurate_pouch) for security + site health:

- **[SSL Monitor](https://apify.com/accurate_pouch/ssl-monitor)** — Certificate chain, expiry, fingerprint, key size, webhook. $0.004/domain.
- **[DNS/WHOIS Suite](https://apify.com/accurate_pouch/dns-whois-suite)** — Full DNS lookup + RDAP. $0.004/domain.
- **[Lighthouse Auditor](https://apify.com/accurate_pouch/lighthouse-auditor)** — PageSpeed Insights API, Core Web Vitals, deltas, competitor comparison. $0.005/audit.
- **[Tech Stack Detector](https://apify.com/accurate_pouch/tech-stack-detector)** — 7,517 signatures across 105 categories. $0.02/URL.
- **[TheCrawler](https://apify.com/accurate_pouch/the-crawler)** — Web scraper + LLM-powered structured extraction. AGPL-3.0, also on npm (`thecrawler@0.1.1`). $0.005/page.

***

### Run on Apify

[![Run on Apify](https://apify.com/static/run-on-apify.svg)](https://apify.com/accurate_pouch/security-headers)

No setup needed. Click above to run in the cloud. $0.003 per operation.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

List of URLs to check security headers for.

## `timeout` (type: `integer`):

Timeout per HTTP request.

## `webhookUrl` (type: `string`):

POST alert to this URL if any site gets a D or F grade.

## `dryRun` (type: `boolean`):

Check headers but don't charge.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://google.com",
    "https://github.com"
  ],
  "timeout": 10000,
  "dryRun": false
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "urls": [
        "https://google.com",
        "https://github.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("accurate_pouch/security-headers").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "urls": [
        "https://google.com",
        "https://github.com",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("accurate_pouch/security-headers").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "urls": [
    "https://google.com",
    "https://github.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call accurate_pouch/security-headers --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,accurate_pouch/security-headers"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/DP51eNhp6HLoMkTp6/builds/ZDiknTbtblABcftNO/openapi.json