Avoid using an insecure Access-Control-Allow-Origin header

Docs > Code Analysis > Static Analysis Rules > Avoid using an insecure Access-Control-Allow-Origin header

Metadata

ID: javascript-express/insecure-allow-origin

Language: JavaScript

Severity: Warning

Category: Security

CWE: 346

Description

Setting an Access-Control-Allow-Origin header with an unverified user-defined input can lead to sharing sensitive data with an unintended user.

If this is unavoidable, consider comparing the input against a safe-list.

Learn More

OWASP Origin & Access-Control-Allow-Origin

Non-Compliant Code Examples

app.get('/', function (req, res) {
    res.set('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', req.headers.foo)
    res.set({ "foo": "bar", 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': req.query.foo })
    res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', req.params.foo)
    res.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', req.body.foo);
    res.writeHead(200, { "foo": "bar", 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': req.cookies.foo })
});

Compliant Code Examples

app.get('/', function (req, res) {
    res.set('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', "foo_url")
    res.set({ "foo": "bar", 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': "foo_url" })
    res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', "foo_url")
    res.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', "foo_url");
    res.writeHead(200, { "foo": "bar", 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': "foo_url" })
});