How to disable Debian GNU / Linux (Squeeze) Apache 2 version reporting to improve security – Hide Apache server version

Friday, 5th October 2012

Debian GNU / Linux's Apache default behavior is to report Apache server name, version and Linux distribution version and codename.
This is shown as a minor security leak in many Security Scanner (audit) software like Nessus. It reveals a vital information which could help malicious attacker later to use exploit if the version number in question is vulnerable.

The quickest way to check, either Apache versioning and distro info is disabled is with telnet:

hipo@noah:~/Desktop$ telnet www.pc-freak.net 80
Trying 83.228.93.76…
Connected to www.pc-freak.net.
Escape character is '^]'.
HEAD / HTTP/1.0

Connection closed by foreign host.
hipo@noah:~/Desktop$ telnet www.pc-freak.net 80
Trying 83.228.93.76…
Connected to www.pc-freak.net.
Escape character is '^]'.
HEAD / HTTP/1.0

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:48:36 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.16 (Debian)
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.3.3-7+squeeze14
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html

Disabling this Distro version codename and version number reporting on Debian is done by changing in file /etc/apache2/conf.d/security directives:


ServerTokens OS
ServerSignature On

to


ServerSignature Off
ServerTokens ProductOnly

Here important note to make is if you try adding:

ServerSignature Off and ServerTokens Prod straight in Debian general config /etc/apache2/apache2.conf, but did not change the settings set for the vars through /etc/apache2/conf.d/security; settings from /etc/apache2/conf.d/security will overwrite ServerSignature / ServerTokens settings set in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

I tried this myself (forgotting about /etc/apache2/conf.d/security) and adding both variables straight in apache2.conf. After Apache restart Apache version number and type of distribution continued be returned by the WebServer.
I thought something specific changed in Debian Squeeze – Apache/2.2.16 so this two variables are probably not working so I did a quick research online seing other people complaining also unable to disable Apache ver and Linux distro version and looking for a reason why. Well anyways if you happen to also ponder, why ServerSignature Off and ServerTokens ProductOnly does not take effect keep in mind it is due to overwritten settings via /etc/apache2/conf.d/security, changing the values there and restarting Apache and you're done 🙂

To make sure 100% Apache is no longer returning exact version number and host installed distro type, use telnet again:

hipo@noah:~/Desktop$ telnet www.pc-freak.net 80
Trying 83.228.93.76…
Connected to www.pc-freak.net.
Escape character is '^]'.
HEAD / HTTP/1.0

Connection closed by foreign host.

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One Response to “How to disable Debian GNU / Linux (Squeeze) Apache 2 version reporting to improve security – Hide Apache server version”

  1. hip0 says:
    Firefox 24.0 Firefox 24.0 GNU/Linux x64 GNU/Linux x64
    Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:24.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/24.0

    It is useful to also instruct PHP to not report PHP version.

    To stop PHP reporting on Apache open php.ini and set

    epxose_php = Off

     

    Also here is a list of all supported Apache ServerTokens options you can set in httpd.com

     

    Prod or ProductOnly – Server sends (e.g.): Server: Apache

    ServerTokens Prod

    Major – Server sends (e.g.): Server: Apache/2

    ServerTokens Major

    Minor – Server sends (e.g.): Server: Apache/2.2

    ServerTokens Minor

    Min or Minimal – Server sends (e.g.): Server: Server: Apache/2.2.4

    ServerTokens Min

    OS – Server sends (e.g.): Server: Apache/2.2.4 (Ubuntu)

    ServerTokens OS

    Full or not specified – Server sends (e.g.): Server: Apache/2.2.4 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.3-1ubuntu6.4

    ServerTokens Full

    ServerTokens setting applies to the entire server, and cannot be enabled or disabled on a virtualhost-by-virtualhost basis.

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